FFH Academy · Real Cost Skills Lab · Health Is Wealth

The Real Cost Series

Six modules teaching the honest math behind the biggest decisions most families ever make — career, housing, transportation, food, education, childcare. Each one a simulator, a lesson plan, and a printable worksheet. Together: a full curriculum on personal finance as a social determinant of health.

Hosted by

Dr. Rob Gillio

Force for Health · clinical educator, founder, your guide through the math

"Health is wealth. Wealth is health. The choices that build one almost always build the other — and the choices that drain one almost always drain the other. This Lab is where we make those choices visible, honest, and shareable." — Dr. Rob Gillio, Force for Health

Browse the Modules

6

Modules

Career · Housing · Transit · Food · Education · Childcare

3

Tools per Module

Simulator + Lesson + Worksheet

2026

Real Data

Updated annually · cited sources

$0

Cost

Free. Forever. Honest.

The Real Cost Series

Six modules. One honest framework.

Each module is a standalone tool — a simulator, a lesson plan, and a take-home worksheet. Open one, run it, share it. Or work through the whole series as a semester-long Life Skills curriculum. Either way: real numbers, real conversations, real wealth and health compounding over real years.

A Career Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Career & earnings ROI

Sixteen career paths — entry-level, trades, healthcare, tech, entrepreneurial, military, ministry. Calculate lifetime earnings, debt, taxes, and the wealth a person actually builds. Pairs with the Force for Health framework on calling and stewardship. Simulator is live; lesson + worksheet coming next.

📊 Simulator 📘 Lesson (coming) 📋 Worksheet (coming)

Open Preview →

Up to 85 coins per module

A Roof Worth Sleeping Under

Housing & home ROI

Rent vs. buy. Buy vs. buy. Sixteen scenarios with real 2026 mortgage rates, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and appreciation data. Includes FHA starter, house hack, fixer-upper, and inherited home paths.

📊 Simulator 📘 Lesson (45 min) 📋 Worksheet

Open Module →

Up to 85 coins per module

A Road Worth Driving

Transportation ROI

Car vs. transit vs. e-bike vs. walk. AAA's $11,577/yr true cost of ownership. The two-cars-to-one-car decision. The work-from-home math. Includes health overlay: cardiovascular fitness as a measurable wealth-builder.

📊 Simulator 📘 Lesson (45 min) 📋 Worksheet

Open Module →

Up to 85 coins per module

A Plate Worth Sitting Down For

Food & nutrition ROI

Cook at home vs. fast food vs. meal kits vs. restaurants. The 20-year compounding on diabetes and cardiovascular risk. Time cost. Family-table cost. The honest math of how a household feeds itself.

📊 Simulator 📘 Lesson (45 min) 📋 Worksheet

Open Module →

Up to 85 coins per module

A Diploma Worth the Debt

Four-year university vs. community college transfer vs. trade school vs. military + GI Bill vs. direct-to-work + employer tuition. Real debt-vs-earnings math. Pairs with Module 1 (Career).

📊 Simulator 📘 Lesson (45 min) 📋 Worksheet

Open Module →

Up to 85 coins per module

A Childhood Worth Showing Up For

Daycare vs. nanny vs. one parent staying home vs. grandparent care vs. co-op. Real cost ($20K+/yr/kid in many cities), lost income, career-trajectory damage from gaps. The hidden tax on working families.

📊 Simulator 📘 Lesson (45 min) 📋 Worksheet

Open Module →

Up to 85 coins per module

The Connective Tissue

Two frameworks that turn six modules into one curriculum.

The Real Cost Series isn't six separate exercises in personal finance. Every module is connected by two ideas that quietly compound across decisions: the Force Index measures the strength of healthy choices a household is making; the Ripple Coefficient measures how those choices spread to others in the home, the neighborhood, the workplace, and beyond. Together they translate individual decisions into collective health and community wealth.

💪The Force Index

Force Index = Members × Actions

The strength of a household, neighborhood, or community as a Force for Health. Members times Actions — the number of people making intentional choices, multiplied by the number of healthy decisions they're making across the spheres of life: physical, mental, spiritual, academic, financial, vocational, civic.

Worked example: A family of four where every member chooses a healthy lunch, a walk, a saving habit, and an act of service this week has a Force Index of 4 × 4 = 16. The same family next month, having added "no second car" and "annual physical" as actions, has a Force Index of 4 × 6 = 24 — a 50% increase in the strength they bring to building their health and wealth.

🌊The Ripple Coefficient

Ripple = Outward Influence ÷ Original Action

Healthy choices don't stay private. They spread through households, neighborhoods, faith communities, and workplaces. The Ripple Coefficient measures how far each individual choice travels — how many other people change behavior because one person made the decision visible and credible.

Worked example: One person sells a second car, invests the savings, and tells two neighbors. One neighbor decides to do the same. That single original decision has a Ripple Coefficient of 2.0 — it's influenced two other households. If the second neighbor then influences a sibling, the coefficient climbs to 3.0. This is how a curriculum becomes a movement.

Every module in the Real Cost Series includes both metrics. Every worksheet asks: What just went up?

Real Cost Skills Lab Playbook

Four ways to use this Lab.

Each module is built to work standalone or in sequence. Use what fits.

🎓

For students & young adults

Open any module and run the simulator with your real numbers. Print the worksheet. Show it to a parent or mentor.

Earn coins for completing modules
Stack modules for Force Index badges
Share to grow your Ripple Coefficient

👨‍👩‍👧

For families at the kitchen table

Pick the module that matches the decision you're actually facing right now. Run it together. Print the worksheet. Sign it.

One module = one weekend conversation
Signature commitment block on each worksheet
Free. No login. No tracking.

📚

For teachers & counselors

Each module is a complete 45-minute, standards-aligned, district-submittable lesson. Slot it into personal finance, life skills, or guidance.

Jump$tart / CEE · NHES · ASCA · CASEL · AAFCS aligned
Print-ready worksheet for homework
Quiz with explanations · share-out kit included

🤝

For mentors, coaches & faith leaders

The Real Cost Skills Lab is a conversation starter. Walk through a module with someone you mentor — the simulator, the worksheet, the commitment. Be the person who helped them see clearly.

Designed for 1:1 use in a coffee-shop setting
The Five Questions on each worksheet are the discussion guide
Built to be shared, not gated

Learn It

Read the lesson. Watch the math compound. See what 10 years of one choice actually looks like.

Live It

Run the simulator with your real numbers. Print the worksheet. Make one commitment by a real date.

Ready to start with one module?

Pick the decision your household is actually facing. Open the module. Run the math. Have the conversation. Then share what changed your mind.

Browse the Modules