Financial Literacy

Last term we were developing our budgeting skills through a financial literacy programme.  On the first day we added 35 years to our age and then designed what we thought our life would look like at that age.  We made decisions about our family, pets, cars etc.  This then became the basis for our project.  Next we selected and income card.  Some of us were paid wages and some of us were on salary.  The card also told us if we had a mortgage, were mortgage free or renting.  We then had to calculate our weekly income and tax as well as our weekly housing payments. 

Once we had calculated these we were then given a monthly budgeting sheet to complete.  Each week we entered our income then deducted our tax and housing payments.  We then were given a grocery card to add up and deduct.  Finally we were given a fortune card each week.  Ten percent of these cards gave us money and the rest took money off us. Some examples were, school fees are due so you need to pay $50 per child based on the family you designed.  Some of us were in debt at the end of the first week!

At the end of the month we were given more bills to pay including electricity, phone and internet, insurances and car expenses.  This put many of us in debt at the end of the month. Luckily we were then given savings accounts with $2000 to withdraw from to balance our account.  Five of us banked money into our savings account at the end of the month.

This was a very eye opening experience for many of us.  We had to practice many maths skills including calculating percentages, adding, subtracting and also developing an understanding of budgeting.  We are going to begin another months cycle next week. It will be interesting to see if the same people end up with money at the end of the month.