Pick a lesson — or pick up where you left off.
Six bite-size lessons, one per objective. Most students do them in order, but you can jump around if you want a refresher on a specific idea.
Start Lesson 01Reading a paycheck.
Read a standard pay stub: distinguish gross pay from net pay, identify the major deductions (federal income tax, state income tax, FICA), and compute take-home pay as a percentage of gross.
Open lessonTax brackets and the marginal rate.
Apply the U.S. progressive income-tax system: identify the marginal tax rate for a given taxable income, distinguish marginal from effective rate, and compute the tax owed across multiple brackets.
Open lessonFiling, refunds, and the effective rate.
Compute total tax owed for the year, compare to total withholding, and determine whether the filer receives a refund or owes additional tax. Compute the effective tax rate (total tax / gross income) and interpret it.
Open lessonStocks: shares, dividends, return.
Read a stock quote, compute return on investment as the sum of capital gain and dividend income, and distinguish a stock's price from its underlying business value.
Open lessonBonds: face value, coupon, yield.
Read a bond quote: identify face (par) value, coupon rate, maturity date, and current yield. Compute the annual interest payment from face value and coupon rate.
Open lessonDiversification and the stock-bond split.
Identify the trade-off between risk and expected return; explain why a diversified portfolio combining stocks and bonds reduces volatility; relate the stock-bond mix to the investor's time horizon.
Open lesson