61 Money Writing Prompts and Ideas

Money Writing Prompts List of Ideas for High School Students this Tax Day (and beyond!)— It’s officially tax season and talk of money is everywhere right now. If you teach high schoolers in public school, private, or homeschool, you know they’re starting to think about these things, and no matter what subject you teach, it’s good to help them work through their thoughts about money, from every angle.

Table of Contents

Kids Will Explore Popular Beliefs about Money, Their Biggest Fear, and More
Economics Lessons for Teachers of High School Students
Teach Your Students About Financial Self Care with Our List of Money Writing Journal Prompts
61 Money Journal Prompts for Students
A Few Final Words on Money and Prosperity
More Writing Free Resources

Kids Will Explore Popular Beliefs about Money, Their Biggest Fear, and More

This list of 61 money writing journal prompts is one of my favorite things for tackling money-related topics head-on.

You see… Writing about money is one of the best ways to help your students process their past experiences and present thoughts. Plus, they’ll get more comfortable with thinking about how money has impacted their life and what it means for themselves and others.

And…

They can explore the pros and cons of entrepreneurship, discuss key economic concepts and economic theories, or simply contemplate how their roles are buyers of goods affect their everyday lives.

Economics Lessons for Teachers of High School Students

(…or even perhaps for some middle school students)

This list of money prompts features thought-provoking political “world change” questions, silly prompts, reflection prompts about how their socioeconomic status affected them growing up, their goals for money’s role in their life as an adult, how to manifest money, and more. (I hope you’ll use these ideas in your high school classes and lesson plans.)

Yes! These money-themed prompts will help your students dive into their money story and money mindset as well as their financial future. They will be given the opportunity to explore their emotions and worries about money and identify whether or not they have a money block.

These money journal writing prompts will help your students explore the kind of relationship they have with money and the role it plays in their lives.

Teach Your Students About Financial Self Care with Our List of Money Writing Journal Prompts

Most of these questions are not high school-specific – they could be used for middle schoolers and up. You can use them in your money lesson plan or as thought exercises out loud in the classroom as well!

Feel free to choose the tone of the prompts you want to go for or let your students decide for themselves.

Above all, I hope these money writing prompts and open-ended questions lead to awesome conversations about economic education in your high school economics classroom (and at home!).

Now…

Get to it and have your kids grab their pencils (or computers), and get to writing and money journaling today.

61 Money Journal Prompts for Students

Have your students dig into these money writing prompts today. I think they’ll be glad they did.

If you started a colony of people in outer space, would they use any kind of currency? If so, would you bring your country’s currency there or start a new one?
Imagine you could make your own system of money. What would it be called? What would the coins and bills look like – or would there be coins and bills?
Write a short story about a specific species of animals starting to use money. What pitfalls do they encounter and how do they fix them?
Write a story about a world where money literally grows on trees.
Are you more of a saver or spender? Write a story where your future self gets married to the opposite kind of person.
If money was edible and every kind of bill had a different flavor, would you eat a $100 bill?
If money was a gas or a liquid instead of solid, where would you keep yours?
Write an advertisement for a bank for money that is made of liquid or gas.
Would you trade your pet for $500?
If every coin or bill had a different personality, what would they each be like?
If there was a big pit full of money, and on your 18th birthday you got one minute in the money pit, what would be your strategy?
If you had to build your house out of one type of coin and some very strong glue, which coin would you choose?
If you could replace the faces on each type of money, who would you change the faces to?
If you could get paid to participate in any club or sport you’re not already in, but you had to do it for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
If you got a part-time job for the next year and could get paid in something that costs less than $5 apiece, what would you choose?
Imagine you got paid 3 dogs per day for your job. What would you do with them?
If you were required to get a pet and teach them a job they could get paid for, what animal would you choose and what job would they do? (It has to be a real-life job.)
What is your happiest memory and how much would someone have to pay you to remove it from your brain?
How much would someone have to pay you to switch religions or belief systems to one of their choice and why?
If you had to only use one size of bill for the rest of your life, what size would you choose?
What was your family’s money situation like growing up? How has that affected your goals for your life as an adult?
Rank these values in order of importance and explain why you chose that order: living close to your extended family or childhood friends, being rich, loving your job, doing what you wanted to do as a kid, traveling, and spending a lot of time with your immediate family.
If I won $50, I would…
If you could spend as much money as you wanted, write the story of your perfect birthday party, . What is the best thing at the party?
If every expensive thing in the world cost the same amount of money and you could afford one thing, what would you get and why?
Are your parents more spenders or savers? Are they different from each other or very similar? How has this affected you?
If money didn’t exist and you could still have everything you needed, would you still have a job? Would that change the job you wanted to have?
If you could only use coins, bills, or a debit card for the rest of your life, which would you choose and why?
Do you think the world would be better if everyone had a credit card or if no one had a credit card? Why?
Write out the pros and cons of canceling student loan debt for everyone. Do you think canceling all (or some) of it is a good idea?
If you could get the government to instantly make one big financial decision (related to something like climate change, minimum wage, student loan debt, police or military spending, etc.), what would it be and why?
Do you think billionaires should have to pay a higher percentage of income taxes than the rest of the population? Why or why not?
How often do you think about how much money you have? Is that something you’d like to change one way or the other?
Would you rather give money to a person who’s having a hard time with something or a charitable organization that helps with that issue? Why?
How will the gender pay gap affect you as an adult? Do you feel any obligation to help change it?
If I could make one person in my life rich, knowing I wouldn’t get anything out of it, they would be…
Write a short story about someone who steals money or sells stolen items for a good cause.
How have you seen people use their socioeconomic status for good or for evil?
Write about a time you were embarrassed about your family’s financial status. What did that experience teach you?
Write about a time you were around people that were at a very different wealth level than you. What did you notice that was different?
If I could create a charitable organization, it would be…
If I could create a business with my best friend, it would be…
I regretted buying ______ because…
What’s something that other people would spend a lot of money on that you think is a waste and why?
What’s something that you would spend a lot of money on if you could and why?
Rank these items in order of your interest in them for your dream life and explain why: a very nice place to live, traveling across the world, buying expensive clothing or accessories, getting the best items for your hobby (like an impressive car, guitar, or art supplies), donating money to charity, and going to expensive dinners, concerts, or events.
If you could donate 1 million dollars towards any political, charitable, or religious cause, what would it be?
If you have a religion or spiritual practice, how does it affect the way you see wealth and how you plan to spend your money in the future?
Do you plan to take out student loans if you go to college? How much do you think would be reasonable for you to take out per year?
If I could make my school give $20,000 to one department or club, it would be…
Do you wish we could go back to trading goods in addition to using money? If we still did that, what goods would you trade and what would you trade them for?
Are you more interested in getting the exact item you want or saving money? Why?
If your friend or family member needed to borrow a lot of money, would you loan it to them or not? Why or why not?
What’s the most expensive gift you’ve ever gotten someone? Do you think it was a good decision?
How do you balance responsibility with enjoyment of your money? Do you think you need to practice saving or spending more?
Look up the average salary for the job you want as an adult and create a budget based off of that salary. Can that job provide the kind of lifestyle you hope for?
Ben Franklin famously said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” What do you think he meant by that? Do you think it’s true?
Have you ever bribed someone? Is there a situation in which you could see yourself bribing someone?
Do you think it’s ever okay to steal? Why or why not?
If you ever got married, would you want to share all your money together with your spouse or keep your money separate? Why?
What do you think the world would be like if doctors, lawyers, celebrities, and politicians made the LEAST money?

I hope you enjoyed this list of money writing prompts. Most of all, I hope your students discovered greater understanding, clarity, and direction in terms of their own life and the financial goals they want to achieve.

A Few Final Words on Money and Prosperity

Creative writing prompts like these are awesome ways to help your students think through economics, ethics, goal setting, and how their childhood impacts the person they are today.

Money is not just about wealth; it can be about family, community, charity, life experiences, culture, politics, and many more important topics.

As your students mature, these topics will personally impact their lives in so many practical ways. Thinking through their answers to a list of questions like these and what they mean on a greater ethical level is an awesome practice for them to begin now and continue for the rest of their lives.

Until next time, keep on writing…

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Sincerely,
Jill
journalbuddies.com
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