NY Times columnist Ron Lieber out with a column over the weekend which lists 7 questions to get a conversation started about money (the sketch above from Carl Richards of NYT also):

• What lessons about money did you learn from your parents?
• What does the word money conjure up for you?
• How many children would you like to have when you retire?
• How do you think your children feel about that?
• Tell me about your financial situation when you first met.
• What are the most important things in your life?
• What does the prospect of retirement look like for you?

Look for my podcast next week with Elizabeth Justema, personal finance teacher at Summit High School (Bend, Oregon) who created her own unit to get at this issue of money values. Here are some thought-provoking questions and fill-in-the-blanks that she created to get students to investigate their perspectives on money. Look for more in the podcast show notes early next week.

What a great way to open your first class by having your students explore their attitudes toward money! You might even have them develop their own favorite money question that applies to their life.

A few of my favorites (Hat tip to Tim Ferris):

• What’s the best thing you ever bought for less than $10? (the cost of an item not always an indicator of its value to you)
• Who do you think of when you hear the word “success?” (there are other measures of success other than $s)

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.