The Blog

Teens Learn to Invest at Washington Business Week in SW Washington State

March 26, 2010

Filed under: Investor Education In Your Community, News, Saving — Alicia @ 10:23 pm

Business tycoons from southwest WA?  All under the age of 20?  Yep.  All thanks to  the Washington Business Week program, local business and education professionals, and the generous sponsorship of the IPT and WA State’s DFI.

60 teens spent this school week learning how to become the next generation of successful business professionals.  Divided into teams and led by educators and business professionals in tandem, students competed with one another over the course of the week while running a business simulation to become the most profitable business. 

In addition to learning how to run a lucrative business, these teens learned about the stewardship responsibilities associated with being a successful professional.  Learning how to treat value co-workers, to respect the environment, and how to plan for emergencies beyond our control – all of these are skills needed in today’s workplace.

Students also had the chance to learn about creating and building their own most profitable life.  Through a generous grant from the Investor Protection Trust and the Support of the Dept. Of Financial Institutions, teens heard the Investor Education in Your Community presentation and learned about the magic of compounding interest and the ease with which tomorrow’s nest egg is created by a commitment to saving just a little bit each and every day.

When the audience was asked who would be starting on the path of saving and investing for the future, over 75% of the hands in the room went up. 

When investor education reaches the ears and eyes of teens, everybody wins.

How Many Millions Will You Need? White Pass, WA Learns to Save and Invest

March 16, 2010

Filed under: Investor Education In Your Community, Saving — Alicia @ 11:45 pm

How much do you need to retire?  Just ask the students at White Pass High School. 

While answers varied from as high as a billion dollars to considerably less, most agreed that one million dollars would buy them a retirement that started around their 60s.  While the actual dollar amount varied, the answer is ultimately the same:  Retirement costs a heck of a lot, and these students knew it.

During the Washington Business Week business and free enterprise education program at White Pass High School this week, local business professionals and educators are teaming up to teach students the skills they will need both in their personal, and professional lives.  As part of the program, students had the opportunity to experience the Investor Education in Your Community program.

The investing basics presentation for teens asked students to look at retirement as something we all purchase for ourselves.  When you’re young, time is on your side and compounding interest will do the work for you.  You have the option to purchase that one million dollar retirement at a reduced rate of savings and let the compounding interest do most of the work for you. 

Wait until you’re in your 20s, and it costs much more.  Wait until you’re in your 30s, and you’ll have to save more than 10 times what it would cost you in your teens… and you still end up with one million dollars.

Students were invited to ask and answer the following question:  Do you want to pay more, or less, for the retirement you will someday purchase?   By the end of the presentation, many agreed that saving consistently for the future while young is not only smart, but it allows you to use more of your hard earned dollars for the things you care about while you’re young. 

These students are lucky to be led by a crack team of local business professionals and educators.  I had the pleasure of  meeting and presenting to this group of leaders later in the day.

Discussing the most common types of investment fraud and the resources and services that the WA State Dept of Financial Institutions offers to Washingtonians, these WBW advisors learned how to identify, avoid, and report the most common types of investment fraud.  Additionally, they learned about the role of the Investor Protection Trust and how unbiased, non-commercial resources are a must when it comes to safely and wisely investing.

Want investor education in your community?  Get in touch!  Investor Education in Your Community wants to hear from you!

Auburn High School DECA Rethinks Money

February 25, 2010

Filed under: Investor Education In Your Community, News, Saving — Alicia @ 9:55 pm

When I walked into Auburn City Hall and saw Alyssa and Hailey, organizers of Auburn High School’s ‘Rethink Money’ event, I did a double take.  Were these young business women or professionals working at City Hall?

Turns out they were the high school students.  These two, along with fellow DECA students, brought Mayor Lewis, the business community, and several government and not for profits together for an evening that asked participants to rethink money.

Mayor Lewis opened the event by discussing the importance of anticipating the financial pitfalls all of us eventually face, and the rewards of preparing for them.  He asked all of us to embrace the opportunity to prepare for our financial futures, and challenged today’s teens to be the difference that our economy needs when it comes to personal financial choices.

After Mayor Lewis spoke, the group broke into two sections.  One that stayed with me and experienced the Investor Education in Your Community presentation, and another that engaged in business role playing exercises with volunteers from the business, government, and not for profit sectors.  After 45 minutes, each group swapped places.

By night’s end, over 30 teens had learned about the power of compounding interest and how they can easily and inexpensively save for their financial futures by starting as teens.  Additionally, DECA students learned to rethink wealth from another perspective:  Dollars equal opportunities.  The more dollars we have, the more options we have in life.  The larger our savings account balance, the more ways we can impact our communities, either through taking time off from work and donating that time, or giving dollars to causes we care about.

Auburn High School DECA  students should be proud of their well-organized, informative, and fun event.

The Junk, The Trunk, And The Bottom Line

November 16, 2009

Filed under: Budgeting, Saving — Alicia @ 2:33 am

I just finished the making the dip.  You know, the kind made from Lipton Onion Soup mix and a vat of sour cream?  Yeah, that dip.  It’s for a big party my friends are hosting today to kick off ski season.  I’m looking forward to this party not just because it’s an annual tradition in our neighborhood and a great way to catch up with everyone, but because it’s a serious feast.

I’ve heard rumors that someone’s bringing homemade egg nog and spiced cider. In addition to the dip and Ruffles with Ridges, I’m bringing my about-to-be-famous cream cheese frosted spiced banana bars. But there are far better chefs bringing taste sensations beyond imagination.  Crab and corn bisque.  Creamy new England clam chowder. Savory white bean turkey chili.  These, along with pumpkin bread, pickled and garlic spiked vegetables and myriad other delicious morsels, should keep the crowd well-fed.

This is my first party of the holiday season. It’s also the day I choose to make a conscious decision about the holidays and food.  Do I go insane, eating and drinking as much of everything I want and accept the consequences?  Or will I decide that I’d prefer to live without consequences from the holidays and enjoy a little bit of everything I want to try?  There’s no right or wrong answer, but it will certainly have a drastic impact upon my life over the next six months. 

Case in point, January 2nd, 2006.  That was the day I woke up, put on my ‘fat jeans’, and realized that unless someone was willing to convert the denim waistband to elastic, I literally didn’t have pair of pants I could get into.  My shirts looked like sausage skin.   I had slapped 14 pounds of junk into my trunk, and onto my belly and if memory serves, I grew my first (and hopefully last) double chin that season, too.

While it was a fun exercise in abandoning dietary responsibility, the consequences were pricey (spent over $800 on a new wardrobe), and time consuming (did double workouts for six months to get back into the clothes I really wanted to wear), and risky (gaining over a pound a weeks hurts your body). I also didn’t feel so cute.

While the holiday season brings dietary temptations left and right, this Frugal Baby can’t help but relate those temptations to the same ones we face in the shopping malls. I confess that more than one of my youthful Christmas pasts resulted in a hefty credit card bill that took longer to work off than those 14 pounds.  

While I don’t suggest we stop the gift-giving traditions that put those gorgeous smiles on the faces of friends and family, let’s be reasonable and plan ahead.   No one wants you to go into debt to buy them a gift anymore than you’d want them to go into debt for you.  Use the following tips to create your money saving strategy for the season and avoiding putting a bunch of junk in your financial trunk this year. 

  • Know Your Number.  Decide the total amount you’re going to spend this holiday season before you hit the shops.  Make a list of the people you’re buying gifts for and decide how much you’re spending on each of them.  Keep that list with you at all times so that spontaneous holiday shopping trips don’t result in breaking your budget.  Shop keepers know the recession has most of us on tight budgets and there’s a vast array of nice gifts available for as little as $10. 
  • Get Crafty.  Okay, we’ve all received sucky homemade gifts in the past, but there are so many cool gifts you can make that feel elegant to the recipient and go easy on your wallet.  Crate and Barrel carries cool 8 ounce bottles with stoppers for next to nothing, just the right size to fill with homemade syrups or liqueurs. Cool photographs you’ve taken suddenly become perfect homemade note cards when attached to nice stock and tied up in a bow.  Bath salts infused with essential oils make any girl happy, and no one is going to turn down a plate of rumballs if you’ve put it on a cute holiday themed platter from the dollar store.
  • Host a Pot Luck Cook Off.  Do you tend to play host during the holiday season but find your party planning dreams bigger than your bank balance?  Host a pot luck and let your friends vote on their favorite dishes.  Give a $10 gift card to the prize winning chef and crown them with a paper coronet or cardboard scepter. Yep, it’s silly.  That’s what makes it super fun.
  • Be Honest.  This economy is hard on all of us right now, but some more so than others.  If you’re out of work, worried about your savings, or just don’t feel like you can afford to participate in gift exchanges, tell that to those expecting to exchange gifts with you.  There’s no shame in the truth, and keeping quiet about financial concerns only gives them more power.  Chances are that you sharing your fears about holiday spending could inspire a similar revelation from them.  We get together during the holidays to share our lives with one another and the joys of the season, not for the purpose of receiving gifts.  Friends and family will appreciate your honesty and you’ll enjoy the celebration more for having lived within your means.