Part of the US State Curriculum Alignment series.
A three-book US financial-literacy workbook series by Michael McCracken: Book 1 — The Money Starter Pack (foundations; suggested Grades 6–9), Book 2 — The Grind (paychecks, taxes, credit, investing; Grades 9–12), Book 3 — Endgame (advanced planning; senior grades and adult). Print workbooks, 8.5×11, greyscale, with write-in activities throughout. Book 2 is the closest single-volume match to the half-credit Personal Finance and Money Management course; Book 1 covers the attitudes, spending and saving standards and Book 3 the investing and insurance ones.
Florida requires a half credit in personal financial literacy and money management under SB 1054 (2022) for students entering grade 9 in 2023–24 and later, first affecting the graduating class of 2027. The course is built on the SS.912.FL financial literacy strand, which carries 89 benchmarks across seven standards, with the MA.912.FL mathematics strand supplying the computational benchmarks.
How The Money Skill Tree maps to the Florida curriculum
| SS.912.FL standard | Coverage in The Money Skill Tree (US Edition) |
|---|---|
| SS.912.FL.1 Financial Attitudes and Behaviors | B1 Ch 1 (money mindsets and the life battery audit), B1 Ch 3 (the marketing maze, wants disguised as needs), B3 Ch 8 (lifestyle creep, reference-point anchoring, social comparison, the research on happiness and income), B2 Ch 14 (emotional regulation, delayed gratification). |
| SS.912.FL.2 Earning Income | B2 Ch 1 (gross vs. net, W-4, W-2, I-9, pay stub anatomy, tips, commission, gig income), B2 Ch 2 (federal, FICA, state and local), B2 Ch 5 (Form 1040 walkthrough, filing thresholds, state returns), B1 Ch 11 (Social Security), B2 Ch 12 (education and lifetime earnings). |
| SS.912.FL.3 Buying Goods and Services | B1 Ch 3 (the Filter, checkout ambush, cost-per-use, unit pricing), B1 Ch 9 (fixed and variable expenses in the 50/30/20 budget), B1 Ch 2 (payment method costs, subscription traps, dynamic pricing), B2 Ch 13 (consumer fraud). Contracts and billing disputes are touched but not developed. |
| SS.912.FL.4 Saving | B1 Ch 5 (banks, credit unions, online banks, FDIC coverage), B1 Ch 6 (checking vs. savings, HYSA, goal-based tiers), B1 Ch 7 (simple vs. compound interest, the Rule of 72), B1 Ch 8 (inflation eroding purchasing power), B2 Ch 7 (the 3–6 month rule), B2 Ch 3 (tax-advantaged vehicles). |
| SS.912.FL.5 Using Credit | B1 Ch 10 (consumer, strategic and predatory debt, BNPL, payoff strategies), B2 Ch 6 (the three bureaus, FICO vs. VantageScore, the five factors, APR and the cost of carrying a balance, the free annual report, freezes), B2 Ch 12 (the four student loan types and repayment). Bankruptcy is mentioned only in passing. |
| SS.912.FL.6 Financial Investing | B2 Ch 9 (capital gains, dividends, how to buy a stock, account types, dollar-cost averaging), B2 Ch 10 (ETFs, mutual funds, index investing, the major US indexes, expense ratios), B2 Ch 11 (risk and return, the age rule, rebalancing, sequence risk), B2 Ch 3–4 (investment account types), B1 Ch 2 (digital currency). |
| SS.912.FL.7 Protecting and Insuring | B3 Ch 6 (health, auto, renters, homeowners, term vs. whole life, disability, umbrella; premiums, deductibles, exclusions), B2 Ch 13 (identity theft prevention, phishing, 2FA, recovery steps), B1 Ch 5 (account security), B1 Ch 11 (the FDIC). |
| MA.912.FL.1–4 Mathematics financial literacy strand | The write-in calculators carry this: the Multiplier Effect and Rule of 72 (B1 Ch 7), the Flight Path budget (B1 Ch 9), the Interest Leak (B1 Ch 10), Your Real Take-Home (B2 Ch 2), Your Match Math (B2 Ch 4), the amortization schedule (B3 Ch 2) and the FI number (B3 Ch 9). |
B1 = Book 1 (The Money Starter Pack) · B2 = Book 2 (The Grind) · B3 = Book 3 (Endgame) · “Ch” = chapter.
Instructional features
Every chapter closes with a hands-on Skill Quest and an Elite Quest (write-in worksheets), a Guild Chat discussion prompt, and a Summary Checklist, so each standard below has an assessable classroom activity attached to it, not only a reading.
Gaps to note
Contracts as legally binding instruments (SS.912.FL.3.10) and disputing incorrect billing (3.12) are touched only in passing, bankruptcy (5.10) is named but not developed, and estate planning for contingencies (7.13) is a referral in B3 Ch 10 rather than instruction. Each is a sidebar of half a page or less.
Curriculum source
Curriculum source: Florida's State Academic Standards — Social Studies, 9-12 Financial Literacy Strand (SS.912.FL) — fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/18736/urlt/FinancialLiteracyStrand.pdf · course 2102371 · benchmark detail at cpalms.org
Prepared August 2026 · moneyskilltree.com · Standards references should be verified against current state documents at time of adoption.
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