Texas Public School Ordering Directly

FAQ

Which students should be encouraged to take Real Life Personal Finance?

As a Texas ISD or Open Enrollment Charter School, every student should be encouraged to take RLPF. Starting in high school, students are taking actions which will impact their futures. They are making decisions regarding finances, careers, and postsecondary education, which put in motions a chain of events which will result in either financial self-sufficiency and financial independence or a life of living from paycheck to paycheck.

As educators, and community leaders, we should not leave their future to chance. Armed with the real-life information, students learn how to think and make informed decisions.

Why select RLPF for Personal Finance?

D&A and instructors state there are five reasons for selecting RLPF:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in addressing real-life financial problems.
RLPF is a blended online, one-semester social studies course, accessible for students who are hearing and visually impaired. Students find this course challenging with real-life examples as they gain a deep understanding of finance, career choices, postsecondary education planning and the skills needed to be self-sufficient in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Additionally, utilizing an engaging instructional methodology, students learn how to critically think, problem-solve, communicate, work in teams and manage projects.
Students will want to take this challenging course. Districts receive funding through the Instructional Materials Allowance to pay for the course.
RLPF is updated annually to remain relevant and motivational By D&A updating the material, it saves the instructor hundreds of hours of additional work.
The learning management system is Canvas, rated by PC Magazine asCanvas is the best educational learning management system on the market today.

How does RLPF support instructors?

In addition to the materials updated by the publisher,

the curriculum is annually modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors,
each summer an Educator Conference is held with the focus on personal finance, career and postsecondary education funding and selection.
instructors may reach us by email or phone to discuss any challenges they may face
assignments can be customized by the instructor to accommodate scheduling, review, and grading.

Does RLPF function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLPF as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology differs from the modeled behavior of lectures, memorization, and recitation. Each unit builds on prior understanding, challenging students to create a vision for their future and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLPF saves time since the publishers have vetted external information, updated materials and is complete with challenging assignments.

How is the community engage in the course?

Since only a few years will pass and students will be employed, D&A believes community engagement benefits the students and the community. If desired, D&A will collaborate with Financial Mentors of America to recruit leaders to discuss career opportunities and employer expectations.

How does a district order RLPF?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckerUSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Pricing

FAQ

Which students should be encouraged to take Real Life Personal Finance?

As a Texas ISD or Open Enrollment Charter School, every student should be encouraged to take RLPF. Starting in high school, students are taking actions which will impact their futures. They are making decisions regarding finances, careers, and postsecondary education, which put in motions a chain of events which will result in either financial self-sufficiency and financial independence or a life of living from paycheck to paycheck.

As educators, and community leaders, we should not leave their future to chance. Armed with the real-life information, students learn how to think and make informed decisions.

Why select RLPF for Personal Finance?

D&A and instructors state there are five reasons for selecting RLPF:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in addressing real-life financial problems.
RLPF is a blended online, one-semester social studies course, accessible for students who are hearing and visually impaired. Students find this course challenging with real-life examples as they gain a deep understanding of finance, career choices, postsecondary education planning and the skills needed to be self-sufficient in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Additionally, utilizing an engaging instructional methodology, students learn how to critically think, problem-solve, communicate, work in teams and manage projects.
Students will want to take this challenging course. Districts receive funding through the Instructional Materials Allowance to pay for the course.
RLPF is updated annually to remain relevant and motivational By D&A updating the material, it saves the instructor hundreds of hours of additional work.
The learning management system is Canvas, rated by PC Magazine asCanvas is the best educational learning management system on the market today.

How does RLPF support instructors?

In addition to the materials updated by the publisher,

the curriculum is annually modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors,
each summer an Educator Conference is held with the focus on personal finance, career and postsecondary education funding and selection.
instructors may reach us by email or phone to discuss any challenges they may face
assignments can be customized by the instructor to accommodate scheduling, review, and grading.

Does RLPF function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLPF as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology differs from the modeled behavior of lectures, memorization, and recitation. Each unit builds on prior understanding, challenging students to create a vision for their future and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLPF saves time since the publishers have vetted external information, updated materials and is complete with challenging assignments.

How is the community engage in the course?

Since only a few years will pass and students will be employed, D&A believes community engagement benefits the students and the community. If desired, D&A will collaborate with Financial Mentors of America to recruit leaders to discuss career opportunities and employer expectations.

How does a district order RLPF?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckerUSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Pricing

FAQ

Which students should be encouraged to take Real Life Personal Finance?

As a Texas ISD or Open Enrollment Charter School, every student should be encouraged to take RLPF. Starting in high school, students are taking actions which will impact their futures. They are making decisions regarding finances, careers, and postsecondary education, which put in motions a chain of events which will result in either financial self-sufficiency and financial independence or a life of living from paycheck to paycheck.

As educators, and community leaders, we should not leave their future to chance. Armed with the real-life information, students learn how to think and make informed decisions.

Why select RLPF for Personal Finance?

D&A and instructors state there are five reasons for selecting RLPF:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in addressing real-life financial problems.
RLPF is a blended online, one-semester social studies course, accessible for students who are hearing and visually impaired. Students find this course challenging with real-life examples as they gain a deep understanding of finance, career choices, postsecondary education planning and the skills needed to be self-sufficient in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Additionally, utilizing an engaging instructional methodology, students learn how to critically think, problem-solve, communicate, work in teams and manage projects.
Students will want to take this challenging course. Districts receive funding through the Instructional Materials Allowance to pay for the course.
RLPF is updated annually to remain relevant and motivational By D&A updating the material, it saves the instructor hundreds of hours of additional work.
The learning management system is Canvas, rated by PC Magazine asCanvas is the best educational learning management system on the market today.

How does RLPF support instructors?

In addition to the materials updated by the publisher,

the curriculum is annually modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors,
each summer an Educator Conference is held with the focus on personal finance, career and postsecondary education funding and selection.
instructors may reach us by email or phone to discuss any challenges they may face
assignments can be customized by the instructor to accommodate scheduling, review, and grading.

Does RLPF function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLPF as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology differs from the modeled behavior of lectures, memorization, and recitation. Each unit builds on prior understanding, challenging students to create a vision for their future and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLPF saves time since the publishers have vetted external information, updated materials and is complete with challenging assignments.

How is the community engage in the course?

Since only a few years will pass and students will be employed, D&A believes community engagement benefits the students and the community. If desired, D&A will collaborate with Financial Mentors of America to recruit leaders to discuss career opportunities and employer expectations.

How does a district order RLPF?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckerUSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Pricing

FAQ

Which students should be encouraged to take Real Life Personal Finance?

Students who intend to attend college or are in their first years of college need a career plan, a funding strategy for college and a strong understanding of personal finance. This knowledge is important to have a secure future. These students should be encouraged to take RLPF.

Why? The days of obtaining a college degree, becoming a career professional and obtaining the American Dream are over. Students graduating from high school face many financial challenges – paying for postsecondary education, completing an education without significant debt and then finding employment with benefits. More than 40% will be underemployed and have the burden of paying student loans, which will delay saving for emergencies, a home and ultimately impact their ability to ever retire.

With thirty years of experience in financial planning, D&A understands the importance of students grasping reality and creating a plan for their future while in high school. In high school, they are making decisions regarding finances, careers, and postsecondary education, which put in motion a chain of events which will result in either financial self-sufficiency and financial independence or a life of living paycheck to paycheck.

As educators, and community leaders, we should not leave their future to chance. Armed with real-life information, students learn how to think and make informed decisions about their present and future.

Why select RLPF for Personal Finance?

D&A and instructors state there are five reasons for selecting RLPF:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in addressing real-life financial problems.
RLPF is a blended online, one-semester social studies course, accessible for students who are hearing and visually impaired. Students find this course challenging with real-life examples as they gain a deep understanding of finance, career choices, postsecondary education planning and the skills needed to be self-sufficient in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Additionally, utilizing an engaging instructional methodology, students learn how to critically think, problem-solve, communicate, work in teams and manage projects.
Students will want to take this challenging course. Districts receive funding through the Instructional Materials Allowance to pay for the course.
RLPF is updated annually to remain relevant and motivational By D&A updating the material, it saves the instructor hundreds of hours of additional work.
The learning management system is Canvas, rated by PC Magazine asCanvas is the best educational learning management system on the market today.

How does RLPF support professors?

In addition to the materials updated by the publisher,

the blended online curriculum is annually modified to accommodate suggestions by faculty.
each summer an Educator Conference is held with the focus on personal finance, career, and postsecondary education funding and selection.
instructors may reach us by email or phone to discuss any challenges they may face.
assignments can be customized by the instructor to accommodate scheduling, review, and grading.
the curriculum functions as both a course and as an excellent reference resource.

How is the community engage in the course?

Many districts have come to understand the value of community engagement in high school classes. In only a few years, students will be employed. D&A believes community engagement benefits the students and the community. If desired, D&A will collaborate with Financial Mentors of America to recruit leaders to discuss career opportunities and employer expectations.

How do districts order RLPF?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckerUSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Pricing

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

How does RLFM support instructors?

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

How does our district order RLFM?

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

Pricing

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

How does RLFM support instructors?

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

How does our district order RLFM?

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

How does RLFM support instructors?

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

How does our district order RLFM?

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

Pricing

Contents

Index


2008 Financial Mortgage Crisis	Tip 4-2, 4-2
2,080 Hours	Tip 2-1, 2-1
3 Cs - Character, Capacity, Collateral for Credit	Tip 6-2, 6-2, Tip 8-3, 8-3
5-Section Notebook	I/M/P #1, #5, 1-1
5 W&H Questions	1-2, 7-3, 14-1
Accident & Sickness Group and Individual Coverage	9-3, Tip 9-6, 9-6
Activities of Daily Living	9-3
Actual Cash Value (ACV)	Tip 9-5, 9-5
ACT Score	12-1, 12-2
Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM)	4-2, 6-1, 7-2
Affordable Care Act (ACA)	Tip 9-1, 9-1, Tip 9-2, 9-2
Alternative Credit - Store/merchant Card, Credit Card, Payday Lending, Rent-to-Own	3-2, Tip 5-3, 5-3
American Opportunity Tax Act	14-2
Amortize	Tip 5-2, Tip 6-1, 6-1
Annualcreditreport.Com	6-2, 10-1
Annual License Updates	I/M/P #1
Annual Percentage Rate (APR), Using APR & APR Calculator	Tip 6-1, 6-1
AP/Dual Credit	I/M/P #1, 6-1, Tip 12-2, 12-2
Appraised Value or Fair Market Value and Scheduled Personal Property	1-4, 9-5
Artificial Intelligence	12-1, 12-2
Assets	3-1, 3-2
Auto Insurance - Collision, Comprehensive, Liability, Deductibles	4-1, 9-1, 9-5
Auto Insurance - Shopping for Coverage Worksheet	Tip 9-5, 9-5
Balance Sheet, Net Worth Statement	3-1, 3-2, 4-1, 7-1, 9-1, 11-1
Balance Transfer	6-1, 7-1
Bankrate - Auto Financing Auto Loan Calculator	1-1, 5-1
Bankrate - Bank Checking, Savings, Money Market Accounts & CDs	7-1, 7-2
Bankrate - Car Interest Rates	1-1, 5-1
Bankrate - Home Financing	Tip 5-2, 5-2
Bankruptcy - Chapter 7 And Chapter 13, USA Today	3-2, 3-3, 4-1, 6-3, 9-2, 12-2
Beneficiary Arrangements	Tip 11-1, 11-1
Benefits	2-1, 12-1
Big Fish	12-1, 12-2
BLS.Gov/OOh	1-1, Tip 12-1, 12-1
Bonds and Mortgage Crisis	Tip 4-2, 5-2, 7-3
Budget	3-1, 3-3, 4-1,5-1
Business Insider - Average Net Worth	Tip 3-2, 3-2
Buy vs Lease a Car	Tip 5-1, 5-1
Capital Gains	5-2, 7-2
Capitalization - Large Cap, Mid Cap, Small Cap	Tip 7-3, 7-3
CarMax Auto Loan Calculator	Tip 5-1, 5-1
Car Purchase	Tip 5-1, 5-1, Tip 9-6, 9-6
Case Studies	1-2, 6-1
Cash Advance	Tip 6-1, 6-2
Cause & Effect, Critical Thinking	1-1, 1-3, 12-2
Celebrate Freedom	I/M/P #6, 13-1
Center On Budget And Policy Priorities	8-1
Certificate Of Completion	I/M/P #1, 1-2, 5-1, 5-2
Certificate Of Deposit	3-2, 7-1
Charity - Informal Charities, Religious, & 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organizations	1-3, 1-4, 3-3
Checking Account	3-2, 7-1, 11-1
Child Care Expenses	3-3, 8-1, Tip 12-1, 12-1
College Bachelor's Degree Abroard	Tip 12-2
College Board	12-1, 12-2
College Board Tuition Trends	Tip 12-2
College Results	12-1, 12-2
College Scholarships	12-1, 12-2
Common Stock	Tip 7-3, 7-3
Community Property, Separate Property	5-2, 11-1
Compound Growth, Rule of 72	4-3, 7-2, 8-3
Condo Insurance	9-5
Congressional Budget Office	8-2
Consumer Affairs - Extended Warranty	9-6
Copyright	I/M/P #1
County Mutual Insurance Company	9-5
Credit Card Fraud	Tip 10-1, 10-1, 10-2
Credit Card Report - Sample	6-2
Credit Karma	6-2
Credit Report, Rating, Credit Reporting Agencies (CRA)	5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 6-2, Tip 10-1,10-1
Credit Score, Understanding Credit Scores	Tip 6-1, 6-2
Credit Unions	3-2, 7-1
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Cause & Effect	I/M/P #1, 1-1, 1-3, 12-2
Cultural Norms	1-2
Declaration of Independence	13-1
Decker & Associates, Inc. (D&A)	I/M/P #1, #7
Deep Thinking	I/M/P #7
Depreciation	5-1, Tip 9-5, 9-5
Direct Student Loans	Tip 11-1, 11-1,12-2
Dirty Dozen Tax Fraud Scams	10-1
Disability Insurance - Private, Social Security DI and Group Short and Long-Term DI	2-1, 2-2, 4-1, 9-1, 9-3
Diversification	4-3, 7-3
Dividends	7-2, 7-3
Double Entry Accounting	6-3
Dual Credit	12-2
Early Decision	12-1
Earnings, Wages	2-1, 2-2, 2-3
Earthquake Insurance	9-5
Educational Equality, Equality of Education	1-1, 12-2
Elective & Statutory Benefits	2-1, 2-2
Electronic Communication Identity Theft	10-1
Emergency Funding	1-2, 3-2, 3-3, 4-1, 5-2, 5-3, 9-5
Employer-Sponsored Qualified Plans - 401(K), 403B, Pension	3-2, 8-2
Employment Records Theft	10-1
Entrepreneur	12-2
Escrow	5-2
Estate Planning Documents	1-2, Tp 11-1, 11-1, Tip 11-2, 11-2
Exchange Traded Funds	7-3
Executive Control Function Of The Brain	I/M/P #6, 1-3
Executor, Executrix, Administrator	11-1
Experian Sample Credit Report	6-2
Expatistan - Standard of Living Calcs.	4-2
FAFSA / TAFSA	12-2
FAFSA4CASTER	12-2
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)	6-2
Fair Market Value (FMV)	1-4, 9-5
FastWeb	12-2
Federal Funds Rate	6-1, 7-2
Federal Income Tax (FIT)	Tip 2-1, 2-1, Tip 2-2, 2-2, 2-3
Federal Insurance Compensation Act (FICA)	2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 6-1, 9-1
Federal Reserve Bank	7-1, 7-2
Federal Trade Commission - Rent to Own	5-3
Fiduciary	11-1, 11-2
File Unemployment - Texas Workforce Commission	4-1
Finance.Yahoo	7-3, 14-1
Financial Aid	12-2
Financial Crisis	Tip 4-24-2
Financial Independence	1-2, 4-3, 8-1
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)	10-2
Financial Markets	7-2
Financial Statements	3-1, 3-2, 7-1
Fixed Interest Rate	6-1
Flexible Spending Accounts - Medical And Dependent Care	2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 4-1
Food Desert	1-3
Forest & Tree Thinking	1-1, Tip 5-1, 5-1, 12-2
Free Credit Report	6-2, 6-3
Fundamental Analysis & Technical Analysis	Tip 7-3, 7-3, 14-1,
Game Of Real Life	I/M/P #1, #6, 14-1
Genworth Long-Term Care Calculator	9-3
Gladwell, Malcolm - Zeitgeist	Tip 12-1, 12-1, 12-2
Gladwell, Malcolm - on Success	12-2
Goals - Short-term, Mid-term, Long-term, Life-long	1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 3-1, 11-1, 12-1, 12-2
Good News for High School Grads	12-2
Google - Translate - Docs	1-2, 12-2
Government Accounting Office (GAO)	8-2
GPA - Grade Point Average	12-1
Grace Period	6-1
Grades, Student	I/M/P #5
Graduation Rates	12-2
Grants	12-2
Greenpath - Sample Credit Score	6-2
Group Medical Plans	2-2, 9-2
Gross Wages, Net Wages, Take-Home	Tip 2-1, 2-1, 3-1, 12-1, 12-2
Growth Stocks & Value Stocks	7-2
Guardian - Fiduciary	11-1
Health Care / Medical Care Expense	8-1, 9-3
Health Insurance	2-1, 2-2
Home Down Payment	4-2, 5-2, 12-2
Home Equity Loans	1-3, 8-1
Home Mortgage	1-4, 8-1
Home Purchase Options - Zillow	1-1, 4-2, 5-2
Homeowner's, Renter's & Flood Insurance, Deductibles	4-2, 5-2, 9-1, 9-5
Housing Bubble	4-2, 5-2
Hurricane Harvey	1-2, 5-2
Identity Theft - Credit Card, Tax Fraud, Data Breach	6-2, 7-1, Tip 10-1, 10-1, 10-2
Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement	3-1, 4-1, 9-1
Income Tax - Forms, Benefits	1-4, 4-2
Individual Development Account - IDA	4-1, 4-2, 12-2
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or ROTH Account	3-2, 5-1, 7-3, 8-3
Inflation Rate, Appreciation	4-3, 5-2
Installment Agreement - IRS	5-3
Instructor@Deckerusa.Com - D&A email	I/M/P #1, #7
Insurance	9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4, 9-5, 9-6
Insurance - Homeowners	Tip 5-1, Tip 5-2, 5-2, 9-5
Internship Candidates	I/M/P #1
Internships	12-2
Internet, Public	10-1
Intervivos Trust	11-1
Investment Discretion Over The Acount	10-2
Investment Objectives	Tip 7-3, 7-3
Investment Portfolio Strategies	1-2, Tip 7-3, 7-3
Investment Scams - Pump & Dump, Pyramid, Ponzi, ATM, Employment, Credit Repair, Offshore Investing,	10-2
Investopedia - Site & Stock Simulator	Tips 7-3, 7-3
Itemized Deduction	1-4, Tip 5-2, 5-2
Jobs, Steve At Stanford Commencement Ceremony	Tip 2-1, 2-1, Tip 12-1, 12-1
Joint Tenants With Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS)	11-1, 11-2
Khan Academy - AP Classes	Tip 12-2, 12-2
Khan Academy - Sat Prep	Tip 12-2, 12-1
Last Will & Testament, Will	11-1, 11-2
Late Payment Fees	6-1
Law Of Descent & Distribution, Intestacy	11-1, 11-2
Leases	Tip 5-1, 5-1
Liabilities	3-1, 3-2, 11-1, 11-2
LIBOR rate	6-1, 7-2
Life Insurance & Premiums - Whole Life & Term Insurance	2-1, 9-1, 9-3
Life Plan - Academic, Career, Financial, Personal	I/M/P #5, 1-1, 1-3, 3-1, 5-1, 5-2, 8-1, 9-3, 9-4, 12-2
Line Of Credit	Tip 6-1, 6-1
Load Mutual Funds, No Load Mutual Funds	7-3
Loan Origination Fees	6-1
Local Scholarships	12-2
Long-Term Care	8-1, Tip 9-3
Lost Baggage Coverage	9-1
Lynch, Brenda	I/M/P #7
Macroeconomics	6-1
Marginal Income Tax Bracket (MTB)	5-2, 6-1, 8-3
Medical Insurance, Health Insurance - Premiums, Co-Pays, Policy Limitations	2-2, 4-1, 9-1, 9-2
Medicare	8-1, Tip 9-2, 9-3
Medicare Trust	8-1
Merchandise Return Fraud	5-3
MERIT - Mortality, Expenses, Rate Of Return, Inflation, Taxes	4-3, 5-2, Tip 7-2, 7-2, 8-2, 8-3
Military	12-1
Minor, Younger than Age 18	11-1, 11-4
MIT Living Wage Calculator	Tip 12-1, 12-1
Money Market Account	3-2, 7-1
MOOC - Massive Open Online Courses	1-1, 12-1, 12-2
Mortgage Interest and Points, Mortgage Calculator	1-1, 1-4, 4-2, 5-2, 6-1
Mutual Funds	3-2, 7-3
National Flood Insurance Program	1-2, 5-2, 9-1
Need-Blind Admission	12-2
Nerdwallet - Auto Financing	5-1, 6-1
Nerdwallet - Credit Card Debt	3-3
Net Asset Value (NAV)	7-3
Net Worth	3-1, 3-2
Not-For-Profit or For-Profit, Mission of Non-Profit	1-4, 12-1
Outcomes	I/M/P #1
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell - 10 Ideas	Tip 2-1, 2-1 12-1
Paid Time-Off	Tip 2-1, 2-1, 2-2
Pay It Forward	1-4
Payable on Death (POD)	11-1
Payday Loans	1-4, Tip 5-3, 5-3
Payments (PMT)	5-2, 6-1
Payscale - Entry Level Accountant	2-1
Pay Yourself First	3-3, 8-3
PDQ - Personal Disability Quotient	9-3
Peer-To-Peer (P2P) Loans	6-1
Pell Grant	3-3, 12-1
Percent of Applicants Admitted to PSE	12-1
Personal Exemptions	1-4, Tip 9-1
Personal Identification Number (PIN)	10-1 10-Quiz
Phishing	10-1, 10-2
PITI - Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance	Tip 5-2, 5-2
PMI - Private Mortgage Insurance	4-2, 5-2
PMT (Rate,Nper,-Pv)	5-1, 6-1
Postsecondary Education	I/M/P #1, 1-2, 12-1, 12-2
Power of Attorney, General, Durable, Financial	11-1,11-2
Pre-Test, Prelude	I/MP #3, #4, Prologue
Pre-Payment Penalties	6-1
Prefrontal Cortex	I/M/P #7, 1-1, 1-3
Private Medical Insurance	9-2
Probate & Nonprobate, Probate Court	11-1, 11-2
Propensities to Consume	1-3, 6-1
Propensity To Save Or Spend	1-3, 5-3, 6-1
Property Tax	1-4, 5-2
Prospectus	7-3
PSE - Postsecondary Education	12-1, 12-2
Publisher Letter Of Recommendation	I/M/P #1, 1-2, 5-1, 5-2
PWC Debt in America	6-1 Explore
Raise.me - Micro-scholarships	Tip 12-2, 12-2
Raise.me - Register	Tip 12-2, 12-2
Rate Of Return (ROR), Return On Investment (ROI)	4-3, 5-1, 5-2, 12-2
Rental Car Insurance	9-1
Rental Property	6-1
Replacement Cost Value (RCV)	9-5
Retail - Commercial Banks	7-1
Retirement	1-2, 2-1, 2-2, 8-1, 8-2, 8-3
Retirement Plans	5-1, 6-3, 7-3
Retirement Savings in US - CNBC	3-2
Revolving Credit	6-1
Risk & Risk Management Strategy - Avoid, Reduce, Retain, Transfer	7-3, 8-1, 9-1
Salary Caps for HR Administration	2-1
SAT/ACT Scores	12-1, 12-2
Saving & Spending	1-3
Saving For Retirement - CNBC	3-2
Savings & Loan	7-1
Schedule C, IRS Form	5-1
Scholarships	12-2
Second Mortgages	6-1
Secured Loans, Collaterized Loans	6-1
Security Freeze	10-2
Section 1 Notebook - Vision Essay	1-1, 1-4, 4-2, 5-3, 8-2, 10-1,12-1, 12-2
Section 2 Notebook - Vocabulary	1-1, 4-2
Section 3 Notebook - Life Plan	1-2, 1-3, 3-3, 4-2, 5-2, 6-3, 8-2, 9-3, 9-4, 9-5, 11-2, 12-1, 12-2
Section 4 Notebook - Case Studies And Exercises	1-3, 1-4, 2-1, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1, 6-3, 9-4, 10-2, 12-1, 12-2
Section 5 Notebook - Quiz Notes	1-5,
Separate Property, Community Property	5-2, 11-1
Sick Leave	2-1, 2-2
SMART Goals - Specific, Measured, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Based	1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 8-3
Social Media	10-1
Social Security - Administration Trustees	8-1, 8-2, 8-4, 9-1, 12-2
Social Security Calculator - Bankrate	8-2
Social Security Disability Income	9-1, 9-3
Spending, Expenses	2-1, 3-1, 8-1
Standard Deduction	Tip 2-1, 2-1, 1-4
Standard Of Living, Cost Of Living	4-2, 12-1
Sticker Price, Retail Price, MSRP	5-1, 12-2
Store Or Merchandise Credit	5-3
Student and Parent Loans	I/M/P #1, 9-1, 12-2
Subprime Mortgage Crisis	4-2
Surplus Cash Flow Deficit Cash Flow	3-1
Suzuki, Severn	1-2
Tax Benefit & Returns	5-2, 12-2
Testamentary Trust, Trustee	11-1
Texas Department of Insurance	9-5
Tier I	I/M/P #1, #6, 1-2, 3-1
Tier II	I/M/P #1, #6, 1-2, Tip 2-1, 2-1, 3-1, 5-1, 5-2, 6-1, 8-2, 11-2
Tier III	I/M/P #1, #6, 1-2, Tip 2-1, 2-1, 3-1, 5-1, 5-2, 6-1, 8-2, 11-2
Total Compensation	2-2
Trailing Stop-Loss	7-3
Travel Insurance	9-1
True Car - Car Purchase; Edmunds, The Car Connection	1-1, 5-1, 9-6
Umbrella Policy - Liability Insurance	9-1, 9-5
Unintended Consequences	1-4
Unsecured Debt	6-1
US Average Net Worth	3-2
US Constitution, Bill of Rights	13-1
US Income per Year	2-3
USNews for MBA Rankings	12-2
Variable Interest Rate (ARM)	6-1
Vision Essay	I/M/P #5, 1-1, 1-1, 3-1, 5-3, 9-4
Vocabulary List	I/M/P #5, 1-1, 1-2
Wants & Needs	1-3, 3-3, 6-1, 12-1
What's My PDQ?	9-3
Wimpelberg, Robert	I/M/P #7
Work-Study	12-2
Workers Compensation	2-2, 9-3



Annual Credit Report	6-2
APR Calculator	6-1
Artificial Inteligence	12-1, 12-2
Auto Insurance, Shopping for Worksheets	9-5
Bank Rate Auto Financing	1-1, 5-1
Bank Rate - Bank Checking, Savings, Money Market Accounts & CDs	7-1, 7-2
Bank Rate - Car Interest Rates	5-1
Bank Rate - Home Financing	5-2
Bankruptcy - USA Today	6-3
BLS.gov Occupational Outlook Handbook	1-1
Business Insider - Average Net Worth	Tip 3-2, 3-2
Car Max Auto Loan Calculator	Tip 5-1, 5-1
Center on Budget & Policy Priorities	8-1
College Bachelor's Degree Abroad	Tip 12-2
College Board	12-1
College Board Tuition Trends	Tip 12-2
College Results	12-1
College Scholarships	12-2
Consumer Affairs on Extended Warranty	9-6
Credit Card Report - Sample	6-2
Credit Karma	6-2
Declaration of Independence	13-1
Decker & Associates, Inc.	I/M/P #1, #7
Edmunds	9-6
Experian Sample Credit Report	6-2
Expatistan for standard of Living Calc	4-2
FAFSA4Caster	12-2
FastWeb	12-2
Federal Trade Commission - Rent-to-Own	5-3
File Unemployment -Texas Workforce Commission	4-1
Finance - Yahoo	7-3, 14-1
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority	10-2
Free Credit Report	6-2, 6-3
Genworth - Long-Term Care Calculator	9-3
Google - Translate - Docs	1-2, 12-2
Government Accounting Office (GAO)	8-2
Green Path - sample credit score	6-2
Home Purchase Options	1-1,
Hurricane Harvey	1-2
instructor@deckerusa.com-D&A email	I/M/P #1, #7
Insurance.com - homeowners	9-5
Investopedia Stock Simulator	Tip 7-3, 7-3
Khan Academy - AP Classes	Tip 12-2, 12-2
Khan Academy - SAT Prep	Tip 12-2, 12-1
Law of Descent & Distribution in Texas	11-1, 11-2
Medicare Trust	8-1
Millennials - facts	Tip 3-3
MIT Living Wage Calculator	12-1
MOOC - Massive Open Online Courses	1-1, 12-1
Need-Blind Admission	12-1
Nerd Wallet- Auto Financing	5-1, 6-1
Nerd Wallet - 2017 Credit Card Debt	3-3
Payscale for Entry Level Accountant	2-1
PDQ - Personal Disability Quotient	9-3
Pew Research - Future Immigration	1-2
PWC - Debt in America	6-1
Raise.me - Micro Scholarship	Tip 12-2, 12-2
Raise.me - Register	Tip 12-2, 12-2
Retirement Savings in U.S. - CNBC	3-2
Salary Calcs for HR Administration	2-1
Severn Suzuki	1-2
Social Security Calculator - Bankrate	8-2
Social Security Fact Sheet	2-2
Subprime Mortgage Crisis	4-2
Texas Department of Insurance - Shopping for Auto Ins.	Tip 9-5, 9-5
The Car Connection	9-6
Travel Insurance	9-1
True Car - Car Purchase	1-1, 5-1, 9-6
U.S. Average Net Worth	3-2
U.S. Constitution & Bill of Rights	13-1
U.S. Income per Year	2-3
U.S. News for MBA Rankings	12-1
What's My PDQ for Disability Calcs	9-3
Zillow Home Shopping Data Base	1-1, 5-2
Zillow Mortgage Calculator	1-1, 4-2, 5-2



10 Best Ideas - Outliers	2-1
2008 Financial Mortgage Crisis	4-2
Buy vs Lease a Car	Tip 5-1, 5-1
Dirty Dozen 2018 IRS Tax Fraud Scams	10-1
Gladwell at Zeitgeist	12-1
Gladwell on success	12-2
Good News for High School Grads - CBS News	12-2
Investment Objectives	Tip 7-1, 7-1
Jobs, Steve at Stanford	2-1, 12-1
Long-Term Care - Wall Street Journal	Tip 9-3
Lynch, Brenda - RLFM	I/M/P #7
Macroeconomics	6-1
Pay It Forward	1-4
Propensities to Consume	6-1
Saving For Retirement - CNBC	3-2
Suzuki, Severn	1-2
Understanding Credit Scores	6-2
Wimpelberg, Robert - Thinking in formal education	I/M/P #7

Pricing

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

How does RLFM support instructors?

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

How does our district order RLFM?

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

Pricing

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

How does RLFM support instructors?

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

How does our district order RLFM?

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

Pricing

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

How does RLFM support instructors?

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

How does our district order RLFM?

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

Pricing

Index




RLFM INDEX
This index is designed to offer you an opportunity to identify the RLFM location of specific topics. The external citation links are purple. Video links are blue. New or updated course content is in red. A regular subject matter index is in black.

2008 Financial Crisis	Tip 1-3 Explore, 12-2 Explore, 13-5 Enrich
401(k)	3-7 Engage
401(k) by Wall Street Survivor	3-7 Explore
403b	3-7 Engage
5W&H	1-4 Exlore, 1-4 Expand, 2-1 Explore, 4-2 Explore
6-Es	E-2, 6E#1,
AAA - Fuel Costs	11-2 Explore
Abel & Dietz Research	6-1 Enrich
AAC&U Employer Survey	E-4
Accessibility Standards	E-1, 6E#1
Actuary - Job and Compensation	10-2 Intro
Advanced Math	Unit 1-6
AM Best Insurance Ratng Company	10-1 Expand
Amortization of Loans	11-5 Lesson
Anchor, Shawn - The Happy Secret to Better Work	4-4 Expand
AnnualCreditReport.com	9-2 Enrich, 9-4 Explore
Annuitites for Dummies	13-6 Engage
APR Calculator	804 Explore
AP Classes - List of all AP classes	6-2 Explore
AP Classes - Why Take AP Classes?	5-1C Explore, 5-2 Explore, 6-2 Intro, Tip 6-2 Explore, 6-2 Explore
AP Passing rate	Tip - 3-2 Intro, 5-2 Explore
Artificial Intelligence	2-3 Enrich, 5-1 Engage
Ascend - Millennial Spending	Tip 8-1 Enrich
Attorney Median Income	6-1 Explore
Autos - Buying / Leasing/ Alternatives	Unit 11
Auto Extended Warranty - Consumer Report Video	11-2 Explore
Auto Fuel Costs - 2018	11-2 Explore
Auto Insurance - Coverage & uninsured stats	10-4 Explore
Auto Maintenance & Repair - 2018	11-2 Explore
Auto repossession - 2018	Tip 11-3 Expand, 11-3 Expand
Bach, Richard - Illusion	8-1 Introduction
Balance Sheet	8-1 Expand, 13-2 Engage
Banking	Unit 8-2
Bankrate - Shopping for bank account	8-2 Explore
Bankrate - Credit or cash?	8-3 Explore
Bankrupt Insurance Companies	13-6 Intro
Bank Statements - How to read a statement	8-5 Explore
Berman, Laura - Find Your Dream Job Without Ever Looking at a Resume	4-1 Explore
Big Fish - A criteria for college selection	5-1A Explore, 5-5 Explore
Bonds - Call, Coupon, Par Value, Prepayment	13-5 Explore
Boyle, Susan	2-1 Explore
Brain - How the brain processes risks and rewards	8-5 Enrich
Brookings Institute - Social Class Mobility in US	1-3 Explore, 2-4 Explore
Bureau of Labor Statistics - Occupational Data	2-1 Explore, 2-2 Expand, 4-1 Expand
Business Etiquette - When You Are at Work	9-3 Explore
Business Insider - 40 Top Paying Jobs without a College Degree - 2018	5-1A Explore
Business Insider - Net Worth by Age - 2018	8-1 Expand
Car Buying Statistics - 2018	Tip - 11-3 Expand
Car Connection - for Car Shopping	11-1 Explore
Car Repossession	11-3 Expand
Car Repossession - 7 Things To Know	11-3 Expand
Career Discovery	Unit 3
Career Interest Assessment	Unit 2-3
Career Ladder - Understanding Opportunities	5-1A Explore
Career Matrix - Matrix of Careers to Criteria	6E#4, 2-5 Expand, 2-6 lesson, 3-1 Enrich, 4-1 Research
Charitable Giving - Value and Benefits	Unit 1-5, 7-3 Explore, 7-3 Expand
Choi, Sung-bung	2-1 Explore
CMS.gov - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service	7-2 Enrich
College & Career Ready - SAT & ACT Scores - 2018	5-1C Explore
College Board - 2018	5-5 Explore, 6-1 Explore
College Results - New website	Tip 5-3, 6-1 Exlore
Columbia University - Community College graduations	Tip 5-1 Explore, 5-1 Explore
Community Needs, Community Project	Unit 4-2, Unit 4-3
Community Property & Separate Property	13-2 Intro, 13-2 Engage, 13-2 Explore
Complex News - The Cost of Sneakers - 2017	Tip 1-3 Explore
Consumer Affairs - Auto Warranties	11-2 Explore
Corporate Bonds	13-3 Explore, 13-3 Expand
Cost of PSE - Calculating the cost and resources to fund	6-4 Enrich, 6-5 Explore, Unit 6
Credit Karma - 2018	9-4 Explore
Credit Cards - Pros and Cons of Credit Card useage	Unit 8-3
Credit Report	Unit 9-4
Critical Thinking - 21st century skills	Tip 1-3 Intro, Unit 1-2, 1-3 Engage, 4-3 Expand, 11-3 Expand, 11-4 Engage, 11-5 Examine Q13
Decker, Ken - Publisher	Day #1
Decker, Lorraine - Publisher	Tip - Outcomes, Day #2
Debit Cards - How they differ from credit cards	Unit 8-3
Debt	Unit 8-4, Unit 8-5
Defensive Driver Training Courses - 2018	11-4 Engage
Digital Ethics and the Future of Humans	1-5 Enrich
Disability & Specialty Insurance	Unit 10-3
Distinguished Level of Achievement under the Foundation High School Programs	5-2 Explore
Duckworth, Angela - Research on Grit & Perseverance	Day #3, 5-1A Explore
Dying Intestate, Without a Will	13-2 Explore
Earthquake Insurance	12-3 Enrich
Edmunds for Car Shopping	11-1 Explore
Educator Conference - Professional Development	E-2
EdX - AP Classes	Tip 3-2 Intro
Elective Benefits	Unit 3-5
Employee or Independent Contractor	Unit 3-4
Engines of Our Ingenuity	E-4
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission	1-5 Engage
Estate Planning	Unit 13
Estate Planning and Intestate Distribution - 2018	13-3 Expand
Ethics & The Law - 2018	Unit 1-5, Tip 7-2 Expand, 7-2 Expand
Executive Control Center, brain, thinking, pre-frontal cortex development	E-1
Exempt and Nonexempt Wages	Unit 3, Lesson 3
Experian Sample Credit Report - 2018	9-4 Explore
FAFSA - Office of Federal & Student Aid	6-3 Engage
FAFSA - Types of Federal Student Aid	6-4 Explore
FAFSA	6-4 Explore
FAFSA4Caster	6-4 Explore, 6-4 Enrich
Fastweb.com	6-4 Enrich, 6-5 Explore
Federal Budget - 2017 Budget - 2018	7-1 Lesson
FEMA	12-3 Explore
FICA - 2018	3-5 Explore, 3-5 Expand
Financial Independence - The ultimate financial goal	3-7 Intro, 3-7 Engage, 4-5 Expand, 13-4 Explore
Financial Institutions	8-2 Lesson
Financial Statements - Understanding and Preparing	8-1 Lesson
Forbes - The Business of Pet Insurance	10-3 Expand
Forest & Tree Thinking - Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving	1-2 Intro, 1-3 Engage
Franklin, Aretha - 2018	13-2 Enrich
Friedman, Thomas - The World Is Flat - 2018	4-4 Engage
Full-Ride - Obtaining 100% scholarships & grants for college	6-1 Expand
Gallup Poll 2017	2-1 Intro
Game of Real Life	E-2, Tip - Outcomes,
Gao-kao - Chinese academic goals - 2018	4-4 Engage
Garden Project	4-3 Explore
Gift Taxes	13-4 Expand
Go Army	1-2 Expand
Goal Setting and Expectations	Unit 1
Google Translate - 2018	6E#1, Tip - Goals & Expectations,
Green, Laci - D News - Brain Development	3-1 Expand
Grit & Perseverance	Day #3, 4-4 Intro
Harris County Appraisal District	12-2 Explore
Healthcare . gov - about medical coverage	3-6 Explore
Health Insurance	Unit 10-2
Helicopter Parents - Impact on children - 2018	Tip 1-2 Intro,
Higher Education - Increasing costs - 2018	6-2 Expand
Homeowners Insurance - 2018	12-3 Expand
Housing Prices in Texas - Purchase & Rents, June 2018	Tip 12-1 Intro & Engage
How to Choose a College	5-4 Explore, Unit 5
Human Trafficking	9-1 Explore
Income Taxes	Unit 7
Identity Force - data breaches	9-2 Explore
Identifty Theft - Buzz Feed video	8-5 Explore, 9-2 Lesson
Identity Theft - 60 minutes	9-2 Expand
Income & Wages	Tip 1-3 Intro, 1-3 Engage, Unit 3, Unit 7
Income Taxes	Unit 7
Individual Development Account - 2018	3-7 Explore, 6-5 Explore
Industrial Revolution in the US	3-2 Explore
Inflation	4-4 Explore
Insurance Quote - Changing Auto Insurance - 2018	10-4 Explore
IRS - Car deduction of 54.4 cents / mile - 2018	11-3 Expand
IRS - Dirty Dozen	9-2 Explore
IRS Schedule C - 2018	Tip 7-7 Intro & Engage; 7-7 Explore
IRS Schedule C - tax deductions - 2018	Tip 7-7 Intro & Engage;
Investment Rick & Return	8-5 Enrich
Itemized Deduction - Income Taxes	Unit 7-3
Job Interview	9-3 Expand
Jobs, Steve - Stanford Addess	2-1 Explore
Khan Academy - SAT, PSAT, AP resource	Tip 1-3 Explore, Tip 3-2 Intro, 5-1C Explore
Khan, Salman - Let's Use Video to Reinvent Education	5-2 Enrich
Last Will & Testament	13-2 Explore
Law of Parsimony	4-4 Expand
Legal & Unethical	1-5 Engage
Life Insurance	10-1 Intro, 10-1 Explore
Life Plan	E-2, 6E#4, Tip 2-1 Explore, 3-1 Enrich, 3-2 Enrich, 3-7 Explore, 4-1 Research, 5-1B Explore, 6-6 Enrich, 9-1 Enrich, 9-4 Enrich
Link 9-4A - Car Loan - Decker Excel Form	9-4 Expand
Link 9-4A - Car Loan - Decker Excel Form	9-4 Expand
LINK 9-4D - Explore Scatter Plots	9-4 Expand
Live Career	1-2 Expand
Lynch, Benda - District Math Coordinator - new video	E-2
Markus, Nibal, MA - Executive Director FMA - new video	E-2, Day #2
Marshmallow Study Revisited - new instructor professional development	Tip 1-2 Intro,
Maslow Hierarchy of Human Needs	9-1 Engage; 9-3 Engage
Maynard, Kyle	1-4 Explore
Medical School Admission Standards	5-3 Explore
Medicare Solvency	7-2 Engage
MERIT	13-5 Explore, 13-6 Engage
Military Careers	5-1A Explore
Military Demographics - 2018	6-6 Examine
Minimum Wage for Service Workers - Ragu & Pesto	3-3 Expand
Minimum Wage for Service Workers - Real News.com	3-3 Expand
Minimum Wage Law for Home Care Workers	3-3 Explore
MINT - Budgeting Application	8-3 Explore
Mitra, Sugata - Hole in the Wall	5-1A Explore
MIT Analysis - Standard of Living	2-4 Expand, 7-4 Explore
MLS - Multi-Listing Service	12-1 Engage
Modeled Behavior	E-1
MOOC - selection of courses	Tip 1-3 Explore, 5-1C Explore, 5-4 Explore
My PDQ for calculating the odds of Disability	10-3 Explore
National Standards of K-12 Financial Education	Tip - Blended Online
Need Blind Admission	6-1Engage
Needs, Wants & Standard of Living	Unit 2-4, Unit 9
Nerd Wallet	8-3 Expand, 11-1 Explore
O*Net Online	2-2 Expand
Office of Public Insurance Counsel	12-3 Explore, 12-3 Enrich
Outliers, Book Review	Tip 1-1 Intro, 1-1 Engage, 5-3 Enrich
Password settimgs for students	Day #1
Pay Day Loans	8-4 Explore 8-4 Expand
Pay It Forward	4-2 Explore, 6-3 Explore
Pay Yourself First	3-7 Explore, 4-1 Research
Penalty of Waiting	3-7 Explore, Tip 4-5 Expand
Personal & Property Insurance	Unit 10
Personal Finance, Financial Education, Financial Literacy	Unit 4 - Several Lessons
Pew Charitable Trusts - Economic Mobility	Tip 1-3 Explore
Pew Charitable Trusts - Pay-Day Loans	8-4 Explore
Postsecondary Education (PSE)	6E#1, 5-1A Explore
Postsecondary Education Funding	Unit 6
Postsecondary Education Selection	Unit 5
Prefrontal cortex	E-1, 6E#4, 3-1 Lesson,
Presentations	6E#4, 3-1 Enrich
Probate & Non-Probate	13-2 Intro, 13-2 Engage, 13-2 Explore
Problem-solving	Tip 1-3 Intro, 1-3 Engage, 4-3 Expand, 11-5 Examine - Q15, Q16
Progressive and Regressive Tax System	7-1 Explore
Prologue	Day #3, Prologue
Prom Spending	Tip 1-2 Explore, 1-2 Explore
Property & Casualty Insurance	Unit 10-4
Pygmalion Effect	Tip 5-2
RaiseMe - Scholarship Funds	Day #3, Prologue, Tip 5-1 Intro,Tip 6-2 Explore, 6-5 Explore
Recommended or Distinguished High School Programs	5-2 Explore
Registration - video	Day #1
Renting - Lone Star Dorm Lease	12-1 Expand
Renting - Texas Residentail Lease Agreement	12-1 Expand
Research	Unit 4-1, 6-4 Expand, 12-2 Explore
Retirement Planning - 403b, Roth, IRA	3-7 Intro, 3-7 Engage, 13-5 Explore
Review.com	10-1 Explore
RIA-SEC	Unit 2, 4-2 Explore, 4-3 Explore, 9-3 Engage
Rice - Attending	5-5 Explore
Rice - Physics AP	Tip 3-2 Intro
Rice University AP Credits	6-2 Explore
Rice - Acquisition of Vocabulary	Tip -1-1 Intro
Risk	Unit 8-5
Robinson, Sir Kenneth - Changing Education Paradigms	5-1A Explore
Rodriguez, Cynthia - Car Buying	11-1 Explore, 11-1 Expand
Rule of 72	4-4 Enrich
Rule of 78	11-5 Expand
Section #1 - Vision Essay & Goals	E-2, Tip - Outcomes, 1-1-Engage, 3-1 Enrich
Section #2 - Vocabulary	E-2, Day #4, 1-1 Intro
Section #3 - Life Plan	E-2, 1-1 Explore, 2-1 Explore, 2-1 Examine
Section #4 - Assignments & Teamwork	E-2, 2-1 Explore
Section #5 - Quiz Mistakes	E-2
Self-Employed or Independent Contractor	Unit 3-4, Unit 7-7
Service & Tip Wages	Unit 3-3
Smith, Larry - Why you Won't Get the Career You Desire?	2-5 Enrich
Smith, Will - Are You a Future Alchemist?	2-6 Enrich
Social Class	1-3 Engage, 1-3 Explore
Socio-Economic Mobility	Unit 1-3, 1-3 Engage, 1-3 Explore, 3-2 Engage
Social Security Benefits	3-5 Explore. 7-2 Engage
Social Security Tax Limit, US population receiving SS benefits, solvency	3-5 Explore, 7-2 Engage, 7-2 Enrich
Spending & Saving Personalities	8-5 Explore
Special Education	6E#1
SSA.gov	7-2 Enrich
Standard Deduction - Income Tax	Unit 7-2
Standard of Living	Unit 2-4
Statutory Benefits	Unit 3-5
Stop Light Game, Temple University - 2018	11-4 Expand
Student Loan Repayment Grace Period	6-5 Expand
Supply and demand	4-4 Explore
Suzuki, Severn	1-1 Enrich
Taking Notes - Scientific American	13-2 Explore
Taking Responsibility	Unit 1-4
Tax Credits	Unit 7-6
Tax Preparation	Unit 7-8
Taxes, Itemized Deduction, XYZ Rates	7-1 Explore
Teachers and Taxes	3-4 Intro & Engage
Teams	E-5, Day #5, 6E#4
Teenage Brain	3-1 Expand
TEKs - included at the beginning of every Unit	E-1, E-2, Table of Contents, 6E#1
Texas Children's Health Plan	10-2 Enrich
Texas County Appraisal Districts	12-2 Explore
Texas Department of Insurance	11-2 Explore
Texas Licensing Requirements	4-1 Expand
Texas Unemployment Calculator	4-5 Explore
Texas Workers' Compensation	10-3 Engage
The Truth Behind College Admissions	5-5 Explore
TIAA Life Insurane Quote	10-1 Expand
Time Value of Money & Net Present Value	8-5 Expand
Today's Military	1-2 Expand
Travel Insurance	10-1 Explore
Trinh, Jonathan - Principal Wisdom High School	Day #4
True Car - Purchase Price for Cars - 2018	11-1 Explore
Twain, Mark	Tip 3-2 Expand, 3-2 Expand
Unclaimed Financial Aid	6-4 Explore
Understanding Your Credit Score	9-4 Explore
User name for Registration	Day #1
U.S. Government Fuel Economy	11-1 Explre
Value Penguin - homeowners insurance	12-3 Expand
Value Penguin - Average Cost of a Wedding	8-4 Explore
Vision Essay	E-2, 6E#4, Tip 1-1 Intro & Engage, 1-1 Enrich, 3-1 Enrich, 3-2 Enrich, 4-4 Expand
Vocabulary - included in Engage of every lesson	E-2, 1-1V
Vocabulary Gap	1-1V
Vocabulary - Languages Payoff	Tip 1-1 Intro, 1-1 Engage
W-2 Form from IRS 2018	3-4 Explore
Wages & Benefits	Unit 3
Wants & Needs	Unit 9
We Want Real Life Financial Math	Day #1 Registration
What are Major Red Flags You See in College Applications?	5-5 Explore
What is Probate?	13-1 Explore
Why Take Hard Courses?	5-2 Enrich
Wikipedia	1-1 Engage,
Wills - The Importance of	13-2 Enrich
Wimpelberg, Robert - Former Dean of UH College of Education - new video	E-1
Zillow	7-3 Expand, 12-1 Engage

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

How does RLFM support instructors?

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

How does our district order RLFM?

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

Contents

Pricing

Contact

Name*
Prefix First Last
Email*
Phone
Organization*
- School District or High School (Texas)
- School District or High School (Not Texas)
- College or University
- Other
What is Your Organization?*
Course*
- Real Life Personal Finance (RLPF)
- RLPF Instructor Only Edition
- Real Life Financial Mathematics (RLFM)
- RLFM Instructor Only Edition
RLPF Student Licenses*
Price: $50.00 Quantity:
RLPF Instructor License*
Price: $155.00 Quantity:
At least one instructor's license must be included in the purchase of student licenses.
RLFM Student Licenses
Price: $35.00 Quantity:
RLFM Teacher License
Price: $155.00 Quantity:
At least one Instructor Licenses must accompany the purchase of student licenses.
RLFM/RLPF Instructor Only Licenses*
Price: $655.00 Quantity:
This is meant for classes where each student does not have their own computing device. Each Instructor only license accommodates up to 50 students. For the 51-100 student you must purchase two licesnes, and so on.
Estimated Total
$0.00
Please use the space below for any questions or comments.

FAQ

Which students should be encourage to take RLFM?

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

How does RLFM support instructors?

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

How does our district order RLFM?

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

Everyone can benefit from additional financial, tax, and investment knowledge. That said, students who need to graduate career and college ready and do well on their SAT, must have a solid foundation in Algebra and possibly Geometry and Trigonometry, although only 10% of the SAT is in those subject areas. Pre-calculus and calculus is needed for those students entering STEM college majors. Therefore, there is normally time to schedule the rigorous RLFM course and provide students with material they will use the rest of their lives.

Why select RLFM for Financial Mathematics?

Six reasons:

The course is written by award-winning financial professionals with decades of experience in solving real-life financial problems. It is not written by a team of educators who, of course, have experienced personal finance but have not practiced personal finance.
Because RLFM is a CTE funded course, districts receive on average $385 more funding per student enrolled in the one-year course than other math classes. One hundred students taking RLFM translates to $38,500 in addition funds.
RLFM material is updated annually. This is a extremely important because finances, tax, college funding and career information changes daily. To keep the curriculum relevant and motivational, it must be updated. Who wants to read and make decisions on a five year old article from the Economist magazine? No one, yet it is our understanding that other publishers have made no commitments to update their materials. This situation translates into less accuracy and relevance for the student and more work for the instructor.
Just like real-life, RLFM is challenging. It is not a fluff course. Students must master 102 Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS), which places RLFM as one of the most demanding courses to come out of the TEA process. In addition to the TEKS, RLFM is structured to teach students the skills they will need to be employable in the 21st century knowledge economy – critical thinking, problem-solving, communications, team-building, and project management.
RLFM is a blended on-line one year course. Students learn to act independently and responsibly as they master the materials. Teachers guide students through projects and interactive questioning assignments and research designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain. RLFM applies a new instructional methodology, supportive of T-TESS and Accomplishment & Accountability Standards and offers districts a new set of real-life outcomes, which go beyond passing a final exam.
RLFM is the only course approved by TEA for financial mathematics. It is also accessible for those students who are hearing and visually impaired.

How does RLFM support instructors?

In addition to the material being updated by the publisher, the material is modified to accommodate suggestions by instructors. In 2018, the following changes were made:

At teacher request – The order of the Units was modified to reflect seniors taking the course and needing college funding and selection in the fall, rather than the spring.
At teacher request – TEKS relevant to each Unit are identified at the beginning of the unit with essential statements and sentence stems.
The introduction to each lesson has a new student Learning Objective to provide students guidance and focus.
A new RLFM Index allows instructors to quickly view where material is laddered. New topics, links, videos are highlighted in red. If a link is broken, instructors can email D&A and we will fix it.
At teacher request – A new Google Translate link is located with the Vocabulary to facilitate the translation of words to a second language. This is beneficial to ELL, ELPS and students who want to function in a world where having a second language adds to your marketability.
Vocabulary is combined with Engage to save students time and increase their focus on using words in presentations and essays.
A RLFM Table of Contents document is added to the course menu to get a better understanding of scope and sequence.
Student Learning Outcomes and a Grading Matrix is added n the Instructor’s Guide to provide an alternative to a grading matrix heavily weighted on exams and tests.
At teacher request – RLFM has a new end of Unit Quiz with automatic grading.
At teacher request – Many students are not power users of adult applications, like Excel and Word. Because RLFM teaches significant information in only a year, teachers do not have the time to also teach computer skills. We therefore have students use a 5-section spiral notebook for assignment, quizzes, everything. Instructors have access to the notebook for reviewing student work and when the course is over, students can keep the notebook to implement their life plans in real-life.
At teacher request – Several units were impacted by the tax law change of 2018 and these have been updated in the course material. In addition, the course content was reviewed with more than 50 updates added for increased relevancy. This will have also saved instructors more than 500 hours of out-of-school coursecreation work.

Does RLFM function as a course or as a reference for materials?

Both. Instructors may teach RLFM as a course. In this capacity they are more like Socrates, challenging students with questions, observing student interactions and advising students on projects and assignments. The financial, career, and PSE material serves as a foundation for the brain development cause and effect thinking exercises. As a course, the instructional methodology is different from the traditional modeled behavior, lecture, memorization instruction. Each unit builds on prior information, challenging students to create a vision for their future, and a ten-year life plan.

Instructors who like to construct their own course will find RLFM should save time, since the publishers have vetted external information, update materials and is complete with challenging assignments. If used as a reference, instructors will need to design their own end of unit quizzes, and final exams since the material tested is only covered as a course.

Why does RLFM focus on a Community Project?

Studies show that young adults are disconnected from their communities and many communities experience “brain drain” as their best and brightest leave town in search of more dynamic career opportunities. Many students, as part of brain development, strive to be independent and that often translates into leaving home. This is to be expected. What is desired is that students feel a need to return and make a positive difference in the community’s social and economic fiber. This is why we include a community project.

In the fall, working in teams, students identify the problems faced by the community – not the school. They then use problem-solving skills to find solutions, implement the solutions and evaluate the results. In the spring, students revisit the community project from a critical thinking, cause and effect perspective – why do we have these problems and what can I do to solve it.

By becoming a part of the solution, they connect with community leaders and discover how they can contribute to the socio-economic transformation of the community.

We believe this is an essential component of being a leader in today’s real life economy and should not be left to a chance happening when they are adults with loans, mortgages, families to support and other obligations. Perhaps if they are taught how to make time and contribute their talent now, they will continue to do this as adults.

How does our district order RLFM?

Contact Ken Decker, President of Decker & Associates, Inc., the publishers. His email is Ken@DeckeruSA.com. Discuss your licensing needs and you will receive an invoice. You then send Decker a purchase order for the number of student licenses and the names and emails of the instructors. The licenses will be sent to your instructors.

Why is RLFM Copyrighted and what does that mean?

The publishers of RLFM have committed a lifetime to providing objective financial, tax, investment, career and estate planning advice to more than 100,000 families. They have won several awards from universities, communities, FDIC, and nonprofit organizations, have been frequently quoted in the financial press, have been expert witnesses in court, served in government leadership roles and have produce programs that achieve social and economic outcomes.

Decker & Associates, Inc is a social impact entity. The pricing for the materials is cheap when compared to quality materials and the time and effort it has taken to compile the knowledge. Profits from publishing is invested in research to discover more efficient and effective ways to preserve democracy and the American Dream. Decker materials are copyrighted because they have invested a lifetime of experience in their development.

What this means is don’t commit fraud by trying to steal the materials. We are aware of every license and if used without payment, there will be repercussions. You would not like someone stealing your compensation every month after you have done the work. Nor does D&A. Additionally Ethics and the Law are one of the TEKS in RLFM. We offer you and your district and opportunity to lead by example.

Finally, applying financial education, cost should not be an issue. The district receives approximately $385 / student of extra CTE funding for students enrolled in RLFM. The student license is only $35. That leave $350 / student for extra discretionary district expenses.

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