Personal Finances Compulsory Course in High Schools– Vital for our Youth. A call to The Ministry of Education.

A couple of days ago, I asked a friend of mine if she would want to go to Wonderland to celebrate the start of the summer vacations. To my surprise, she denied my request arguing how there is a lack of money in her bank account and how as a cause of that, we would need to postpone our outing. Knowing that she is working most of the time, being committed to 3 part time jobs it was surprising to find out that there are only $2 left in her account. When I asked if she is transferring all her funds towards education saving, I was even more surprised to hear that there are no money saved up for post secondary.

This got me wondering about how much our youth know or even worry about personal finances. Firstly, it is important to point out that many adults don’t have a strong base on this topic. Reading many articles in the past year about the credit card crisis being a cause of the economic recession or watching tv shows such as “Til Debt Do Us Apart,” I realized how unaware many individuals are about this topic. If many adults don’t know how to manage their finances, how would we expect their children to be able to grasp those vital concepts?

Many young adults would end up having no sense about how to set personal financial goals, the relation between the quality of the products we buy and the price, the necessity versus want concept, how to recognize and control debt, how to budget or understand the importance or saving. Those are vital skill sets that would make teenagers be more responsible adults in the future and would potentially avoid any future economic troubles on the society as a whole.

I strongly recommend the Canadian Ministry of Education to consider introducing a compulsory course that would make sure all students are exposed to financial responsibility. Furthermore, I encourage parents to research and talk to their teens about how to manage their finances, as well as teach children from an early age about the value of money and importance of saving. Lastly, I encourage organizations such as Junior Achievement or other youth focused, non-for profit agencies to introduce “personal finances” in their scopes of service.

An interesting article that I found about this topic and encouraging parents to talk to their teens about financial responsibility can be found here: http://beginnersinvest.about.com/cs/investingforkids1/a/073002a.htm

Junior Achievement Student Reflection and 2009 Youth Leaders Exchange (JAXchange)

There was a lot of tension and excitement present at the Futures Unlimited Achiever Awards in Toronto this past week. A couple of hundredth business minded individuals gathered to celebrate the successes of a year worth of learning and accomplishments. Junior Achievement is an international organization that encourages students to participate in business minded programs with the aim of developing entrepreneurial and leadership skills. I had the great opportunity to be involved with one of the company programs in the Junior Achievement of Central Ontario chapter. Around thirty high school students gathered together with the help of seven professionals to start up a company from scratch. Only a few meetings later and a multitude of innovative ideas started to be brought to the table in regards to picking the best products, dividing up the departments, voting for the executive team or learning the process associated with initiating an enterprise. At first, I didn’t know what to expect however I was determined to stick with the process and reach high. Becoming the Vice President of Finance of the company provided me with the experience of a lifetime. Nothing could have been more life-applicable and enriching than what I have been part of. I never thought I would be able to take over such a challenging role and responsibility at such a juvenile age.

Having no real previous accountancy experience, at first it was hard to understand the exact responsibilities and how to deliver beyond the expected outcome. The Junior Achievement handbook is an excellent resource which I am proud to own a copy of and it was my “how to” guide along the way. In addition, the diligent advisory team comprised of outstanding individuals which facilitated as mentors throughout the program. My journey of discovery could have not been broader. From the excitement of opening a first business account, to developing materials such as income statements, balance sheets or cost break even analysis, every single element contributed to a tremendous learning experience. However, what made the experience the most meaningful was the lovable sense of community and family within the company. The executive team did an exceptional work in setting common goals and establishing a ground set of values that the company needed to follow in order for us to meet the end outcomes. The cooperation, synergy and unrelenting support that existed between all sides were the elements that fabricated it as the most valuable experience. I can proudly say that now I have a full understanding of what it means to work into an organization, the processes and controls that surround it, the importance of deadlines and roles, goal projection or even how to settle conflicts between team members.

Just when I thought the experience couldn’t get better, I heard that I was the one nominated for the Leadership in Finance Award and Scholarship! After an interview process, I ended up waiting anxiously in the large auditorium room at the Futures Unlimited Achiever Award Ceremony for the nominees and for the winner to be announced. To hear I was the recipient of the award, not only filled me with the excitement of knowing that I must have done something right or that my work has been acknowledged, but also provided me with the opportunity to be one of the 15 award winners who would be attending a one week long conference at Mc Master University in August. The conference is called “JAXchange” (2009 Youth Leaders Exchange) and it is a professional development event where top JA Achievers from Canada and around the world unite. I encourage you to visit the website, as it sounds like an outstanding experience: http://www.jaxchange.com/

I am extremely grateful for being able to participate actively in such an esteemed program and I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to everyone who is involved in putting Junior Achievement together. I would strongly encourage all young students to participate and get this hands-on experience that one will never be able to obtain from books and libraries! Visit the website for more information on how to get involved in your country, province or region: http://www.ja.org/default.asp (Worldwide Site) or http://www.jacan.org/ (Canadian Site)

BLURBS on YOUTH ENGAGEMENT coming from a TEEN

Two weeks ago, I had the outstanding opportunity to participate as a youth delegate in “TOWARDS 2020: Canada’s Commitment to Children & Youth” Conference held in Ottawa. It focused on bringing people together in order to create a vision for the future and craft a new agenda for this generation. It focused on exposing successful movements from the past, highlighting our current situation and raising questions for the future. With a blend of stimulating and empowering guest speakers and networking opportunities, the event initiated discussion, which further lead into delegates and organizations promising change. The highlight of the gathering, however, was the emphasis on youth engagement and the action steps present as to how teens can be part of the framework. Towards 2020 asked guests to “look at every young person not as a problem to be fixed but as a promise to be fulfilled.” How to achieve that? The end goal was to initiate a social movement for children and youth as well as to empower all delegates to invest and improve the conditions of youth across the country. Of course, by involving young people along the way! There were many questions raised, but two that stood out were:

“How can we combat apathy and encourage civic engagement?” and

“How can youth partner with adults, for them to equip young people with skills in order to success in the future?”

Bottom line is that we are all joint curators of this society. Nowadays, we all have good intentions but it is not enough to just be compassionate but to act as well in order to foster change. If we invest in our young people today, we can see an outlook of profits, especially since such a large demographic sector is counting on them for the future. At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself: “ What have I done to change the life of a Canadian young person?” and see if you can come up with answers. Personally, I am overwhelmed with joy that such high profile national conferences, movements and organizations are starting to see the potential that young people can bring to the table and involve them in the process. The truth is, there is such a vast number of adolescents out there with untapped latent and capacities waiting to be “exploited”, that it is ironic how they are not being “taken advantage of.” I encourage everyone to keep this thought and see what you can do to move this idea forward in your own endeavours!