The Vine curriculum

What is a stock?

How owning a share means owning the business.

Why prices move

News, demand, and what people believe.

Compound interest

Drag the sliders to see how time builds wealth.

Spreading your bets

Why one bad pick shouldn't sink everything you own.

Time in market beats timing it

A long-term plan means fewer guesses about when to jump in or out.

Needs vs. Wants

Needs keep you okay; wants make life fun — and knowing which is which protects your money.

Making a Budget

A budget is a plan you make for your money before you spend it.

The Hidden Cost of Choosing

Every yes to one thing is a quiet no to something else.

Why Prices Go Up and Down

Price is a tug-of-war between how much exists and how many people want it.

How Money Helps Us Trade

Money makes trade easier when two people do not want each other's goods.

Name Your Goal, Then Fill the Jar

A named goal plus a steady weekly amount turns wishing into a plan.

The Price of Just One

Divide the price by how many you get to find the cost of one.

The Pause Before You Buy

A short pause before buying helps you spot what you actually want.

Giving with a Plan

Deciding your giving ahead of time beats giving in a hurry.

Money and Friends

Clear rules before you lend keep friendships from getting awkward.

Checking vs Savings

Checking is for money you spend soon, savings is for money you keep.

Debit Cards vs Credit Cards

A debit card uses money you have; a credit card borrows money you repay.

Simple vs Compound Interest

Simple interest adds the same amount; compound interest earns on interest too.

From Allowance to Steady Income

Steady income arrives on a schedule, so you can plan with it.

Risk and reward

Higher potential reward usually involves higher risk. Order them.

What's an ETF?

Owning 500 companies with one purchase.

Dividends — getting paid to own

Some companies share profits through dividends.

Avoiding emotional traps

Why smart people make dumb investing choices.

FOMO and Following the Herd

Crowds and hype make people buy fast — slowing down is the skill.

Inflation: the silent thief

Why rising prices reduce what cash can buy.

How to actually start

Custodial accounts, ETFs, automation.

The whole playbook in 6 rules

Everything you've learned, on one card.

Bull markets vs bear markets

Why investors call markets 'bull' or 'bear'.

Famous bubbles and crashes

Real stories of hype gone wrong.

Reading a stock chart

Trends, time frames, and what to actually look at.

When should you actually sell?

Good reasons vs bad reasons to hit sell.

The Rule of 72

72 ÷ annual rate estimates years to double at a constant positive rate. Drag the rate and watch.

Pay yourself first — the wealth rule

Plan for your needs, then set aside an amount you can afford to save.

Gross Pay vs Net Pay

Gross pay is what you earned, net pay is what actually reaches you after taxes.

Saving vs investing

They're not the same — pick the right tool.

Taxes: The Big Shared Pot

Taxes are money collected from lots of people to pay for things everybody uses.

Sales Tax: The Extra Bit

Sales tax gets added at the register, so the total is higher than the tag.

Subscription Creep

Small monthly charges are easy to forget and they pile up fast.

When Spending Chases Earning

See how a raise can disappear when your spending grows just as fast.

What You Actually Keep

Work out real profit by taking your costs away from your revenue.

Paycheck vs Paid Yourself

See why $200 from a job and $200 from your own work are not the same.

Your First Tax Return

A tax return tells the government what you earned and can bring money back.

Savings Accounts That Pay More

Some savings accounts pay you a higher rate than others.

Debt That Helps and Debt That Traps

Some borrowing can help you, and some just piles up.

What a Car Really Costs

Gas, insurance and repairs add to the price on the sticker.

What Is a Credit Score?

Your credit score is a report card for how you handle borrowed money.

How a Card Balance Grows

Paying only the minimum leaves a balance, and interest piles on top of it.

Bonds — the safer cousin

Why grown-ups slowly add bonds with age.

What's a stock split?

Why a $1000 stock can become a $250 stock overnight.

Scams — how to spot the traps

A scam is a lie built to move your money. There's a pattern once you see it.

Fees — the silent thief

1% a year sounds tiny — over 30 years it can steal a quarter of your money; over 40 years, closer to a third.

Recessions — they're normal

Past U.S. recessions have ended, but they do not follow a fixed schedule.

What's the Federal Reserve?

How a Fed decision can affect borrowing costs and markets.

Capital gains tax

In the U.S., holding longer than a year may change how a gain is taxed.

Roth IRA — the cheat code

Money you put in a Roth grows tax-free — starting early is a huge deal.

REITs — real estate without buying a house

Buy a share, collect rent (sort of).

Index Funds vs Picker Funds

Index funds copy a list of companies; active funds pay someone to choose them.

Mutual Funds vs ETFs

A mutual fund pools money into investments and is normally priced once a day.

Custodial Accounts: Yours, but Managed

Kids can't open brokerage accounts alone, so a trusted adult manages one for them.

Splitting Your Money Up

Choose how much of your money goes to stocks, bonds and cash.

Fixing Your Mix

Nudge your money back to the mix you picked.

Funds With a Date on Them

One fund that slowly changes its mix as your goal year gets nearer.

Reinvesting Your Dividends

A DRIP takes your dividend cash and automatically buys more shares for you.

How Bumpy Is It?

Volatility is how much a price jumps up and down over time.

Drawdowns: Falling and Climbing Back

A drawdown is how far something has fallen from its highest point.

Finding Your Risk Comfort

Risk tolerance is how much up-and-down you can handle without panicking.

Revenue vs Profit

Revenue is everything a business takes in; profit is what's left after costs.

Earnings — what a company actually keeps

Earnings = revenue minus all the costs. That's what actually belongs to the owners.

What Makes a Business Hard to Copy

Some businesses are protected by things rivals can't quickly copy.

Speculation vs investing

Same stock, totally different mindsets.

Dollar-cost averaging

The same planned amount at regular times means fewer timing decisions.

The P/E ratio

A simple number that says how much investors pay per $1 of profit.

Market cap — how big is the company?

Share price × number of shares = total value of the company.

Crypto: hype vs reality

Bitcoin and friends — how they're different from stocks.

Sectors — how the market is split up

11 big buckets the market is split into.

The Balance Sheet

A balance sheet lists what a company owns and what it owes on one day.

Profit vs Cash

A company can earn a profit on paper and still be short of cash.

Growth or Value?

Growth focuses on expected expansion; value compares price with business fundamentals.

Small Companies vs Giant Companies

How big a company is changes how its stock tends to behave.

Share Buybacks

A buyback removes shares, so each share that is left is a bigger slice.

Shareholders Get to Vote

Owning shares usually comes with votes on big company choices.

Reading an Annual Report

An annual report shows a company's money, its plans and its worries.

The Bid, the Ask and the Spread

The gap between the buying price and the selling price quietly costs you money.

Liquidity: How Fast Can You Sell?

Liquidity is how quickly you can turn something into cash.

Market Hours and Overnight Surprises

The market has set hours, and prices can jump while it is shut.

401(k) basics — work's retirement account

Your job pays you, but they also help you save.

A brokerage account

The account you open to start buying real stocks.

Market Orders and Limit Orders

A market order trades fast; a limit order waits for your price.

Going Public: What an IPO Is

An IPO is the day a private company starts selling shares to the public.

How to choose your first stock

A simple checklist for picking the first stock you'll actually own.

Day trading — the risks of buying and selling in one day

Quick trades can bring fast losses. Learn the risks before you act.

Margin — when investors borrow money

How investors amplify gains — and how they get wiped out.

Survivorship Bias: The Missing Stories

Winners get the headlines, so success can look way more common than it really was.

Only Hearing What You Want

We collect the facts that agree with us and skip right past the ones that don't.

Why Losses Sting More

A $50 loss stings more than a $50 gain feels great, and that lopsided feeling changes choices.

The Sunk Cost Trap

Find out why "but I already paid for it" is a weak reason to keep going.

Anchored to the Price You Paid

Learn why the price you paid keeps hijacking what you think something is worth.

Why Bond Prices Fall When Rates Rise

See why an older bond gets cheaper once new bonds start paying more.

GDP and Jobs

GDP adds up everything a country makes, and the jobs report counts who is working.

Oil, Wheat and Gold

Oil, wheat and gold are raw materials, and their prices can jump around.

Short Selling

Short selling is betting a price falls, and it can go very wrong.

What an Option Is

An option is a paid right to buy or sell at a set price before a deadline.

Emergency fund FIRST — investing second

Before you start investing, you need a safety net.

Net worth — the real scoreboard

Income is what you make. Net worth is what you KEEP.

Building your investing habit

Automate a plan you can afford, then review it now and then.

International stocks — the world is bigger than the US

About half the world's stocks live outside America.

The simple wealth equation

See how income, spending and saving connect.