Who We Are

SavingAndBorrowing.org (S&B) is a volunteer-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization. Our nationwide mission is to teach a hands-on, personal finance (Financial Literacy) problem-solving, real-life skill to high school students and young adults through experiential workshops. Here is what we offer: The Next Chapter in Financial Literacy – Easily learned, advanced Time Value of Money calculation skills, using only easy math. We accomplish this by teaching the “5 elements of “Time Value of Money” (TVM) as explained below, through the use of a financial calculator. The purpose of this website is to answer questions regarding how we go about all this, and to provide downloadable resources for high school teachers who want to introduce this easy-to-learn skill in their classrooms. Just take a look at the “Sample Questions” a few paragraphs below to get an idea of the wide range of personal finance problems students learn to solve! Since we began presentations in early 2024, 600 students and 65 teachers have received this training.

Reviews? Curious about our effectiveness in teaching high school students to solve such seemingly complex problems in a single 90-minute session? To see what participants say about the real-life problem-solving skill learned in the S&B TVM workshop, read our 50-plus Reviews. Just click on “Reviews” in the header at the top of the page (or possibly the “hamburger menu” on a mobile device) to see the pdf of actual Feedback Forms from high school teachers, shown in random order.

The skill we teach have two purposes: 1) to keep students from being taken advantage of financially by teaching them how to calculate and compare most consumer finance borrowing scenarios, and 2) to help students calculate for themselves and therefore see first-hand, the wealth-building power of small, regular savings or investment deposits combined with the power of long-term compounding. We help prepare them for the present and show them how to better plan for the future. We are also a registered Texas Education Agency (TEA) Continuing Professional Education (CPE) provider for the purpose of providing support to teachers who request to use our teaching presentation, methodologies, and problem sets, all of which are available at no cost. These methodologies include a cumulative learning approach which uses repetition to reinforce the concepts learned and problems solved, virtually eliminating any required memorization.

This skill is taught in a non-intimidating manner, and using only the most basic math. The math performed is simply to calculate how many months are in a given number of years. But here’s the important part: We focus on a clear explanation of the “5 elements of “Time Value of Money” (TVM) which are: Number of Payments or Periods, Interest Rate, Payment Amount, Present Value, and Future Value. Our target audiences include high school students in Financial Literacy, Business, and Economics classes, and we are leveraging our impact by providing TVM workshops at high school teacher conferences for multiple disciplines. These conferences include Career and Technical Education, DECA, and Family and Consumer Science, providing most resources needed to take the program back to teachers’ classrooms.

Our Secret Sauce? First, a simple explanation/discussion of the 5 elements of “Time Value of Money” (TVM) as detailed above. Next, a very user-friendly financial calculator as described below in the paragraph titled “What Platform?” is introduced to engage each participant and monitor their progress in real-time as we solve a number of problems in a step-by-step tactile fashion using our unique answer format. This repetitive pattern technique virtually eliminates any required memorization and quickly deepens students’ understanding of the concepts. We also try to have fun with the material as we interact with the audience. To date, every participant taking the TVM workshop “gets it” by the time they’re finished! A pdf of a recent presentation, problem set, and answers is available under the header “For Teachers.” All of these resources may be used by high school teachers at no cost in accordance with the licensing terms stated in the “Presentation” pdf and ppt files.

Perhaps our greatest accomplishment to date is we seem to have removed the barrier for teachers to obtain electronic access to a financial calculator for students’ Chromebooks or iPads. The financial calculator used, the 10bii Financial Calculator as shown under the header “Calculators Used” is the only one we are aware of that has received school district approval after successfully undergoing the standardized Student Data Privacy review (CoSN) process. The cost of the app is $3 per device (Chromebook or iPad) through the Educational Institution pricing available on the Google Play or Apple App Stores, with grant funding possibly available. Please contact us if you have questions about this process.

Building upon this access to a financial calculator on students’ Chromebooks or iPads, our long-term initiative and goal is to allow every high school student nationwide that requests one, to have an app downloaded on their personal smartphone to solve personal finance problems just like they learned to do in the TVM workshop. That way they carry the tool/technology into the real world where/when they need it. S&B has received school district approval to provide the approved app to requesting students at no cost, and we are looking forward to continuing to implement, and spread the word about this program. For students without smartphones, they will be provided an equivalent app for their home desktop or laptop. For students without any of these devices, they will be provided a physical calculator from our inventory. Please contact us if you have questions about this process. S&B receives no financial benefit from these app downloads, and funds this initiative independently.

What Platform? The platform/device used in TVM workshops was selected after comparing it against Excel, Google Sheets, Apple’s Numbers, Desmos web-based, TI BAII Plus, TI-84 Plus, TI-Nspire CX, HP 12C, HP 17bII+, Sharp EL-733A, and the Casio FC-200V financial calculators. Once upon a time, from the “For Dummies” book series, there was even a “Personal Financial Calculator for Dummies” which included the Victor V14. With those details aside, the winner is…the extremely easy to learn HP 10bII+ handheld calculator. When teaching live workshops, each participant is provided this handheld calculator to use. In virtual sessions, the 10bii Financial Calculator app available on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or the HP PC desktop calculator, which is available under our header “Download Calc for PC” will be used. If downloading this HP PC desktop calculator, set “Skins” to “Small” after installation. Post-secondary audiences may have additional options.

New! The TI-84 Plus line of calculators are now also being taught! Please see the “Event Schedule” below for our February ’25 announcement to teach TVM using the TI-84 Plus line of calculators for high school classes which already have that device available.

We specialize in teaching a hands-on, personal finance (Financial Literacy) problem-solving, real-life skill based on understanding the 5 elements of “Time Value of Money” (TVM).

Experience

Dean Harris, CPA (ret.) founder of S&B has 20-plus years of combined experience as an adjunct faculty member teaching Business Finance and Personal Finance at Austin Community College where he attained the Master Teacher classification, and teaching Finance at the Concordia University Texas MBA program where he received a letter commending his exceptional reviews by students. There he developed engaging, hands-on sessions to teach students to understand time value of money concepts and to solve a wide range of personal finance problems encountered at various stages of life. It’s seeing the “A-ha” moments from students over the years that motivated S&B to continue sharing this skill.

After being retired for 10 years, Mr. Harris became interested in adapting his TVM curriculum for high school students and teachers, and began live presentations in spring 2024. S&B has now given 25 sessions across 5 high schools, reaching 600 students. Presentations at teacher conferences have been attended by 65 teachers and includes the Career and Technical Association of Texas (CTAT), Family and Consumer Science Teachers Association of Texas (FCSTAT) live and Midwinter Virtual, and DECA Collab conferences. Upcoming presentations include the Council for Economic Education (CEE) Financial Literacy and Economic Education Conference. Presentations to nonprofits include the Central Texas Table of Grace. His goal for this program is to share the material and techniques he developed with high school teachers interested in financial literacy and time value of money, thereby giving their students one more portable Life Skill. He would also like to reach interested young adults, particularly those challenged by socioeconomic status, who might not otherwise be exposed to these concepts and problem-solving skill.

Program Contributors

This program is grateful to have been developed with assistance from:

• Melissa Thomas, Round Rock ISD, CTE Specialist
• Randy Jasek, Dave Ramsey volunteer, technical review
• NHP Private Operating Foundation, financial support
• Vi Snell, National Business Educators Assoc. (NBEA), PPT review and advisor
• Kay Norton, Certified Texas Teacher, Instructor
• Rene Gonzales, Virtual-Enterprises.com, technology advisor
• Taylor Tackitt, webmaster and creative advisor
• Marisa Brice, Exec. Dir., Family and Consumer Science Teachers Assoc. of Texas
• Anne Parrish, Certified Texas Teacher, in training

We have reached out to the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Operation Hope, Financial Beginnings, and YWCA Economic Empowerment Program for possible collaborations. If you are aware of any groups serving youth who are trying to better themselves in life, feel free to mention this website to them. We can accommodate groups of up to 50.

Event Schedule

October ’25: Presenting at the Council for Economic Education (CEE) Financial Literacy and Economic Education Conference.

July ’25: Presenting at Career and Technical Association of Texas (CTAT) and Family and Consumer Science Teachers Association of Texas (FCSTAT).

May ’25: School district presentation dates and financial calculator app downloads completed for this school year.

April ’25: Breakthrough! After school district approval, we developed and administered a program to provide a financial calculator app for requesting students’ smartphones. Based on available research, this is a “first” in financial literacy education and provides a personally-owned tool to help keep students from being taken advantage of financially, as well as encouraging them to calculate for themselves the power of saving.

April/May ’25: Submitted presentation proposals to the Council for Economic Education (CEE), the Career and Technical Association of Texas (CTAT) where S&B has been a conference presenter, the Family and Consumer Science Teachers Association of Texas (FCSTAT) where S&B has presented at multiple conferences, and the Texas Council for the Social Studies (TXCSS).

March ’25: Breakthrough! Received school district approval to provide a financial calculator app to students who participated in one of our TVM workshops. This is for their use outside the classroom, in the real world! Our research indicates this is a first-ever event! Also presented additional workshops.

February ’25: Launched a new project! Adapting our presentation to high school classes where students would use the TI-84 Plus line of calculators. These calculators have a built-in “TVM Solver” app. This project entails extending the functionality of these calculators and making students aware of the additional features. The presentation and problem sets used would be nearly identical to our original workshop.

February ’25: Hands-on TVM workshops for high school classes dealing with credit and payments.

January ’25: Virtual hands-on TVM workshops for Family and Consumer Science Teachers Association of Texas (FCSTAT) Virtual Midwinter Conference. These were our first virtual sessions, with promo codes for financial calculators distributed in advance, so each participant was able to download an app in preparation for the session. This virtual session helped S&B to gain experience necessary to offer training to remote audiences.

November ’24: Began scheduling repeat session dates for our high school hands-on TVM workshops. Teachers requested the sessions to focus on compounding and compound interest. To paraphrase Einstein, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.” Enough said. After November’s workshops, we will have presented to over 500 students since the program’s inception in February ’24.

October ’24: Presented our hands-on TVM workshop at the Texas DECA “Collab” conference. Also went live with the website.

September ‘24: Launched the beta version of the SavingAndBorrowing.org website.

August ’24: Presented our hands-on TVM workshop for the Central Texas Table of Grace, a Texas nonprofit. Also became a TEA-registered CPE provider.

July ’24: Presented our hands-on TVM workshop at the Career and Technical Association of Texas (CTAT) as well as the Family and Consumer Science Teachers Association of Texas (FCSTAT) conferences. Our goal is to raise teachers’ awareness of high school students’ ability to learn these concepts and to provide a pathway to incorporate this skill into their curriculum.

Feb-April ’24: Program was launched with Time Value of Money (TVM) hands-on workshops presentations to seventeen “Money Matters” financial literacy classes district-wide for the Round Rock, Texas ISD. In the first semester, 300 students attended workshops.

Memberships

The National Business Educators Association (NBEA), the Career and Technical Association of Texas (CTAT), DECA, the Texas Council for Social Studies (TXCSS), the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE), the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE), and America Saves, sponsored by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

Reviews