The Twentieth Century Model

Retirement planning in the United States rested on three pillars: employer pensions, Social Security, and personal savings. Many workers could reasonably expect to retire with guaranteed monthly income from a pension.

High school consumer math reflected that reality. Students learned budgeting, debt management, and simple interest calculations because retirement itself was largely institutionally managed; employers carried investment risks and guaranteed retirement income.

That system no longer exists.

Today, pensions have been replaced by defined-contribution plans such as 401(k)s. Responsibility for retirement security shifted from institutions to individuals. Americans are now expected to manage complex decisions regarding savings rates, investments, market risks, retirement withdrawals, and portfolio sustainability—responsibilities once handled by pension managers.

Millions of Americans were moved into a self-managed system they were never adequately trained to navigate. The result: a growing retirement readiness gap. Of those age 55-64, 43% have $0 retirement savings.[i] Fifty-eight percent of retirees don’t know how long their retirement savings will last.[ii]

But the educational system failed to adjust.

Today, retirement security depends on an individual’s ability to manage financial resources through decades of financial complexity, yet consumer math programs remain largely oblivious to this new economic reality. Despite expanded financial education requirements, national surveys show that Gen Z scores the lowest of all age groups on measures of financial literacy.[iii]

Most programs continue to teach a common set of twentieth-century financial skills while giving comparatively little attention to the long-term financial planning responsibilities that now define adult financial life. Traditional programs often omit market returns, savings yields, and inflation rates—the very factors that drive long-term financial outcomes.

Students learn isolated financial skills such as:

• How to budget.
• Save for retirement.
• Invest early.
• Avoid debt.
• Live below your means.

Students walk away with fragmented knowledge and limited understanding of how the components work together.

These programs often fail to ask the most important question: What is the ultimate goal of personal finance?
The ultimate goal of personal finance is not budgeting, investing, or even debt reduction. Those are tools.
The ultimate goal is lifetime financial security through retirement.
That goal needs to drive personal finance curriculum.

Financial Education for a Post-Pension World

Both consumer math programs and the broader culture place enormous emphasis on debt management—with popular budgeting apps, credit-score monitoring, and debt-reduction strategies. But they miss the ultimate goal. As retirement approaches, the burning question is not, “How much debt did I have?” but “Will my money last?” That is an asset-management question—the very question financial education should focus on.

The Wise Builder curriculum places that goal at the center of personal finance education.

At its core, financial security follows a simple progression:
Income → Savings → Assets → Retirement Income → Lifetime Sustainability

Most curricula stop at assets. Students are taught how to save and invest, but rarely what sustainable retirement income requires.

In The Wise Builder, achieving lifetime financial security becomes the organizing framework for the entire course. This financial planning model shows how savings rates, investment returns, inflation, and Social Security benefits work together to determine retirement-income sustainability.

The Lifetime Income graph distills the complexity of long-term financial planning into one simple picture: Here’s what happens to your lifetime income based on your choices.

Consumer math asks students to solve equations: save $X and earn Y% to accumulate $Z. The Wise Builder asks students to solve the financial challenge every adult faces: How much is needed for lifetime financial security?

Instead of simply being told “save for retirement,” students learn how much saving may be required to achieve specific retirement-income targets. Students can adjust the variables:

• What happens if I save 15% instead of 10%?
• What happens if I retire three years earlier?
• What happens if inflation rises?

Now students are taught to think like financial planners, not just savers, and answer the question millions of adults actually worry about: Will my money last?

Lifetime Financial Planning Begins with the First Paycheck

Recent legislation recognizes this. Employers are now required to automatically enroll new employees in their 401(k) plans. If employees do not make selections, employers are required to choose default contribution rates and investment options for them. This means young adults will face retirement decisions as soon as they enter the workforce—or those decisions will be made by others. They need to understand their choices, especially if their employer does not offer a retirement plan. Their decisions today will compound for decades.

The Role of Schools

This new era requires a fundamental change in personal finance curriculum.

Since young adults are expected to function as their own financial planners, schools must begin teaching them how to think like financial planners. If students do not learn this in high school or college, when will they learn it?

What if your students entered adulthood with a clear financial plan—before credit cards, loans, and social media shaped their financial choices?

You only get one chance to prepare for retirement. That opportunity begins with education. We can make a dent in the retirement crisis for the next generation.

The Wise Builder was designed to do that.

 

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Dana Jensen has worked in the mortgage lending industry for 31 years and is the founder of The Wise Builder. For direct inquiries to implement The Wise Builder in your high school or college: Dana@TheWiseBuilder.org

www.TheWiseBuilder.org/?=EI

 

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[i] Distribution of Retirement Account Balances: Analysis of the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

[ii] https://www.schroders.com/en-us/us/intermediary/clients/defined-contribution/us-retirement-survey/living-in-retirement/

[iii] tiaa-gflec-financial-literacy-report-lusardi-yakoboski-sticha-mastry-may-2026.pdf

 

From kindergarten through twelfth grade, it is impossible to teach a child the full measure of what they will need to know in life. There will be gaps.

Yet gaps are not evidence of neglect. They are evidence that learning is alive.

Dorothy L. Sayers, celebrated educator and author of the 19th century, in her essay “The Lost Tools of Learning,” argued that the great failure of modern education is not that it leaves things out, but that it tries to teach everything without first teaching students how to learn. Facts change. Knowledge expands. No curriculum, however thorough, can ever be complete.

Our children are not meant to emerge from homeschooling as finished products. These years are foundational, not exhaustive. They are the years where we help shape how our children relate to learning itself, whether they see it as a source of pressure or a source of possibility.

There will be gaps in education, but those gaps are not a source of shame but of opportunity.

Gaps create space for curiosity and leave room for growth.They teach children that not knowing is not a dead end, but a beginning. A child who believes learning ends with graduation has been shortchanged, no matter how rigorous their education has been. Yet a child who knows how to ask questions, seek answers, and learn independently is deeply prepared for adulthood.

Homeschooling offers us a rare gift in this educational journey. 

We are not bound to race a clock or satisfy every external metric. We can linger. We can follow a child’s interests. We can allow seasons of deep focus and seasons of rest. We can choose depth over breadth when it matters most. 

In these pivotal years, our work is not to eliminate every unknown. Our goals are to awaken wonder, to encourage curiosity, and to cultivate an atmosphere where learning is not something to finish, but something that is lifelong.

A homeschooled child who loves learning will fill gaps far more effectively than one who was pushed to cover everything but learned to associate education with mere facts in a fixed timeframe.

Sayers believed the true end of education was simple and enduring: to teach a person how to learn for themselves. That kind of education outlasts any curriculum, any transcript, any checklist of subjects.

When we instill a love of learning in our children, we give them something far more powerful than a “complete education.” We provide them with the tools to keep educating themselves long after our formal teaching ends.

MEET OUR AUTHOR

LAURA BARRETT

2nd Generation Homeschooler, Life-Long Learner, HLA Counselor & Accommodation Coordinator

 

In that moment, it felt as though everything that had been “added” was simply more burden. I had lost sight of the reason for the day itself. Yet as I read the verse again, I remembered the words that came just before it: Jesus’ reminder to store up treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed or stolen. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19–21).

To seek God first meant allowing Him to reorient my heart: to remind me what my true treasures were. And some of those treasures were sitting right there in my dining room on that very ordinary Tuesday. Once again, I had the opportunity to teach, to guide, and to love.

It is easy to lose sight of our goals in homeschooling when our attention is consumed by daily checklists and hectic schedules. We forget the deeper why behind our decision to home educate as we manage lessons, dishes, attitudes, and interruptions. We worry about what we will accomplish today, how much our children will learn, and whether we are doing enough.

Jesus reminds us that worry cannot add a single hour to our lives, though it often feels as though it shortens them, and that the same God who provides for the birds also cares for us (Matthew 6:25–27). Our days may feel small and chaotic, but they are held within a much larger story.

Often, we are very good at planning for the day but less intentional about planning for the future. Scripture repeatedly calls us to pause, to remember where we have been, and to consider where we are headed. God reminds us that He is a God of purpose, not accident. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Creating a vision statement for your homeschool helps anchor your daily work to that future hope. We are not merely completing assignments; we are laying a foundation and shaping character. Our children are eternal beings, and what we invest in them reaches far beyond any school year or transcript.

A clear vision gives us an overarching goal for our homeschooling journey. It reminds us why education matters and why this particular path matters for our family. A vision statement becomes an anchor: something to return to when the days feel long or the progress feels invisible.

For some families, that vision may center on cultivating a love of learning. For others, it may involve protecting children from harmful environments or giving them space to pursue their interests deeply. Still others homeschool to create a learning environment where their child can finally thrive after seasons marked by struggle, resistance, or discouragement. Each vision will look different, but each one gives direction.

Homeschooling is rarely chosen because it is easy or convenient. It is a calling, a vocation, that requires intention, patience, and continual reflection. Without a clearly articulated vision, it is easy to drift or become discouraged.

My season has changed. I no longer have very little ones, and my nights are mostly filled with sleep. But I still face challenges, and I still need reminders of why I am doing what I am doing. The circumstances may look different, yet the need to return to vision and purpose remains the same.

A homeschool vision is not something we write once and tuck away to be forgotten. It is something we revisit, refine, and sometimes recast as our children grow, and our seasons change. Our homeschool vision reminds us to seek first what truly matters and to trust that the rest will follow.

MEET OUR AUTHOR

LAURA BARRETT

2nd Generation Homeschooler, Life-Long Learner, HLA Counselor & Accommodation Coordinator

 

In college, every one of my classes involved some written assignments. My English courses required reading and writing, the history classes had extensive textbooks to read and written exams, and even courses like physical education and music appreciation had several quizzes with short answer prompts.

After college, as I entered the workforce, each role has required me to communicate daily with people. And the crazy thing is that every day, I am using the English language skills my mother spent so much time teaching to me. Whether it’s a phone call, an email, face-to-face communication, or a letter, I am constantly using the language tools I learned during elementary school, high school, and college.

Maybe your student is like younger Joseph, struggling with motivation, learning how to read or write, or studying grammar rules. If so, be encouraged that the skills they are learning now, however difficult that process might be, will serve them for the rest of their lives. Wherever they find themselves after graduation, effective communication skills will set them up for success. If you think you might need to change teaching strategies, contact the HLA Counseling team. They love to help parent-teachers and students find what works best for them!

A special thank you to my mom for sticking through the tough years of English work with me!

MEET OUR AUTHOR

JOSEPH WUNROW

HLA Graduate, Marketing & Development

 

“I hope this doesn’t disqualify her, but I WAS a student of Hope Shelton. She has been homeschooling for over 25 years. I am her eldest daughter (34) and am a homeschooling mom myself now. She is the reason I chose to homeschool my sons, and I am the reason she started homeschooling. I have/had dyslexia as a child and struggled in public school. My mom dropped everything and pulled me out so I could actually learn and not get left behind. She has homeschooled me and my 6 younger siblings and is STILL homeschooling 4 of them, with one to graduate this year.

She deserves soooo much praise for her selflessness to continue homeschooling for so long and not give up! She started when it wasn’t “mainstream,” cool, or popular, with little to no support from family or friends starting in the 90s. With lots of life changes over 25 years, she could have easily given up or quit. But she hasn’t!

I believe 4 of my younger siblings have nominated her, but I hope hearing from an adult child (who is following in her footsteps) would get her more consideration.

Please choose Hope Shelton! She deserves it!”

 

Studying subjects such as biology, chemistry, physics, etc. has equipped my own students to be life-long learners. The sciences can prepare students for careers in medicine or engineering. Science allows students to improve critical thinking, analyze data, understand the world around them, and have a curiosity that can lead to finding solutions to problems. All of this enables students to become informed decision makers and leaders wherever they may go.

Just as important as science, our involvement in fine arts has been invaluable in our home education. We have seen creativity expressed through theater, dance, musical instruments, and art using a variety of mediums. Engaging in such activities enhances cognitive skills, develops quick thinkers, and can improve memory. The fine arts can foster an emotional intelligence where students have a higher self-esteem, improved confidence, and reduced stress and anxiety. Our students have learned the importance of perseverance, hard work, and teamwork. They have developed friendships and social skills and have practiced collaboration and effective communication.

Although science and fine arts are completely different facets of education, together they can prepare students to become successful adults that are ready to face whatever comes their way. These well-rounded students will thrive as they utilize all that they have learned to become the next generation of great leaders.

 

MEET OUR AUTHOR

JENNIFER BEEBE

NCAA Eligibility Counselor, Homeschool Mom

 

Consumer Math has been one of our favorite finds! I have had struggling learners in math, and even for them, Consumer Math has been such a good fit. We had them do the course in Senior Year. I felt like it was a great transition as they prepared to finish high school and potentially launch. They never enjoyed math until that point, but they genuinely enjoyed doing Consumer Math.

They found it helpful to think through all of the real life scenarios, talk through detailed budgets, look at insurance and investment options and compare them, etc. It pushed us to work through a variety of scenarios and put some of those things into action for them as well. That course gave us a lot to talk about; they did a lot of research and were able to critically think through some things that hadn’t been on their radar until that class. We loved it. 

I encourage a lot of families I chat with to incorporate Consumer Math into their high school plan if it makes sense for them. Each kiddo and their goals and needs for after high school are different, but for us — it was a great fit! 

 

MEET OUR AUTHOR

AMBER REYNOLDS

Struggling Learner & Middle School Counselor, Homeschool Mama

 

The World Geography & Cultures curriculum we used included links to listen to music and look at works of Art from each country. This would lead to an Art project or learning to play a song on the keyboard. We would cook a recipe from the country, and he would need to use Math skills and follow directions. Because my son is very interested in animals and nature, we also decided to learn more about the animals that live in the countries we were studying by reading a beautiful book about the Wildlife of the World (with photos and maps) and watching documentaries. This led us to make the decision for him to take Biology for his Science credit because it was a perfect compliment.

His English credit included books about different countries we were learning about through the Geography course. We also incorporated his unique interest in Godzilla into English and Geography. He researched the origin of Godzilla, the timeline of all the eras, directors, actors, and suits. He organically learned about the history and culture of Japan while pursuing his love of all things Kaiju. He taught himself to play music from the movies on his keyboard. We incorporated some of his writing into this as well: writing a descriptive paragraph about a figure in his collection or re-writing the ending to a movie. He joined a weekly online discussion group with other students to analyze and discuss the movies and monsters. Yes, this group really did exist, and we found it!

So, he earned Social Studies (Geography), English, Science (Biology), Elective (Japanese Film Study), and Music-Keyboarding credits that all were planned because of one subject. I think there were so many wonderful lessons learned that year with the approach we used, but probably the biggest benefits were seeing how everything is connected and that life isn’t broken up into 45 minute periods of different subjects. We have great memories from that year and the study of World Geography ignited a lifelong love of learning — a passion I believe is the most valuable life skill of all. 

MEET OUR AUTHOR

HEATHER HOLLADAY

High School Counselor for Struggling Learners

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In addition to culinary exploration and catering events, the girls were given opportunities to create such capstone endeavors as a cookbook, a pop-up restaurant, and a bakery/cafe open to the public where donations raised were given to our local food pantry. She also had a wonderful opportunity to assist with a chef’s weekly homeschool cooking classes. 

By age 15, she was filling bakery orders and creating beautiful cookies, cupcakes, and cakes. At one point, she offered a “Mystery Cookie Club” where members would eagerly try a variety of cookies each week and fill out a form offering feedback. By the time she graduated from high school, she had a growing online business and had created several custom wedding cakes. It seemed fitting that she pursue her Associates degree in Business Management at our local community college (free with the TNPromise scholarship). She got a head start by taking dual enrollment courses during her junior and senior years of high school. 

Our homeschool lifestyle gave her the freedom to spend time creating and exploring her craft, and learning and growing her skills. 

For more photos, you can visit Like A Boss Bakeshop’s Instagram.

MEET OUR AUTHOR

SHELLEY STEDMAN

High School Counselor, Homeschool Mom