Q & A with the Author

Why should Financial Mathematics be implemented into a curriculum?

Financial Mathematics teaches students how mathematics applies in everyday life. They begin to see how concepts mentioned in their standard mathematics curriculum are used to calculate results they are interested in, which improves focus and performance on a daily basis. The applications highlighted throughout the manual significantly increase the financial awareness of the students. They go on to graduate with the necessary knowledge to deter them from making the poor financial choices that so many young adults make.

One of the most important advantages of Financial Mathematics is the confidence it instills in students. My students were all overwhelmed with joy when realizing they had just passed an exam that many college graduates and professionals couldn’t. The goal is for them to retain that confidence as they pursue further education after high school.

How should Financial Mathematics be taught?

My personal method was to teach financial concepts every Friday for the last four months of the school year. This allowed my students to see how topics taught from Monday–Thursday were necessary for their financial calculations. Each section in the book required approximately 2-3 classes, accounting for roughly 25 one-hour class periods. You have the freedom to teach Financial Mathematics in any way that makes you and your students comfortable. My advice is to take your time and only move on to the next section when your students completely understand the current section. This will certainly depend on the aptitude of your students. Please see the question below for further details.

After reading through the book, some of the topics are still unclear to me. What do you recommend?

It is very understandable that the information is new to you or you have not seen it in quite some time. My personal experiences had no foundation in interest theory until I began studying for the Financial Mathematics exam from the Society of Actuaries. This motivated me to introduce these concepts to a high school audience. Any school that implements Financial Mathematics will be offered a seminar on the material and my experience in teaching it. In addition, I will be available via phone or e-mail to answer any questions you may have.

I’m very interested in implementing Financial Mathematics for my school, but the school year has already started.  What are my options?

One of the strengths of Financial Mathematics is that it acts as a complement to the regular mathematics curriculum. Therefore, it is not imperative that it be implemented at the beginning of the school year. I didn’t start teaching these concepts until the second half of the school year and all of my students did exceptionally well on their Financial Mathematics final exam.