Modulo

Practical Money Skills

Recommended Ages

4th–12th grades

Practical Money Skills is a free financial literacy resource developed by Visa that offers games, lesson plans, and interactive tools for teaching money management. Materials cover topics like budgeting, saving, credit, and fraud prevention, with versions for kids, teens, and adults. Created in partnership with educators, the program aims to give schools and families ready-to-use lessons without added cost. Parents appreciate the mix of printable activities and digital games that make abstract concepts more concrete. It’s a solid fit for upper-elementary through high school learners, especially in homeschool co-ops or personal finance units. Because it’s sponsored by a financial services company, some families prefer to preview materials, but content is broadly focused on skills, not specific products. For best results, tie each lesson to a real-life task—tracking a week of spending or planning a purchase—so skills immediately translate beyond the screen.

Best for upper‑elementary through high‑school students who can work through short readings and worksheets with a parent discussion; particularly helpful for families on a tight budget who still want structured content that can be slotted into a weekly “money skills” block.

Pros

Completely free set of lesson plans, worksheets, slide decks and activities from Pre‑K through college that cover everything from “What is money?” to credit, loans and budgeting, giving homeschoolers and teachers a ready‑made personal finance curriculum; materials are easy to download by grade band and widely recommended in homeschool life‑skills round‑ups as a solid secular financial literacy resource. 

Cons

Originally designed for classrooms, so some activities reference group work, bell schedules or classroom roles that you’ll need to adapt; lesson formatting can feel old‑school and text‑heavy compared with newer gamified programs; worksheets are U.S.‑centric and sometimes use dated examples, so international families or teens wanting very current case studies may need to supplement.

Because Practical Money Skills resources are free, there is no need to apply ESA or charter funds to access them; schools and organizations sometimes combine the curriculum with grant funding for broader financial-literacy initiatives, but individual families can simply use the materials without going through a vendor approval process.

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Practical Money Skills
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Skills

What kids will learn
View all collections
Financial Literacy
Financial Literacy
Life Skills
Life Skills
Economics
Economics
Math
Math

Practical Money Skills Mission

The mission of Practical Money Skills is to improve financial literacy worldwide by providing free, high-quality money management resources for students, educators, and consumers. Developed by Visa as part of its social impact work, the program offers ready-to-teach lesson plans, online games, calculators, and interactive tools that cover budgeting, saving, credit, debt, and more. By making these materials freely available and adaptable for different ages and settings, Practical Money Skills aims to help people build the knowledge and habits needed to make sound financial decisions throughout life.

Practical Money Skills Story

Practical Money Skills began as a global financial education initiative from Visa, created to address the growing concern that many young people and adults were entering the workforce and taking on credit without a solid understanding of basic money concepts. Working with educators and nonprofit partners, Visa’s team designed classroom-ready curricula, consumer resources, and attention-grabbing games like Financial Football to make learning about money more engaging. Over the years, Practical Money Skills has expanded to serve multiple countries and languages, partnering with schools, libraries, governments, and community organizations. What started as a corporate responsibility project has grown into a widely used hub for free financial literacy materials.

About Modular Learning

FAQ: Additional Details about Practical Money Skills

You might print a short budgeting lesson for your middle-schooler to work through at the table, then sit together at the computer to test-drive a budgeting simulator where they allocate income to different expense categories. Later, you discuss needs versus wants while looking at real-world prices on a grocery receipt or an online shopping cart, using the program’s worksheets as a framework.

Practical Money Skills is a free financial-literacy program created by Visa that offers lesson plans, games, articles, and calculators for all ages, from elementary students to adults. Educators and parents can download ready-made lesson packets on topics like budgeting, credit, saving, and consumer awareness, then use them as standalone units or to supplement math, economics, or life-skills courses; online games and tools such as budgeting calculators let students practice concepts interactively. 

Parents act as teachers and facilitators—explaining concepts, helping with activities, and tying lessons to real family decisions about saving, spending, and giving. Teens can also work more independently through modules and then debrief with you.

Most student lessons assume basic reading comprehension and grade-level math skills appropriate to the targeted age band; younger learners will need an adult to read instructions aloud and help with calculations.

Practical Money Skills offers free financial literacy materials that can help ADHD, autistic, and other learners practice budgeting, saving, and wise spending with real‑life scenarios. Some resources are text‑heavy, so adults may want to use them as discussion prompts rather than independent worksheets.

Practical Money Skills is a financial-literacy resource rather than a core math curriculum. The real-life scenarios can help older kids with dyscalculia see why math matters and practise reading graphs, comparing prices, and working with budgets. To make it accessible, I’d encourage heavy calculator use, visual organizers, and breaking tasks into small steps so the focus is on understanding decisions, not on mental computation.

Practical Money Skills is a financial-literacy resource rather than a core math curriculum. The real-life scenarios can help older kids with dyscalculia see why math matters and practise reading graphs, comparing prices, and working with budgets. To make it accessible, I’d encourage heavy calculator use, visual organizers, and breaking tasks into small steps so the focus is on understanding decisions, not on mental computation.

All core resources are free to download and use, so there is no purchase to refund; if a third-party partner offers paid workshops or printed materials based on the curriculum, any refunds would be governed by that provider’s own policies.

Not ideal for very young learners who still need story‑based introductions to money, or for kids who only respond to highly interactive online games; families who prefer all learning to be embedded in real‑life chores and family budgeting may find the formal lessons unnecessary.

For younger kids or a more playful start, families may use Money MunchKid$, board‑game‑based learning, or online programs like MoneyTime; for teens, Next Gen Personal Finance, Dave Ramsey’s Foundations in Personal Finance (religious), or local credit‑union courses can offer different perspectives.

Visa periodically updates Practical Money Skills resources to reflect current economic realities, new payment technologies, and revised standards, and has expanded the site to include more digital tools and mobile-friendly content over time. 

Pick just a few high‑impact lessons per year—such as budgeting, saving, credit and scams—and pair each with a real‑world task like comparing phone plans, opening a savings account or mock‑filing a tax return so concepts immediately feel relevant.

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Meet Visa Team

Practical Money Skills is developed and maintained by Visa’s financial education and corporate responsibility team, which includes curriculum writers, economists, and program managers who specialize in money management and consumer education. Instead of a single founder, the program reflects years of collaboration with classroom teachers, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies around the world. Together, these partners create and update lesson plans, tools, and games so they stay relevant to changing financial realities, from digital payments to student loans. The team’s guiding belief is that clear, accessible information about money should be available to everyone, not just those who can afford specialized courses.