CTV consumer reporter Chris Olsen went back to high school to learn a valuable financial lesson he wished he'd learned as a teenager...how to save money.

Teacher Jacqui Fenn made a list of popular items such as Starbucks coffee, an MP3 player, fast food and a bus pass and asked the students "is that a want or a need?"

Show that list to many people and they might say they "need" them all.

It's one of life's toughest financial lessons, separating wants from needs.

The students are learning how hard it is to live that lesson too.

Around the classroom there are visible examples of "wants" the bottled water, the designer purse, the fancy cell phone and an Ipod Nano.

None of them is really needed, but tough to say no to.

According to a student named Dana, "you just see something really expensive you think you really need. But it ends up you really just wanted it, you didn't really need it."

The lessons they are learning were developed by the BC Securities Commission and are now used across Canada,

Patricia Bowles of the BCSC says "now it's really taking off we've had 80 no 100 requests for our resource in the last month. Teachers are really realizing they need to give their students these skills."

Steven says what he's learned is money is hard to earn.

This is just one of about 16 different lessons you can also access on line at The Money Belt through something called "the City."

Sean says the course has taught him to say no to wants and that has allowed him to save money.

"Once you look at the balance in your account and see the money keep rising because you are always putting money in there it just tells you that there is always a back up plan for you," he said.

The lessons focus students on goals for the future, like Jenny who has big dreams.

"My biggest goal right now is probably saving for University or College or something like that," she said.

But the students face a potential financial hazard their parents didn't when they were young -- the seduction of the debit card.

Cheryl says " it's much easier to hand over a card rather than cash and you don't really think about it until you go to the bank and look at your balance and notice well I spent a lot of money."

Jacqui Fenn, who teaches the course, has learned a few things she now uses in her life.

"With my own budget how much I spend a month, the reality of how much I spend on the wants versus needs," she said.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen