About Money Counts
What is Money Counts?
Money Counts is a free resource developed by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, in consultation with Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) teachers. Our aim is to help LCA teachers and students to complete the units of Module 6 of the LCA Social Education course, ‘Taking Charge’, that relate specifically to personal finance education.
Money Counts at a glance
There are 5 topics covered in the Money Counts program:
- Section 1: Putting more money in your pocket
- Section 2: Managing your money matters
- Section 3: Saving and borrowing for what you want
- Section 4: The cost of being in debt
- Section 5: Protecting your stuff
Resources
Lesson plans, case studies and worksheets for each section are free to print off and use. All of the teacher’s notes and student resources are freely available and there is no need to register or log in to access these.
If you require any information about the resources, please email financialeducation@ccpc.ie
Learning outcomes
This section lists all the learning outcomes (LOs) from Module 6 of the LCA Social Education course ‘Taking Charge’ that are supported by this resource.
Unit 2: Making Ends Meet
Students will be able to:
3. list additional financial commitments that occur at regular intervals
4. investigate the financial systems available for helping people plan their expenditure eg. Easi-Pay, budget accounts etc
5. plan a comprehensive and realistic annual expenditure budget for a young person living away from home based on actual costs and current starting pay scales
Unit 3: Account options
Student will be able to:
1. identify the reasons for opening an account in a financial institution
2. investigate his/her local credit union and report on findings
4. list the services provided by banking institutions
6. investigate the financial service provided by the post office and advantages of using the post office
7. investigate the financial service provided by the building societies
8. explore the various options for an investment of £100 (this LO has been amended to reflect the Euro change over a larger sum of money)
Unit 4: Saving and borrowing
Students will be able to:
1. explore the reasons for saving
2. investigate saving for a specific item
3. prepare a savings scheme taking into account other financial commitments
4. investigate the possibility of taking out a loan
5. explain what is meant by a hire purchase agreement including the advantages and disadvantages of this scheme
Unit 6: Understanding insurance
Student will be able to:
1. list the general types of insurance available
2. explain the following terms – premium, insurance policy, insurance broker, certificate of insurance
3. outline one type of insurance transaction and explain:
- choice of transaction
- what the transaction involves
- details regarding the value of the item to be insured, the value of the cover provided, premium costs
- completed documentation (forms)
- expected benefits
- claim procedure
Key assignments
- I prepared a step by step guide to leaving home and finding a place to live. I included the different considerations that need to be taken into account.
- I conducted and recorded (audio, written etc) an interview with a young person living away from home on their own.
- I prepared a weekly budget for a young person living on his or her own. I based this budget on the current weekly wage of a young person who has just started working.
- As part of a group, I participated in a discussion with a visitor representing a bank, credit union or building society, and reported on what I learned from the discussion.
