I thought this might get your attention. A morbid question for sure but probably one that many are curious about. 

So you are reviewing your lessons for your upcoming investing unit and struggling again with how you are going to get your students interested in "investing for retirement." How can you possibly get your students interested in this topic when their idea of long-term is their class next period. This interactive should help. Students enter their gender and their age and voila! the simulation runs to show the range of values that they can expect to live [I recommend using the FAST button]. 

Let the simulation run for a minute and then have students answer these questions:

• What age are you expected to live until (by looking at the tallest set of bars in histogram at the bottom of the simulation)? 
• What is the oldest age that you are expected to live (remember that the X axis measures "years left to live")? 
• Using the life expectancy that shows up most frequently for you, how many years are you expected to live beyond the normal retirement age of 67?
• What are the sources of income for workers when they retire? 
• Using this investment calculator, if you saved $1,000 this year from your summer job, earned 5% per year by investing in the stock market and didn't spend the money until you were 85, how much would it be worth then? Are you excited about saving now? 

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Like teaching with interactives? Check out our Interactive Library which has over 40 games to engage your students!

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.