Grades 6–8Ages 11–14 · Unit 3.5 · Saving and the Time Factor
Inflation is a silent tax: a free worksheet for grades 6–8.
A savings account that pays 0.4% while prices rise 3% still loses money, and nothing on the statement says so. This page is one subtraction done four times — and the row that starts the argument is the one where the balance went up and the value went down.
No account. No email. Nothing collected about your child.
What is on the page
- Four places money can sit, with real rates
- A real-return column to calculate
- An answer table with all four worked
- A teacher page on what the index fund row leaves out
What it teaches
- Real return as nominal minus inflation
- That a rising balance can still be a loss
- Why doing nothing with cash is itself a decision
How to run it
Watch for the student who finishes with “stocks always win.” The 10% is a long-run average and the table has no risk column — that omission is worth pointing out before the bell.
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Where it comes from
Unit 3.5 · Saving and the Time Factor of a 266-lesson curriculum.
This sheet is one activity, unchanged, from Financial Foundations™. Teachers can run a free five-week pilot with one class. Families can take the Family Edition home.