A Question for High School Graduates (and others)
 "Vulpine fortunes are precarious; folk either want to build monuments to us, or hang us." Location: Roseville, CA, USA
|
I have a question for those furry fans who (despite the subject title) are either attending, or have attended, what we here in the states call "High School" - typically, public education from Grades 9-12, finishing in your 18th year. The question is this: During your years in school, either as part of a mathematics course or a course in Home Economics, were you offered any instruction in Basic Finance - that is, how to deal with a bank, how to open a checking account, balance a checkbook, how to use credit for personal loans, or how to properly use a credit card, or any of the otherwise simple home finance/budgeting/bill-paying stuff that your parents had to do in running a household? --- What will I do with this information? I'm not really sure, but I've been mulling over the idea of something called "Furry Finance 101 - how to finance your fandom experience", or something along that line. Questions that I see here, stories which I've heard elsewhere, indicate a need for something like it. It might simplify life for those who need to buy or reserve airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and a lot of other things which fans - particularly fans travelling away from home - need to know how to do, and what tools and resources they can use to best advantage; or what plans and preparations they need to pursue, to be able to afford going on that trip to AnthroCon (or any leisure trip or activity, for that matter) - and they might offer utility in making Daily Life a little bit easier to manage. |
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
Icerocket
Location: Ardmore, PA
Website: [Link]
Blog: [Link]
I had a basic accounting class in high school, around 1995 or so.
As an aside, I'd support the idea of a "furry finance" site or blog. (If you want to discuss web hosting, contact me privately)
I also have plenty of tales (tails?) of finance that I'd love to share. Let me know if you'd like a brain dump.
Also, here are some consumer/financial-related sites that I read regularly:
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/
http://www.consumerist.com/
--
My LiveJournal - My Website - See what I'm doing on Twitter
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkI completed high school in a fairly affluent school district. Went to college and got a bachelors in business administration. It was only in the 3rd and 4th year of the latter that calculating interest, usually a mortgage or business loan was addressed. - - I have found that when discussing most any topic, if an issue requiring even the most basic mathmatical skill comes up, everyone avoids it like the plague. Too many people are terrified of anything mathmatical, personal finance included. I do see three obstacles to offering it at a furcon: 1) While I agree the topic is an important one, it is important to everyone, and is not really a "furry" one. 2) Personal finance is just that, personal and each individual will have different needs to face based on factors such as age, income, and personal goals. 3) Most importantly, the only financial topic most furs do want to discuss is how they are going to afford the next furcon, fursuit or apartment.
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkLocation: Arizona
I dunno, I know a lot of furries who, and this is no slant against them, just seem to not really have any grasp of basic funds management. I know a lot of non furries in about the same situation. It just seems like younger people (and typing THAT hurt, btw) don't put the same kind of stock in personal responsibility, figuring everything is just going to work out somehow.
Might not be a bad idea at least explaining how to keep and balance a checkbook, how to cut little costs..etc.... Just basic fiscal responsibility. I know a lot of people who could afford a fursuit if they just cut out 2 starbucks trips a week. So it does fit together, and more cash on hand means more to spend on the con.
Probably would be better as a website though.
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkLocation: Ardmore, PA
Website: [Link]
Blog: [Link]
One of the tricks I use to save is I set aside every $5 bill I get as change.
Those saved $5s become spending money for conventions/trips/etc.
--
My LiveJournal - My Website - See what I'm doing on Twitter
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkSo the more you spend, the more you save.
.
.
.
.
. . . . . Until it's time to spend your savings.
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkLocation: In a small little box in your small little mind.
Website: [Link]
That would add up to being in the couple thousands for me : o
But thats because of my spending habits. Most of the cheap food stuff is between 1 and 5 dollars, so i tend to keep a good chunk of my money as 5 dollar bills.
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkLocation: In a small little box in your small little mind.
Website: [Link]
Thank god that doesn't include me.
I was never given any kind of financial class in High School. But I also seem to have a really good nack for handling money. To the point that this year I'm orchestrating the costs of rides, hotel, food, member ship, etc for... 1, 2... for seven other furs (myself not included).
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkThe only thing my schools taught me was how to write a check. We covered that five different times in math class over the course of 5 years.
The rest of my very limited financial knowledge comes from some of my well-educated friends, and my father.
-Okay, we're up to one (1) so far...
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkLocation: Roseville, CA, USA
What prompted this was seeing, time and again in the "New to Conventions" and the "Hotel Questions" forums, these questions about how to PAY for a hotel room, and sad stories about having their Debit cards essentially frozen for the duration of the con, - you know the type - DESPITE warnings in the relevant places about NOT using the debit card that way, and how to pay for merchandise from dealers.
Sometimes, these posts are from kids, still in High School; often, they are from Furfen who are presumably living on their own, in their 20's or even their 30's, who do not have Credit Cards, because they are Afraid of Debt (understandable), afraid of Identity Theft, or are just - well, Afraid of the whole concept, mostly through ignorance.
Well, we all have to learn things from somewhere, and I remember from my days in High School that we never were taught practical, day-to-day stuff like that. In fact, in the mid 70's, boys were still exposed to Industrial Arts and Shop classes, and girls were shuffled off to Home Economics, and perhaps classes in stenography dictation, and how to operate an old-fashioned Private Branch Exchange (PBX) telephone switchboard. In hindsight, I can say that EVERY student ought to learn how to cook, how to do basic home management chores, and how to change a tire on a car, or jump-start same, or light a safety (railroad) flare, whether Boy or Girl.
Maybe they do that, now - but I bet that they STILL don't teach basic household budgeting, or basic household savings, or banking, or paying bills with a check...let alone an understanding of just what, exactly, a charge card is, and the different types, and both the benefits and pitfalls. Many school districts make Sex Education Mandatory - but perhaps regard simple, personal finance as "too intimately personal" to be taught in public school, you either got to learn it from your parents, or - *shudder* - "Pick it up on the street".
I'm not thinking of something along the lines of "Invest to be Rich", just something that shows young people to establish a goal (Save to go to AnthroCon!), figure out and budget what that requires, then establish a plan to save for that goal. Of course, that meansknowing how to keep a portion of what you earn, and tha means tracking expenses to see where the money actually goes, and then determining where and what can be managed to keep some of that money for your goal -in short, a personal budget.
And THEN - a talk about what a credit card (and a credit card purchase) actually is, that a credit card is NOT "extra money", but rather a short-term, high risk, unsecured loan - which, if paid off within the month is FREE - and a way to flexibly pay bills, consolidate them to ONE bill, track purchases...IF you have the discipline to keep track of and control your purchases, responsibly.
...And THEN show them what can happen if you are undisciplined, and act irresponsibly.
God, I'd LOVE to do that, with sound-bites from Scrooge McDuck, and Shere Khan from "Tail-Spin".
Or, alternatively, write short instructive essays on the matter.
Heck - there MIGHT even be a way to present it so that it's FUN...
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkFound on Yahoo!Financial page today and presented without comment:
Harold Maass of The Week The Best of Today's Business
NEWS AT A GLANCE
Treasury teaches credit management
As Wall Street sinks under a credit-based crisis, the Treasury Department is starting a long-planned program today to teach young people about managing credit and other financial matters. The $750,000 campaign, called "Don't let your credit put you in a bad place," includes a Web site and TV and radio ads. "The events unfolding in the last few months can be seen as a national teachable moment," said Treasury education official Dan Iannicola. (Los Angeles Times) Facing another day of financial drubbing, central banks in Europe, Japan, and Britain injected more than $150 billion to add liquidity to the market. (MarketWatch) Markets in China and Japan closed down between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent today. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkLocation: Philadelphia area, PA
My mother often says the same thing--that there ought to be a mandatory 'Everyday Life' course where they teach you a bunch of basic things like that--how to follow a recipe, iron a shirt, sew a button back on, change a tire, manage a checking account, read a road map, jumpstart a car, mend a ripped seam...
It seems like a course in basic furry financial management would answer a definite need, especially if it included something for furs who are having a hard time judging the amount of money they need to set aside from their fun money for meals and such, so they don't end up spending the weekend living off ramen or worse. The trick would be in selling it so it seemed like an event furries with financial challenges would want to attend.
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkWebsite: [Link]
I graduated high school in 2007 and the school I went to did not cover anything that even remotely resembles that. Everything I have learned is by making mistakes or my parents. I wish I had stuff like that maybe I wouldn't be broke...
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkWebsite: [Link]
When I was taking a computer class so I would finish with my Tech prep seal, we were supposed to go over finances and stuff like that. But...we ran out of time and never covered it.
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkLocation: Kansas, USA
Blog: [Link]
I took a few classes that, when combined, made a basic economics course
I learned in Independent Living how to keep to a budget. My parents taught my how to run a strong bank account, and my Ecomonics/Business Law class taught me how to balance checkbooks and how to use credit properly [credit cards, loans, etc]
I think if anything, there needs to be a basic economics class at cons for furries. I can't tell you the number of furries I've met who don't have bank accounts, who refuse to get credit cards, or who don't know how to handle finances at all. It frustrates me and makes me sad, because they have no idea how to handle these things in real life, and it bites them HARD in the butt...
- Login or register to post comments
permalinkyes actuly i was. althohg i larened it as an elective. i took buisnes math my Jr. year of high school and i am actuly aplying the principles i lerned there to help manage my monney for Anthro Con. one thing i vividly rember my teacher saying "the Gosintos must always be bor then the Godoutofs"
Ahem! there is sand on my boots. -Kefka
- Login or register to post comments
permalink