In school, students are surrounded by countless mathematical equations and formulas, yet struggle on how to deal with money. Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge for the current college students who just graduated is a student loan. A group of students came up with the Money Camp Project to directly address deeply rooted problems for themselves and others. On September 25th, 7 students from different high schools presented what they have selectively researched financial education for weeks in a Zoom Webinar with a financial expert.
Here’s what they have shared.
It gets easily convenient when we decide to divide up the money management into three main parts: Making money, Investing money, and Spending money. Probably, many students have experienced various methods of making money or at least witnessed others making money. Part-time jobs are a prevalent way to earn money based on the number of hours dedicated into the job, or a few students have managed to earn even greater money by participating in online business or adopting their unique way to make money, for example social media nowadays. Already familiar and accessible, making money is not where students struggle the most; it is the investing money.
To teenagers, investing might seem like an untouchable area where “professional” men with awesome suits bring out millions of dollars on Wall Street. Unless you have a particular interest in either the economy or investing, there is a slim chance that you understand how and what to invest in. Nevertheless, investing is fundamental to financial education and a gateway to “passive income”. Passive income is what sets the borderline of financial freedom, something that people desire to achieve before their 50s or 60s. Students often find themselves drifting in the job market to solve their financial issues, and this is called “active income,” an output dependent on hours. On the contrary, passive income is income that automatically comes into your bank account from various sources. Reciting the importance of passive income, students of the Money Camp project provided an entirely new perspective on finances and what are the likely options for investing.
Students of Money Camp project also shed light on costly college education even in Covid-19 outbreak that forced many colleges to accept online classes. Understanding the concept of opportunity cost, they were able to develop a valuable discussion over whether college education is beneficial and other alternatives. Successfully, not only they described how student loans have become a destructive financial issue, but also illuminated on trade school and its offering compared to colleges.
After all, the Money Camp project brought students who were anxious about their financial future and opened the door to financial education that was once out of sight. If you are interested in looking for further financial education, “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki is a firmly recommended book as the project was strongly inspired by and developed upon.
Kommentare