Remember: Prices creep up, so a jar of coins buys less over time. Growth can help, but it is never promised.
Read and answer
Read the story first, then answer.
Nico, the jar and the gardenPlink, plink! Nico dropped sixty pretend coins into a big glass jar and saved for years. The jar kept them safe, never changing. Pebble Town had a bakery where a bun cost three coins, so sixty coins bought twenty warm buns. After five years flour cost more, and the baker charged four coins, so the jar bought only fifteen buns. Ten years on a bun cost five coins and the jar bought twelve. Fifteen years on a bun cost six, and the jar bought just ten buns. The jar never lost a single coin, but the coins bought less and less. Grown-ups call this inflation, which means prices creeping up a little each year. Nico asked Gran, "Can coins climb the way prices do?" Gran told him of a made-up garden for coins with a simple rule: each year, one new coin for every ten inside. In year one, 60 coins held six full tens, so six new coins sprouted, and the garden held 66. After five years it held 94, and after ten years 149! At ten years a bun cost five coins, so the jar bought twelve buns but the garden bought twenty-nine. Real investments are not so smooth, because some years they grow and some dip. That is why investing is for coins not needed for a long while: a jar keeps coins ready, and a garden gives them time to grow.
1
A bun costs 3 coins. Nico's 60 coins buy buns.
2
Look at the table. At year fifteen the jar buys buns.
3
A jar can keep all its coins and still buy less.
TrueFalse
4
Look at the bars. This creeping up of prices every year has a name. What is it?
InflationInterestA payout
5
In real life, investments grow smoothly every year.
TrueFalse
Sort, order and fix
6
In year one, 60 coins make 6 full tens, so 6 new coins sprout. The garden holds 60 + 6 = coins.
7
After 10 years the garden buys 29 buns and the jar buys 12. The garden buys more buns.
8
Circle every goal that fits a garden, not a jar.
Coins for a kite next weekCoins for a trip in ten yearsCoins for a bill due this monthCoins for a goal fifteen years awayCoins nobody needs for twenty years
9
Number the steps of Nico's story.
Gran tells of a made-up garden
Nico saves 60 coins in a jar
The baker's price creeps up
The jar buys fewer buns
10
Join each to what it is.
1The jar
2The garden
3Inflation
Akeeps coins ready and never changes
Bgives coins time to grow, but it is never promised
Cprices creeping up a little each year
11
Tess says: Nico's jar lost coins, because it buys fewer buns. What is the mix-up?
The jar bought more bunsThe buns got cheaperThe jar still holds all 60 coins; each bun costs more
12
Why is investing for coins not needed for a long while?
Because investments never dipSo the coins can wait out dips and have time to growSo the coins are ready next week
13
Ask a grown-up what a loaf of bread or a bus ride cost when they were your age. Write what they said.
14
Draw a jar and a garden. Write one job for each.
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Answer key · Set A
Why invest at all?
120 60 ÷ 3 = 20 buns.
210 60 ÷ 6 = 10 buns.
3True The jar never lost a coin, but each bun cost more, so the coins bought less and less.
4Inflation Grown-ups call prices creeping up a little each year inflation.
5False Some years they grow and some dip, and nobody can say which. Growth is never promised.
666 60 + 6 = 66.
717 29 − 12 = 17 buns more.
8Coins for a trip in ten years, Coins for a goal fifteen years away, Coins nobody needs for twenty years A garden needs a long time to grow coins. Coins needed soon stay ready in the jar.
94, 1, 2, 3 He saves first, prices creep up, the jar buys fewer buns, and then Gran tells of the garden.
101-A, 2-B, 3-C A jar is ready now, a garden needs time and promises nothing, and inflation is prices creeping up.
11The jar still holds all 60 coins; each bun costs more The coins stayed the same, but the price of a bun went up.
12So the coins can wait out dips and have time to grow Real investments dip some years, so they need time. Coins needed soon stay in a jar.
13Your own words: a grown-up reads it.
Mark each answer, count the right ones and write the score on the sheet.