Welcome to Taxes & Stocks.

This is the last content week of the course, and the most practical: taxes and the stock market. By the end of the week you'll be able to read your own pay stub, compute the tax owed on a hypothetical income across the U.S. progressive brackets, read a stock quote and a bond quote, and understand why a real-world investment portfolio mixes stocks and bonds rather than concentrating in one.

Topic 7 has no per-topic review — the cumulative Final Exam Review (ALEKS, 38 questions across Topics 1–7) replaces it. The 2 Discussion Questions are the only graded items besides the Final Exam itself. Lessons 1–3 cover income taxes; Lessons 4–6 cover stocks and bonds; Lesson 6 ties both halves together as the course finale.

▸ Start Lesson 01 Topic overview

01 What You'll Learn

By the end of this week, you'll be able to:

Analyze systems of stocks and bonds to help develop financial literacy skills.
Analyze the system of income taxes to help develop financial literacy skills.

02 The Week's Arc

Four phases, in order. Don't skip ahead — each one sets up the next.

Phase 01 · Mini lessons

6 lessons

≈ 3 hours total

L01 · Reading a paycheck.
L02 · Tax brackets and marginal rate.
L03 · Filing, refunds, and effective rate.
L04 · Stocks: shares, dividends, return.
L05 · Bonds: face value, coupon, yield.
L06 · Diversification and the stock-bond split.

Phase 02 · Discussions

2 DQs

≈ 2 hours total

DQ 1 · Pick two real stocks by ticker constraint and pull historical prices, Compute initial investment (shares × price + flat fee), Track value and gain/loss across five time points over one year, Roll up to a portfolio-level total gain/loss per period
DQ 2 · Course-closing reflection, Most & least favored moments, End of Course Survey

Phase 03 · ALEKS Review

38 questions

≈ 2 hours · 15 pts

Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Q10
Q11
Q12
Q13
Q14
Q15
Q16
Q17
Q18 · Finding a final amount in a word problem on exponential growth or decay
Q19
Q20
Q21
Q22
Q23
Q24
Q25
Q26
Q27
Q28
Q29
Q30
Q31
Q32
Q33
Q34
Q35
Q36
Q37 · Calculating income tax
Q38 · Calculating income tax using a tax bracket table

03 Time Commitment

Plan for the whole week. These are typical times, not maximums — go faster if it clicks, slower if you're getting stuck.

Mini lessons (6) ≈ 3 h

Discussions (2 DQs) ≈ 2 h

ALEKS review (38 questions) ≈ 2 h

Total ≈ 7 h

04 When You Get Stuck

You won't get through every lesson on the first try. Here's where to look:

Cheat sheet

Topic 7 cheat sheet →

Key formulas, common mistakes, quick reference. Printable.

Glossary

Topic 7 glossary →

Every vocab term in one study sheet, lesson by lesson.

Interactive tools

Tools & resources →

2 interactive playgrounds for hands-on practice.

Walkthroughs

Each DQ + MA component has a Scribe walkthrough.

Watch once, then build it on your own.

Ready to start?

▸ Start Lesson 01

All topics Topic 7 overview