Students Learn Basics of Finances....
Money Rules Summit's main message to high schoolers:
Remember to Save
by Edward L. Kenny, The News Journal, December 5, 2008
High school student Kristian Joseph has an interesting theory about why the nation has gotten into such a financial pickle.
“If people knew more about money, the economy wouldn’t be as bad,” said Joseph, 16, a junior at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington.
The Delaware Financial Literacy Institute is doing its best to turn that around – and beginning at an early age. On Thursday, it hosted its fourth annual Money Rules Summit for High School Students, designed to help youngsters such as Joseph learn the ins and outs of finance, including how to save and spend money wisely.
“We know that not all schools teach personal finance,” institute Executive Director Ronni Cohen said from the summit site at Delaware Technical & Community College in Dover. “And we know people don’t talk about finance at home, other than to say, ‘We don’t have any. Get a job. Ask your father.’ Or, ‘Ask your mother.’ So this does open up the dialogue.”
The institute, also known as the Money School, sends a summit invitation each year to all high schools in the state, both public and private. This year, 182 students from 20 schools attended. Most of the participants are juniors, although a few seniors attended.
One of the most important messages the institute tries to get across to the students is the importance of saving.
”We know, as a country we’re not savers,” Cohen said. “We have a negative rate of saving in this country, and that is affecting a lot of people. Think before you spend. Make wise decisions.
“I think the one thing we’re not taught is to start saving early. And to us, that is critical. Many of these kids will have summer jobs, and it is very easy to start spending that money,” she said.
Summit attendee Alex Rushing, 16, a junior at Laurel High School, works part time at a Jiffy Lube in Salisbury, Md., and he said he is saving money by car-pooling to his job with co-workers who also live in Laurel.
“I sort of save up all that I can,” said Rushing, who wants to be an aerospace engineer and will need a lot of that money for college.
Richard Harmon, 17, a senior at Dover High School, works part time at a Burger King in Dover, and he also has learned the importance of saving, especially as money gets tight.
“Make a lot of money and save as much as you can,” he said. “If you get married, that’s going to cost a lot of money. And if you have kids, that’s going to take some more. Everybody needs to save.”
The institute also tries to hammer home the pitfalls of over-extended credit, and how compound interest and late fees often can make even modest purchases balloon several times their original size if only minimum payments are made.
“There are so many places that take plastic now,” Cohen said. “It’s going to be even harder to get credit (in this economy), so you’re going to need to establish good credit. The average student is in debt by the time they finish college.”
The Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware helped create the summit’s programs, which included skits about budgeting and other financial matters, videos, speakers and roundtable discussions. Discover Bank and Bank of America were the top sponsors for the event, which was free for the students.
Among the speakers was state treasurer and Gov.-elect Jack Markell, who told the students about the importance of smart spending and about learning more in school so they can become higher wage earners.
The students also were taught how much the average income varies depending on occupation. For instance, the yearly median income is $14,206 for a waitperson but $177,690 for a surgeon. They also learned that the annual median income for people with less than a ninth-grade education is $17,422, while the average is $70,853 for graduates with a doctorate degree.
“When I look at the kids, they’re all listening,” Cohen said of the attendees. “When they fill out their evaluations, they say,’ Why didn’t anyone tell us about this before?’”