Unfun money
Plan for bills and commitments before discretionary spending.
A Just Motivation schools program
Hope Starter Finance gives students practical money skills they can use this week — then checks in across the next twelve months to see what's really changed.
Most students already know they should save. So we don't lecture. Hope Starter Finance takes five simple types of money, makes them relevant to a teenager's real life, and then keeps checking in so the habit has a chance to form.
An energetic, story-driven session that turns five types of money into habits students can try this week.
For the first three months after the session, a 60-second Money Check-In each month asks what students actually did — and what they’ll try next. Three quarterly check-ins then follow to measure the program’s impact.
Quarterly reviews track real behaviour change, and each school gets a snapshot to act on.
What students learn
Simple course language students remember — and a habit attached to each one that we can actually track.
Plan for bills and commitments before discretionary spending.
Set a spending limit and pause before buying.
Set a goal and save regularly towards it.
Understand super and long-term saving.
Choose whether to help someone or support a cause.
The check-ins also track hope, price comparison and informed debt decisions. Students are never required to invest or donate.
In their words
What the data will show
The goal isn’t simply to teach — it’s to show measurable change in what students do with their money, twelve months on.
| Habit | Baseline | 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Separate spending & saving accounts | 31% | 74% |
| Actively saving toward a goal | 27% | 68% |
| Used the 24-hour rule before buying | 18% | 61% |
| Checked payslip / super contributions* | 24% | 67% |
| Saving more than before Hope Starter | 22% | 65% |
| Hopeful about their financial future | 48% | 78% |
Example of how baseline and 12-month Money Check-In results could be reported. Not actual Hope Starter outcomes. *Among students who are employed.
“You don't need another lecture about money. You need one thing you can actually do before next week.”
Already a partner school? Log in to manage your students and this term’s check-ins. Not yet? Let’s talk.