This year, the robust Middle School curriculum added a popular eighth-grade semester-long elective Introduction to Personal Finance taught by 17-year PD veteran Brian Li. This course focuses on real-world applications of personal finance that create opportunities for students to engage, understand, and discuss financial concepts while developing strong financial literacy. The partnership between administrators, faculty, parents, and the Board of Trustees led to four sections of this elective offered during each semester of the 2020-21 school year.

“I’m so glad that the Middle School administration and [Middle School Math Department Chair] Randy Sienkowski thought this was a good idea,” says Li. “It was fast – I was drafting this up last year, it got approved in the spring, and now I’m teaching the course. The timing was right and there was support all around. This class has been a silver lining for me this school year and it’s been fun.”

In just one hour-long class period, students discussed investment accounts from checking to IRAs, reviewed financial scams and fraud, brainstormed common financial pitfalls, and considered investing mistakes people make each decade from their 20s to their 60s. “The biggest surprise is that these kids are only 13 or 14 years old,” Li says. “I really emphasize proper investing and the kids get these deep concepts. This class gives me a lot of energy and doesn’t seem like work; when I’m in here the hour flies by.”

The benefit of teaching personal finance principles to Middle School students is that they have the ability to make the most of their time. “Compound interest is the mathematical gift I want you to understand. It requires time and you can’t buy time back when you are in your 50s,” Li says. “Making money is the easy part; keeping it is the hard part.” 

The focus for Introduction to Personal Finance is learning-based without the pressure of tests and quizzes. Grades depend solely on class participation and will include a group project component in the future when there are no longer pandemic concerns. “This is not like every other class and it is really useful,” says a current student. 

Li also weaves elements of the Providence Day School mission and core values into class discussions. “What can you give back?” Li asks. “I want you to know how to manage your finances so you can help pass on that financial literacy. If a few of the kids tell their friends in college that they need to start investing, that changes lives,” he says. Additionally, “I want to get people of color to invest. Real equality is when people of color are financially independent.”