This week: I started first grade in the fall of 1965. My teacher handed me a book with a boy named Dick, a girl named Jane, and a dog named Spot. By the end of that year I could read. By the end of third grade I could do arithmetic. By the end of high school I could write essays, solve complex math problems, and name every state capital.

What I could not do — what nobody every taught me — was manage money.

Not how to budget a paycheck. Not how to build credit. Not how to evaluate a job offer or understand a mortgage or open a retirement account. Not one lesson. Not one conversation. Not one worksheet.

I figured it out eventually — through trial and error, through mistakes that cost real money, through decades of learning what I should have known at seventeen.

I built Money Smart Nation so your children never have to say the same thing.

— William Harrop

Money Smart Nation is A complete grades 1 thru 12 financial literacy curriculum - built on the belief that financial capability is a life skill as fundamental as reading and mathematics.

Every grade has three components: a complete lesson guide for teachers/parents/students, a foundations document connecting financial literacy to reading, writing, and mathematics, and a hands-on student workbook with real calculations and personal financial planning activities.

The program covers five pillars at every grade level: Earning, Saving, Spending, Investing, and Protecting. Every concept builds deliberately from the one before it. A First grader learns that money comes from work. A 12th grader writes a complete personal financial plan for the first decade of adult life.

57 documents, 12 grade levels. Everything a student needs to graduate financially capable, not just financially aware.

The program launches in the Fall of 2026. The community is open now.

What’s next: Every week the Money Smart Nation newsletter delivers one financial literacy concept shown at multiple grade levels — what it looks like in Grade One, how it deepens in Grade 6, and what it means for a 17-year-old making real financial decisions right now.

Next Week: The most powerful concept that your child can learn before the age of 10, and why most adults never fully understand it either.

The Money Smart Nation Skool community is open right now. Inside you will find free access to the complete curriculum for every grade. The full guided learning experience launches in the late Fall of 2026.

The community is organized by life stage so every family finds something immediately relevant:

. Early Learners (Grades 1 -3) — for parents building the foundation now

. Middle Years (Grades 4 -8) — for families in the building stage

. High School Ready (Grades 9 - 12) — for students and parents facing real decisions now

. Teachers and Educators — for anyone bringing this into a classroom

Wherever your child is right now — that is exactly where we start.

Join us at skool.com/moneysmartnation

And if you know a parent or teacher who needs this - forward this email. The program is only as powerful as the number of students it reaches.

I paid approximately $6000 per year for my college education 40 years ago. I subsequently helped my three children navigate college costs ranging from $30,000 to $70,000 per year. That tenfold increase in education costs — over a period when wages did not increase proportionally — represents one of the most significant financial landscape changes of the past generation.

A student whose parents borrowed $20,000 to finance a four-year degree in 1985 who assumes a similar calculation applies today is making a financial assumption that the data simply does not support.

That is why Grade 11 of Money Smart Nation includes a complete education ROI analysis — showing students the real financial return of every post-secondary path before they commit to it.

This program was built from real experience. Every lesson reflects the financial decisions that real families face. I built this because I believe every student deserves what I wish I had at seventeen.

Welcome to Money Smart Nation. Let’s get to work !

—William

. Join the community: skool.com/moneysmartnation

. Forward this to a parent or teacher who needs it

. Program launches in the late Fall of 2026

. All curriculum content is currently free to access

. Questions ? Reply to: [email protected]