F. Financial Literacy · Money and Finances: Ways to Pay, Financial Goals, Interest Rates and Sharing Resources

What Helps and What Gets in the Way of Financial Goals

F1.3 A1About 45 minutes

Learning goals

I can identify and describe factors that help people reach financial goals.
I can identify and describe factors that interfere with (get in the way of) financial goals.
I can calculate how small spending, price changes and unexpected costs change a goal.
I can use strategies to manage my feelings and make thoughtful money choices.

Words to know

factor
Something that has an effect on what happens. Some factors help a goal; some get in the way.

impulse buying
Buying something suddenly, without planning or thinking it through.

advertising
Messages from businesses that try to get people to buy things.

peer pressure
Feeling pushed to do what friends or classmates are doing.

unexpected expense
A cost you didn't plan for, like replacing lost mittens.

subscription
A payment that repeats, like every month, to keep using something (such as a streaming service or a game pass).

Same plan, different results

Noah and Ella each want $60 for a pair of snowshoes to share on family hikes. Each gets $10 a week, and each plans to save all of it for 6 weeks.

After 6 weeks, Noah has $60. Ella has only $35. They started with the same goal and the same income. What happened?

Ella bought snacks after skating ($9), bought coins in a phone game ($6) and had to replace mittens she lost ($10). Some of these were choices. One (the mittens) was something she needed. All of them got in the way of her goal.

Noah reached $60. Ella saved $35; the dashed part is the $25 she spent along the way.

Factors that can help or get in the way

A factor is something that has an effect. Some factors are personal: your own habits, choices and feelings. Others come from outside: prices, weather, emergencies, advertising.

Good news: even when you can't control an outside factor, you can plan for it.

Factors that help	Factors that get in the way
A clear goal written down, with an amount and a deadline	No clear goal, so money gets spent on whatever comes up
A budget, and tracking where money goes	Not knowing where money went
Saving first: putting the savings aside as soon as you get money	Impulse buying: buying without thinking
Keeping savings in a separate place, like a bank account (it can even earn interest)	Advertising and influencers that make things look like must-haves
Comparing prices, waiting for a sale, buying used	Peer pressure: "Everyone has one!"
Earning extra, like a new small job	Income going down, like no snow to shovel or fewer dog-walking days
Saving a little extra for surprises	Unexpected expenses, like a lost item or a broken phone screen
Support from family and friends who know your goal	Price increases, fees, interest on debt and subscriptions that repeat

The same factor can be personal (your choices) or outside (things that happen to you).

Feelings and money

People often spend money because of feelings: bored, excited, sad, left out or stressed. Advertisers know this! Ads may say "Only 2 left!", "Today only!" or show people who look happy because of a product.

Some strategies that help:

The cool-down rule: wait 24 hours before buying a want. If you still want it tomorrow, think it over with your goal in mind.
Ask: Is this a need or a want? Does it bring me closer to my goal or further away?
Name the feeling: "I want this because I feel left out." Naming it helps you choose calmly.
Talk to a trusted grown-up before buying online or in an app.

Worked example

Example 1: Small spends add up

Malik buys a $2.75 snack (tax included) 3 times a week. How much is that over 8 weeks? What fraction of a $100 goal is that?

Snacks in 8 weeks: 3 × 8 = 24 snacks.
Cost: 24 × $2.75. Split it: 24 × $2 = $48 and 24 × $0.75 = $18. $48 + $18 = $66.
As a fraction of $100: 66/100 = 66%, about two thirds of the goal!

$66 in 8 weeks, which is 66% of a $100 goal. Small amounts that repeat can add up to a lot.

Each square is $1 of the $100 goal. The 66 shaded squares are the snacks: small spends that repeat ate about two thirds of the goal.

Worked example

Example 2: Getting Ella back on track

Ella has $35 of her $60 goal and still saves $10 a week. How many more weeks does she need? What could help?

Still needed: $60 − $35 = $25.
$25 ÷ $10 = 2.5, so she needs 3 more weeks (round up).
What could help: save first each week, use the cool-down rule for snacks and games, and keep her mittens clipped to her coat!

3 more weeks. Her goal isn't lost; it just takes longer, and now she has a plan.

Worked example

Example 3: When the price goes up

Kwame was saving for a game priced $50 plus HST. Before he has enough, the price goes up to $55 plus HST. How much more does he need to save?

Old total: $50 + $6.50 HST = $56.50.
New total: $55 + $7.15 HST = $62.15.
Difference: $62.15 − $56.50 = $5.65. (Check: the $5 increase also has 13% tax: $5 + 65¢ = $5.65. ✔)

He needs $5.65 more. A price increase is an outside factor. He could wait for a sale, find a used copy or save one more week.

Worked example

Example 4: Subscriptions repeat

A game pass costs $7.99 a month (tax included). How much is that in a year?

12 × $7.99. Think of $7.99 as $8.00 − $0.01.
12 × $8.00 = $96.00. 12 × $0.01 = $0.12.
$96.00 − $0.12 = $95.88.

$95.88 a year. A subscription feels small each month, but it repeats. Check whether it's still worth it.

Plan for surprises

Many families keep an emergency fund: savings for unexpected expenses, like a car repair or a broken furnace in January. For a kid, it could be just a few dollars kept aside so a lost water bottle doesn't wreck your whole goal.

Spot the trick

When you see an ad, ask: Who made this? What do they want me to do? What are they not telling me? "Free" games may sell coins or extras. "Limited time" can make you rush. A thoughtful choice beats a fast one.

Just for fun

Riddle: What costs $2.75 but somehow also costs $66?

Malik's snack, if he buys it 3 times a week for 8 weeks!

Hands-on activity

Money detective week

You need: a notebook, a pencil and a calculator.

For one week, write down every "money moment" you notice: something you bought, something you wanted to buy, an ad you saw, a time a friend talked about something they got. (You can include family moments if a grown-up agrees.)
Beside each one, write H if it helped a goal or G if it got in the way. Write whether it was personal or outside.
Find three ads (TV, online, flyer, cereal box, bus shelter). For each, name the trick: "limited time", "everyone has one", a famous person, "free" with extras to buy...
Pick one thing that got in the way. Work out how much it would cost if it happened every week for a year (multiply by 52).
Write one strategy you'll use next week.

What to look for: at least five money moments sorted H or G, three ads with a named trick, and a correct yearly cost.

Your turn

Name two factors that help people reach a financial goal.

Name two factors that get in the way.

Is "no snow this month, so no shovelling money" a personal factor or an outside factor?

Mila buys a $3 drink (tax included) 5 times a week. How much is that in 4 weeks?

What is the cool-down rule?

Ravi needs $40 more and saves $10 a week. Then he loses his bus pass and must spend $15 to replace it. How many weeks does he need now?

An ad says, "Only 3 left! Buy now!" How does this try to change what people do?

More practice: warm-up

What does impulse buying mean?

Help or get in the way: comparing prices before buying?

Help or get in the way: a subscription you forgot you had?

A $2 treat once a week for 10 weeks costs...?

Name one feeling that can lead to spending.

More practice: on your own

Ben usually shovels 4 driveways a week at $15 each. In a mild month, it snows enough in only 2 of the 4 weeks, and those weeks he shovels 4 driveways. How much less does he earn than he planned for the month?

A streaming service costs $9.99 a month (tax included). How much in a year? Is it a help or a hindrance to a saving goal?

Sofia wanted $40 headphones plus HST. It goes on sale for 25% off. How much does she save, with tax?

Leo's friends all buy the new $20 phone-game bundle. Leo is saving for a bike. Describe how peer pressure might get in the way, and one thing Leo could say or do.

Hana saves $10 first every time she gets her $15 weekly pay for helping at a family friend's shop. Kim saves whatever is left at the end of the week, usually about $4. Over 8 weeks, how much more does Hana save?

Challenge

Ella has $100 in a savings account that charges a $4 monthly fee (an example fee). If she adds nothing, how much will be left after a year? What does this tell you?

Omar borrows $50 from his brother to buy a game now and agrees to pay back $55. He was saving $10 a week for a $100 goal and had $30. He pays his brother back first, before saving. How many weeks will his goal now take, starting from today?

Make a list of three factors that might get in the way of a family's goal to save $600 for a summer canoe trip, and a strategy for each.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which factor helps a person reach a financial goal?

Which is an outside factor?

A $4 snack (tax included) twice a week for 6 weeks costs:

The cool-down rule means:

A game costs $60 plus HST. The price rises to $65 plus HST. How much more must you save?

An ad says, "Today only! Everyone has one!" What is it trying to do?

For parents and teachers

What your child is learning: Ontario's Grade 6 expectation F1.3 asks students to identify and describe various factors that may help or interfere with reaching financial goals. The lesson sorts factors into personal (habits, choices, feelings) and outside (prices, income, emergencies, advertising, fees and interest), and uses multiplication to show how small repeated spending adds up. The social-emotional learning skills in A1 are central here: recognizing emotions, managing impulses and thinking critically about advertising.

Common difficulties:

Seeing all spending as bad. Some unexpected expenses are needs (like replacing lost mittens); the point is to plan for them.
Underestimating small repeated costs. Multiplying by weeks or months (52, 12) makes them visible.
Forgetting the tax on a price increase. A $5 increase becomes $5.65 with HST.
Thinking outside factors are hopeless. You can't control the weather, but you can make a backup plan.

How to help: Share (at a level you're comfortable with) a time a surprise cost or a sale changed a family plan. Watch an ad together and name its trick. If your child has an allowance or earns money, try "save first" for a month and compare.