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Money Matters

Final Project: Financial Architect

Subject Area
Financial Literacy
Estimated Classroom time
3 sessions - each 50 minutes

What does a smart financial life actually look like?

This project brings together everything learners covered in Sessions 1 to 12, so there’s no new content to teach. In teams, learners become Financial Architects. Each team gets a realistic client who takes home £2,500 a month. Teams get to know their client, build them a budget, choose investments and adapt the plan when life changes.

Everything is ready to go. Each team’s pack includes their client, every template and step-by-step guidance, so learners can lead the work themselves. Your role is simply to keep things moving and stretch their thinking.

  • Session 13: Research & Strategy.
    Meet the client and diagnose their finances.
  • Session 14: Build & Decide.
    Build a budget, choose investments and respond to an unexpected event.
  • Session 15: Present, Debate & Defend.
    Present the plan and answer questions.

Grab your resources

  • Project Session Plan

    For Sessions 13–15: a minute-by-minute plan for each session, showing what you do, what learners do and which page to use. It also includes a before-you-start checklist, questions to ask and tips.

  • Slide Deck

    For Sessions 13 and 14. Session 13 has a quick starter, the 90-second intro film and a lineup of all seven clients (A–G). During session 14 present the six stress-test events to test each team’s plan: give each team one event, and they revise their budget on pages 16–17. Teacher notes included.

  • Support Pack

    For Sessions 13–15: every task from diagnosis to presentation, plus the Research Toolkit and investment options. Print one per group, or share the editable version so each group can make a copy and fill it in. The seven client profiles are at the back. Give each group one.

  • ITZA Research Pathway

    For Session 13 (and any time after): an ITZA pathway that gathers everything from Sessions 1–12 in one place. It’s organised by stage of the money journey, so learners can jump back to any topic while they research and diagnose their client.

  • Panel Judge Pack

    For Session 15: Learners become judges. While each team presents, they score the plan against a simple rubric, ask a challenge question and vote on the outcome. Includes four scorecards and an awards sheet.

Misconceptions to watch for

  • The riskiest investment is best because it grows the most.

    A bigger possible reward comes with a bigger chance of loss. The right choice depends on the client.

    Try saying: If your client is cautious. Would they sleep at night?

  • After the event, the budget must still be exactly 50/30/20.

    50/30/20 is a starting point. Teams can move away from it if they explain why.

    Try saying: Which matters more here: the rule, or the client?”

  • A pay rise means the client can spend more.

    Extra money is a chance to boost savings or goals, not just wants. Spending all of it is called lifestyle creep.

    Try saying: Where will that £250 make the biggest difference in five years?

If a student asks…

Do we need to work out the tax?
No. The £2,500 is already take-home pay, after tax.
Can we change the 50/30/20 split?
Start with £1,250 / £750 / £500. Any big change needs a reason linked to your client.
Are these real companies?
No. The 20 investment options are made up, but they behave like real ones.
Why did we get a harder event than another team?
Every event is realistic. What matters is how well you respond and explain it.
Does the revised budget still have to add up to £2,500?
It has to add up to the income after the event: £2,750 after a pay rise, £2,250 after reduced income, and £2,500 for the rest.

Got longer?

Background

This project works differently from Sessions 1 to 12: there’s no new content to teach. Instead, the ITZA content is a research pathway that takes learners back through what they covered in earlier sessions, so they can apply it to their client. Point learners to the pathway and their pack rather than giving model answers. The Teacher Guide sets out what happens in each session, minute by minute.

Your role for each session:

  • Session 13: give each team a client and help them find what they need in the research pathway.
  • Session 14: check that each team’s numbers add up, then give each team an unexpected event to respond to.
  • Session 15: keep the presentations on time and make sure every learner gets a chance to speak.

There’s no single correct plan for any client. A strong plan is accurate, suits the client, copes with the event and can be explained by the learners. Success across the project shows in how well teams answer four questions:

  1. What do we know about our client?
  2. What should we do with their £2,500?
  3. How can we plan for their future through investment?
  4. What should change when something unexpected happens?
Key Concepts to Recap. These all appear in the word bank on page 20 of the student support pack.
  • Personal financial system: a connected plan showing how income goes to day-to-day living, protection, future goals, pensions and investment.
  • Take-home income: the amount the client has after normal deductions. In this project it’s £2,500 a month, unless a stress-test event changes it.
  • Income reliability: employed income is usually steady. Freelance, self-employed and side-hustle income can vary, so it may need bigger savings or more careful planning.
  • Needs and wants: needs are essential commitments. Wants improve lifestyle, but they can bend when money is tight.
  • 50/30/20: a guide that puts about 50% towards needs, 30% towards wants and 20% towards Future Money. It can be adapted if the client’s circumstances justify it.
  • Emergency savings: easy-to-reach money for unexpected costs, lost income or urgent repairs, so the client doesn’t need expensive borrowing.
  • Goal-based savings: money saved for a known purpose and date, such as training, equipment, a vehicle, travel or a home deposit.
  • Pension: long-term money to support the client in later life. Starting earlier gives it more time to grow.
  • Future Money: money set aside for the client’s future. It can include emergency savings, goal savings, a pension and investments.
  • Investment: money put into shares, baskets, funds or bonds to grow over time or provide income. Its value can rise or fall.
  • Risk and reward: a higher possible return usually means more uncertainty or a bigger chance of loss. Risk can’t be removed, only understood and managed.
  • Diversification: spreading money across companies, sectors, countries and types of investment, so the plan doesn’t depend on one outcome.
  • Opportunity cost: the next-best option you give up when you use limited money for something else.
  • Stress test: a realistic event that shows whether a financial plan can cope when income, costs, goals or investment values change.
  • Systems thinking: understanding that a change in one area affects others. For example, spending less on wants can boost savings, and a rent rise can delay investment.

Teacher Tips

The session plan covers setting up, timings and what to check in each session. These tips add the detail behind it.

Session 13

  • Teams: if a group has three or five learners, use the role adaptations on page 4 of the Proposal Pack.
  • Choosing clients: clients A–C are the most straightforward, G is mid-level, and E and F suit confident teams. Matching clients to teams is the easiest way to differentiate.
  • No tax: every client takes home £2,500 a month after tax, so learners don’t need to work anything out.
  • Start the presentation early: teams draft their presentation as they go through Sessions 13 and 14, so Session 15 is just final checks and presenting.

Session 14

  • Starting the budget: the original budget should be exactly 50/30/20 (£1,250 / £750 / £500). This gives every team the same starting point, which makes the changes after the stress test easier to see and explain.
  • Show the working: don’t approve a budget until the team has shown its calculations. Most errors come from totals that don’t add up, or investment amounts that don’t match the investment line.
  • Future Money: there’s no right split for the £500. Look for a reason linked to the client. For example, a client with no emergency fund should probably build one before investing heavily.
  • Stretching confident teams: add a third investment, or ask them to think about investment sectors, location and environmental impact. Neither is required.
  • One event each: it keeps the comparison between the original and revised budget clear. There are six events, so if you have more than six groups, give the same event to two groups. Repeating it works best with two different clients, because the same event affects each client differently. Save a second event for teams who finish early.
  • After the event: teams don’t need to keep to 50/30/20 any more, but they must explain every change. A team that moves away from the split with a good reason has done better than one that sticks to it without thinking.

Session 15

  • Timing: with seven teams, presentations take about 35 minutes. Use a visible timer so each team gets exactly 4 minutes, plus 1 minute for questions.
  • Everyone speaks: each learner presents the part of the plan they led, which makes it easy to check that everyone has contributed.
  • Challenge with a question: if a team makes a claim without a reason, ask “Why?” or “What would change if…?”. It’s the quickest way to see who really understands their plan.
  • Peer judging: the audience scores each team with the Judge Pack scorecards while they listen. Keep it quick: circles and a vote during the presentation, then comments afterwards.