How do our financial priorities, pressures, and goals evolve as we move through different stages of life and what does this mean for our future choices? 

In this lesson students explore how financial priorities change as people move through different stages of life and how these shifts influence decision making. They begin by analysing examples from early adulthood, mid-life and retirement, identifying how income, responsibilities and pressures evolve over time, and what people tend to prioritise at each stage.

Students then examine the financial trade-offs that arise across life, such as balancing spending and saving, coping with rising costs, supporting family needs and preparing for retirement. Using research and structured activities, they build a personal financial timeline that maps out their own imagined future at key ages and estimates the likely budget, goals and challenges at each point.

By the end students have a clearer understanding of how financial choices are shaped by lifestyle, values and circumstance and why long term planning matters when preparing for independence and future wellbeing.