Compound Interest Activities
Saving & Investing Worksheets · Rule of 72
- Grades
- Grades 8–12
- Formats
- Google Slides, PDF, PowerPoint
- Pages
- 29
- Answer keys
- Included
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Show students why time is their biggest money advantage! These compound interest activities teach middle and high school students simple interest (I = Prt), compound interest (A = P(1 + r/n)^nt), the Rule of 72, paying yourself first and the basics of saving and investing, with real formulas, growth tables, a graph and an eye-opening Start at 16 vs. Start at 26 story.
What's included
- Teacher guide with 6-day pacing, materials and differentiation (support, on level, challenge)
- Standards page (Common Core math + Jump$tart personal finance) and contents
- 5 pages of guided notes with word banks: simple interest, compound interest, the Rule of 72, pay yourself first and savings goals, and an advice-free intro to stocks, bonds and index funds
- Simple interest practice (10 problems)
- Simple vs. compound growth table (10 years) with questions
- Compounding frequency and APY table + a bank showdown
- Graph It: plot linear vs. exponential growth over 40 years
- Rule of 72 practice (10 questions) + exact-value challenge
- Start at 16 vs. Start at 26: a saving story with a growth table from age 16 to 65 and 8 questions
- Savings goal planner with a SMART goal and progress tracker
- Risk Ladder card sort (8 cards) + sorting sheet and time-horizon matching
- Would You Rather? 6 money choices (magic penny, now or later, CD vs. savings, pay off debt or save, and more)
- 15-question quiz, reflection and exit ticket
- Complete answer keys with every calculation shown, including a completed graph
How to use it
Use it as a 6-day saving and investing unit in financial literacy, personal finance, consumer math or Algebra (exponential functions), or pull single pages for stations, sub days and homework. Print and go: the only prep is cutting the card sort.
Skills practiced
Simple and compound interestexponentsAPYlinear vs. exponential growthRule of 72savings goalsrisk and returndiversificationdecision making
