Riches Redeemed

Riches Redeemed is an online personal finance and economics course for high school students, written from a Christian perspective for homeschool families, co-ops and classrooms. It is published by AJES Academy and written by Troy Williams, whose background is in finance and consulting, and edited by Katie Williams, who teaches it to classes at a Christian school. The Williamses homeschool their own four children.

The course has an unusual shape. Instead of opening with budgeting vocabulary, each lesson tells the story of an industry: how it began, how it works now, and then what the course calls a heart check in Scripture. Banking starts with Mesopotamian temples and the Medici, investing with Dutch East India shares, insurance with ships and Lloyd's of London, taxes with ancient scribes. The practical skills come attached to that story: reading a paycheck, W-2 and 1099 income, compound interest, credit scores and reports, and the Roth decision.

There are 19 chapters in three modules. The first covers the industries: payments, banking, investments, taxes and insurance. The second applies stewardship to budgeting, debt, saving and investing, and starting a small business, including business structures, bookkeeping, pricing and cash flow. The third looks at a life with money: career and calling, credit, cars and homes, retirement accounts, scams and identity theft, giving, and financial life stages. The publisher is clear that Scripture is in the chapter itself, so this is a faith-based course throughout, not a secular one with verses added.

Students work through readings, homework, chapter quizzes, two timed module exams and a comprehensive final in an online portal, with optional videos and slides. Work is graded automatically against a rubric, parents can override any grade, and a student can ask for a marked answer to be reviewed. Parents receive weekly progress emails and PDF report cards. Teacher Guide tracks run 12, 14 or 18 weeks; the publisher counts the 18-week track as 1.0 credit and shorter tracks as 0.5, though any school or college decides for itself what it accepts.

Pricing is a one-time purchase with no subscription: $49 for one student, $79 for every student in a family, and $79 plus $39 per student for a co-op or classroom, which adds a teacher dashboard and grade grid. Every plan has a 90-day money-back guarantee, and Chapter 2, The Payments Industry, is free to read without an account.