UDHS Business Education /Investments I / Course Number 686
Date
Units /
Standards
Quarter 1
Unit 1: Budgeting
Creating a Budget
Income Taxes—
Federal, State, Local
Quarter 2
Unit 2: Conservative
Investing
Rates of return and
yields on conservative
investment instruments
FICA Taxes
Federal Tax Allowance
(Exemption Per
Person)
Emergency Fund
Six steps in the
financial planning
process
Rule of 72
Investing by age
Saving for Retirement
Conservative
Investment
Instruments
NBEA Standards:
Accounting
I. Understand how the
accounting system
provides business
information
III. Assess financial
conditions and operating
results to interpret
Financial risk and age
ABCs of Finance video
NBEA Standards:
Accounting
I. Understand how the
accounting system
provides business
information
III. Assess financial
conditions and operating
results to interpret
Quarter 3
Unit 3: Basic Investing
Information & Terminology
Quarter 4
Unit 4: Investing in the
Stock Market
Bernie Madoff’s
fraudulent scheme
Dow Dividend Approach
to Investing
Basic stock market
terminology
Putting together a Dow
Dividend on-line tracking
portfolio using three
variations (High Yield
Ten, Beat the Dow 5,
and the Foolish 4)
Stock market
diversification factors,
their definitions, and
how they affect
individual stock prices
Computing profit/loss by
buying and selling stock
Two ways companies
raise capital
Putting together a
personal portfolio
($70,000)
Diversifying one’s
portfolio
IPOs
“Trading” stocks (selling
and buying)
Stock Index (indices)
and stock averages
Doing a cash
reconciliation sheet
Bond Ratings
Retirement fund options
Mutual Funds risk
NBEA Standards:
Essential
Questions
financial statements to
make informed business
decisions
IV. Recording of financial
transactions and the
preparation of financial
statements
financial statements to
make informed business
decisions
IV. Recording of financial
transactions and the
preparation of financial
statements

What is a budget?


What are income taxes
as opposed to property
taxes?



What income taxes do
you have to pay?
What is a graduated
income tax?

What is the difference
between a rate of
return and a yield?
Where can one find the
rates of return and
yields for various types
of conservative
financial instruments?
What are the risk
Stock investing risk
Sector and Industry
information used as a
comparison
Analyst ratings and
projections of stocks
NBEA Standards:
Accounting
I. Understand how the
accounting system provides
business information
III. Assess financial
conditions and operating
results to interpret financial
statements to make
informed business decisions
IV. Recording of financial
transactions and the
preparation of financial
statements
 Who is Bernie Madoff?

What did Madoff do and
how did he do it?

What red flags should
Madoff’s investors
noted?

How are corporate
bonds rated?
Accounting
I. Understand how the
accounting system provides
business information
III. Assess financial
conditions and operating
results to interpret financial
statements to make
informed business decisions
IV. Recording of financial
transactions and the
preparation of financial
statements

What are the basic
strategies of the Dow
Dividend approach of
investing?

How does on set up an
on-line portfolio?

How does one determine
how to select stocks for
one’s personal portfolio?

Which tax that you pay
on your income is a
graduated tax?

What does OASDI
mean?

What are the two types
of FICA taxes?

Which of the FICA
taxes has a cap?

What is a cap on
income taxes?

What federal income
tax bracket did your
salary fall in?

What federal income
tax bracket did your
salary fall in when you
subtracted the federal
tax allowance from
your earnings?

What is the PA state
income tax rate?

What is the Upper
Dublin local income tax
rate?
factors associated with
each type of

investment instrument?

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What questions do you
need to ask before
investing in
conservative
investment
instruments?
What questions do you
need to ask before
investing in money
market accounts?
What questions do you
need to ask before
investing in a savings
account?
What is the F.D.I.C.
and what is its
purpose.
Looking at the
spreadsheet listing
rates for all of the
conservative
investment instruments
we studies, what has
the highest return?
What options did you
choose for the follow-


Why do individuals take
the risk to invest in junk
bonds?

What factors must be
considered when buying
and selling stocks?
How do investors
compute their gain or
losses on stocks they
purchase and sell?

What factors should be
considered when
diversifying a portfolio?

What retirement fund
options are available?
What are the two ways
shareholders make
money by owning stock? 

What is a P/E ratio?

What is beta?

What is yield?

What is market
capitalization and how
does one compute it?

Where can one find
information on publiclytraded companies on
Yahoo?

What is an index?

How is comparing one
company to another in
the same sector or
What is the benefit of a
tax-sheltered retirement
fund?

What is the benefit of
having a Roth retirement
fund?

Which option would be
best for you and why?

Does one size fit all
when it comes to
selecting retirement
options?

What is the importance
of investing for
retirement as early as
possible?
up problems?

What is the Medicare
tax rate for an
employee?

Who has to match the
employees’ Medicare
tax contributions?

What is the Social
Security tax rate for an
employee?

Who has to match the
employees’ Social
Security tax
contributions?

What percentage of
your budget (before
and after the allowance
is computed) is
consumed with the
taxes you have to pay
each month?

Are you surprised that
taxes take a significant
amount of your
monthly income?

On a budget of
$_________ a year,
what items did you
industry helpful?


If a company has a high
P/E, one of two things
will happen in the
future? What are they
and under what
circumstances will they
occur?
have difficulty including
in your budget?

What items did you
choose to live without?

What is the easiest
way to save money
each month?

How soon in life should
you start to save for
retirement?

If you have money left
over each month, what
should that money be
used for when you first
start working?

When you interviewed
your parents about
their budgets
throughout their adult
years, what did you
learn?

What financial advice
did your parents give
you?

What is the difference
between conservative
and risky investment
strategies?

What are your 4
investment goals (in
order from top to
bottom)—that help you
assess your willingness
to take a risk?

What is a W-4
Statement?

When does an
individual have to
complete a W-4
statement?

What did you learn
from the budget
activity? List 5 items.

What conservative
investment instruments
are available for you to
invest in?

What is a stock?

What is a bond?

Who issues bonds?

What are the two ways
that corporations raise
capital?

What entity does not
issue stock—bonds are
the only securities
issued.

What is a security?

What is principal?

What is a return on
investment?

What are the three
time periods bonds can
be issued for?

What is the safety,
return, ease of getting
cash, and ease of
opening an account for
each type?

What is inflation?

What is deflation?

What is the FDIC and
what does it do?

What is the minimum
investment in a bond?
Assessments
Activities /
Events

What are treasuries?

What is a muni?

Budget Packet—
Information, questions,
and parent interview
sheet

Conservative
investments packet
listing various types of
conservative
investment
instruments.
Budget Packet




Conservative
investments
instruments packet.
Cases (5) following the
conservative
investments packet.

Internet project on
federal government
bonds using the public
debt and Treasury
Department Websites
to check the rates of
savings bonds (I and E)
and Treasury securities.
Internet project using
www.bankrate.com
Internet site to look up
prevailing rates of
return on investment
instruments.

Funding Your Dreams

Setting up a personal
tracking portfolio

A History of the Dow

Doing stock trades
(buying and selling)

Internet research on the 
Dow 30 using three
variations of the Dow
Dividend approach
(High Yield 10, Beat the
Dow 5, and the Foolish
4)

Setting up an on-line
tracking portfolio to
video
video
Internet research on
retirement funds
Career Links

Prepare a spreadsheet
and graph showing the
prevailing rates of the
conservative
investment
instruments.

Follow-up project using
spreadsheet
information.

Investing by age
worksheet

Internet project on
Bernie Madoff and
Ponzi schemes

Demystifying the Stock
Market video
track the Dow Dividend
portfolio ($30,000)
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www.google.com
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www.google.com
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www.google.com
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www.google.com
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www.yahoo.com
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www.yahoo.com
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www.yahoo.com
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www.yahoo.com