How to motivate students to take an interest in financial literacy

The question "how to save up for my first car" will capture attention that a definition of interest will never get. The difference isn't in the topic, but in whose problem is being solved.

It works well to start with decisions students are making right now — a phone, a part-time job, their first paycheck — and only then extract the principle from them.

And let them calculate out loud. A mistake that a student finds themselves holds better than the correct procedure on the board.