This fall, business teacher Ryan Richetelli submitted a proposal for a new class at Morgan after Personal Finance, a course he teaches, became required by the state before the 2023 school year.
Richetelli realized an advanced course, which he named advanced personal finance, was necessary after he had freshmen and seniors in the same class learning the same topics, and made the idea for advanced personal finance.
“The second Personal Finance became a graduation requirement and I began having freshmen and seniors in the same class,” Richetelli explained. “It’s hard to teach finance when some people know how to do calculus and some barely know how to do basic math.”
Ava Pluck is a freshman and currently taking personal finance with Richetelli. “Being in the same class as juniors and seniors is definitely difficult because a lot of the material being covered is not stuff I would be aware of or could even relate to my life,” Pluck shared. “I think having a separate course would make it easier for freshmen and sophomores because it would allow us to learn things we are familiar with and allow us to become more comfortable in class.”
Richetelli has worked at The Morgan School for 13 years, and began teaching at Daniel Hand High School for 2 years, before switching toThe Morgan School. Richettelli teaches many courses at Morgan, including personal finance, business application, entrepreneurship, accounting I and II, and hopefully coming soon, advanced personal finance.
When Richetelli was in high school, at Morgan, he wasn’t able to take any of the classes he teaches, simply because they weren’t offered. With that being said, he does wish he would have been able to take at least some of the classes, because he believes “everybody should have access to that knowledge and should know about it before going into the real world.”
Although the idea of advanced personal finance might have been simple enough to come up with, creating the class itself has definitely been a challenge. “I had to fill out paperwork, which took me around a half of a day. Then I had to bring it to Mrs. Hagness to sign off on it, and after she signed it, I had to bring it to the department and the head of guidance to sign off on the class. Currently, I am waiting for the board of education to approve it, and if they do, I will need the superintendent to approve it. After that, hopefully, I will be able to offer the class for students to take,” Richetelli explained.
Even though Richetelli has high hopes for the class, and has already come a long way with the process of creating the class, there is still a chance the board of education will not allow for the class to be created.
“I don’t believe it would cost them extra money in materials or staffing. All it would do is add value to the business curriculum, so I don’t see a reason for them to not approve the class. If the board of education does not approve it, I would ask for the reasoning and better understand what I can continue to pursue offering advanced person finance.”
If the class is approved by the Board of Education and superintendent, it will be taught during the second semester of the 2026-2027 school year.
The class, itself, “builds upon the foundational knowledge of personal money management to help students make informed financial decisions in the real world,” according to Richetelli. Although it builds off of the ideas taught during the personal finance course, Richetelli has decided if the course is approved, personal finance will not be a pre-requisite for advanced personal finance. “If I’m able, I would like to make advanced personal finance an option, instead of personal finance, to be a required course in order to graduate,” Richetelli explained.
“It’s designed to further students’ understanding regarding money in the real world, and I believe it is beneficial for every student to have extended knowledge about these topics before they graduate high school,” Richitteli explained.
Currently, the topics covered during the personal finance course are student loan debts, auto loan debts, mortgage loan debts, DTI calculator, and credit score. However, Richetelli plans to cover investment strategies, taxes, credit and debt management, insurance, major purchases, financial planning for college, careers in retirement in advanced personal finance.
One unit he specifically mentioned he was excited to teach was investment analysis and forecasting. “I find working with numbers in spreadsheets beneficial to not only teach but also learn.”
Junior Jack Henry Palazzo took Richetelli’s personal finance course during the first semester of his sophomore year. He wanted to take it during his freshman year, but only got into the class during his sophomore year.
“When I did get in, I was really nervous because I didn’t think I was gonna do well at all because I didn’t know anything about finance. However, I was so grateful I took it because I had so much more knowledge and understanding of personal finance.”
“The final project was a lot of work, but it definitely made me feel more comfortable about my future and knowing what I’ll need in my future. It also helped me to connect everything we had worked on the whole semester and tie it all together,” Palazzo shared.
“I plan to take more of his classes next year because I think it is important and beneficial to understand the real world topics he teaches,” Palazzo closed.
