14 Free Financial Literacy Worksheets PDF (Middle & High School) (2024)

Check out these free financial literacy worksheets PDFs for middle school and high school students to learn all about money.

We all know that getting money into kids’ and teens’ hands so that they can learn how to use it through trial-and-error works.

I mean, that’s how many of us learned how to manage our money, right?

But prepping kids and teens with financial literacy worksheets PDFs and games is a great addition to their financial education.

It’s sort of like having a teen first study and then pass a written permit exam before they’re allowed to drive a car.

Practice and prep make sense.

Use these financial literacy middle school worksheets pdf and high school financial literacy worksheets below.

Hint: you also might want to check out these fun money activities for middle school students.

What Financial Literacy Subjects are We Talking About?

It’s helpful to know what’s included in a subject, so that you can cover all of your bases (or know that what you need covered, will be).

The financial literacy worksheets and PDFs below are going to fall into the following topics:

• Banking
• Budgeting
• Saving Money & Setting Money Goals
• Loans and Credit
• Earning Money

Let’s dive in.

Psst: You also might want to have your students journal about how they feel about money with these journal topics for kids – it helps them figure out how they feel/what they think about money, and it can help you to understand what they do/do not know about the subject.

Financial Literacy Worksheets PDF – Banking

Banking is super important in any adult’s life, which is why I created an entire article around free banking worksheets (PDFs) for kids and teens to learn banking skills.

You know, things like:

• How to write a check
• How to make a deposit
• How to shop around for the best banking services
• Differences between a bank and a credit union
• Etc.

But, I want to share one here, too.

1. HSFPP’s Lessons on Banking

Suggested Age: High School

Check out their lessons on Checking Accounts (lesson 5-1), and Financial Tools & Technology (lesson 5-2).

Students will learn:

• Different ways to pay for things, besides cash (and why you would want to choose another form)
• Banking apps
• Benefits of using a check (such as, for proof of purchase)
• Checking account monitoring
• Etc.

Next up? Let’s talk budgets.

Financial Literacy Worksheets PDF – Budgeting

Budgeting is one of the most critically important financial literacy subjects to cover before a student gets their hands on a real paycheck from a real job.

That’s why I’m dedicating this next section to free financial literacy printables all about budgeting.

Psst: here are 6 budget projects for middle school students, a free prom budget template, and 4 budgeting projects for high school students.

1. How to Be a Smart Consumer

Suggested Age: 4-6 grade

Check out this video, lesson plan, and student worksheets around helping kids understand how to be a smart consumer.

For example, kids will be asked:

• Whether or not it’s best to buy something now or later, given a scenario
• To design an advertisem*nt for a brand of sneaker
• How to calculate discounted items (based on a percentage off)

2. CFPB’s Budgeting for a Rural Trip

Suggested Age: 13-19 years

Students are given a budget of $500 and the task of budgeting for an overnight trip, 100 miles away.

They’re asked to fill in things like Breakfast for each day, lunch for each day, activities and events planned for each day, etc.

Teacher guide available for free.

Psst: you might want to reinforce needs vs. wants with these worksheets, activities, and games.

3. Dallas Fed’s Owning Vs. Renting

Suggested Age: Not given

What a great financial lesson to teach students: the costs of renting vs. the costs of owning a home.

Students will learn about:

• Landlord and tenant relationship
• Rental agreements
• Effects of owning on your net worth
• Responsibilities and risks of being a homeowner vs. renter

Worksheets include:

• Lease Agreement
• Examples of Housing Discrimination

4. Practical Money Skill’s Living On Your Own

Suggested Age: 7-8 grade

In Lesson 4, you’ll find worksheets that guide students through listing the things they have in their bedrooms and estimating the cost of these items.

Then, they need to budget for their first time living on their own.

They’ll also be guided on lease agreements, and how to find an apartment!

5. Can I Afford a Phone?

Suggested Age: Not given

I love how this activity takes budgeting for an item down to a kid’s world – through working on whether or not they can afford a smartphone.

They’ll be given a scenario from another teen who is trying to convince her parents they can afford one. Based on information given, teens will calculate if it’s more cost-effective to pay for a phone upfront, or on a monthly basis from the phone service provider.

Students will also create a budget both using an online budget form and a paper one.

Psst: here are 12 fun budgeting activities PDFs, all free, and some consumer math worksheets.

Financial Literacy Worksheets PDF – Saving Money & Setting Goals

Here you’ll find some great free PDFs all about helping kids to understand how to save money and how to set money saving goals.

1. FDIC’s Money Smart Worksheets

Suggested Age: 3-5 grade and 6-8 grade

This is an entire money curriculum from the FDIC (the people who insure our savings accounts), for various grade ranges.

The worksheets on saving money and setting goals include:

• Lesson 6: Super Savers (the Importance of Saving)
• Lesson 7: How to Stash Your Cash (Savings Options)
• Lesson 12: Spend, Save, or Give? Personal Financial Choices

Complete with educator and parent handbooks to download for free.

2. CFPB’s Impulse Spending Worksheet

Suggested Age: 16-19 years

Here’s a worksheet that corresponds with an online free financial literacy game, Misadventures in Money Management.

Students will play this game first, then answer questions about the character’s impulse spending decisions. They’ll then learn some strategies for beating their own impulse spending, well, impulses.

Pssst: looking for more online financial games for students? Here’s my article on 19 free financial literacy games for high school students.

Next up are entire workbooks around financial literacy subjects (instead of a just a one-off worksheet or two).

Financial Literacy Worksheets PDF – Earning Money

Earning money is a major part of financial literacy…because without money, you’ve really got nothing to manage!

This section will focus on free financial literacy worksheets and PDFs on understanding paychecks and other forms of earning income besides a 9-5 job.

1. Understanding Your Paychecks

Suggested Age: High school

One of the worksheets in this free workbook that you can download individually is about reading a paycheck and understanding what everything means. Students will then answer some questions about what the paycheck says.

2. It’s a Job Getting a Job

Suggested Age: High school

You don’t just walk out of high school or college and stumble into your first (or next) job. There’s a process to getting a teen first job.

These videos, teacher guide, and worksheets have teens thinking about:

• How to interview well
• How to best search for a job
• How economic conditions can affect the job search market

3. Fixed Vs. Variable Income

Suggested Age: 17-25 years

Something they definitely didn’t teach in my high school (that I really wish they had)? Is understanding the difference between different types of income.

Check out this mini-lesson plan and printable on fixed vs. variable vs. irregular income to educate them better about future earning possibilities.

4. Dividend-Paying Stocks

Suggested Age: High school

Personally, I think it’s super important to teach students that there are ways to earn money outside of your job.

And buying into dividend-paying stocks? Is one of those ways.

Pssst: I didn’t learn about these until well into my 20s…imagine where your students could be if they learn about this in their teens!

Students will learn:

• Vocabulary behind dividend stocks (always helps to demystify a subject when you know what the phrases and lingo mean!)
• How to calculate your yield and return on investment
• Risk vs. reward discussion
• How to buy a stock
• Etc.

For more worksheets about careers and jobs, check out the 19 free career exploration activities for high school students.

Financial Literacy Workbook PDFs

Looking for an entire, printable financial literacy workbook (PDF)? You’re in the right place!

These are all free for you to print out and use with your students.

1. Junior Scholastic Money Confident Kids Workbook

Suggested age: Grades 6-8

Scholastic partnered with T. Rowe Price to create this free and reproducible workbook on helping kids learn how to spend money wisely.

This takes kids through:

• Intro to impulse spending
• What teens spend their money on
• Purchasing power of money over time
• Creating a goal
• What an asset is, and how to create them
• Risk management while getting your money to grow
• Etc.

2. HSFFP Using Credit Workbook

Suggested Age: High school

In this 44-page financial literacy workbook PDF (there’s also worksheets and slides), students will learn:

• Quiz to see if you’re a responsible borrower or not (yet)
• Why someone would want to borrow money
• Calculating interest on loans
• Average credit card payments each month
• How long it’ll take to pay off something on credit versus buying in cash
• Etc.

While actually getting money into a kid or teen’s hands is the most ideal way to teach kids and teens about money, prepping them through worksheets and games is a great way to supplement a financial education.