Finance 101: How much does your kid know?
By Earl Horlyk, Journal staff writer | Posted: Monday, April 21, 2008
East High School senior Roberto Rocka-Contreras works on a stock trading simulation game in class at the Sioux City school. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
SIOUX CITY -- Is Mike Gettner the next Warren Buffett?
According to his teacher Kelly Sales, the wily East High School ninth-grader has the Midas touch when it comes to stock picks.
"I don't know where Mike's gonna be after he graduates from college," Sales said with a smile, "but he's definitely investing my money."
Gettner and other members of Sales' personal finance class have been playing the simulated stock market game "SimuStock" as a way to learn about bear and bull markets.
It's just one of the ways Sales is making the subject of finance both relevant and fun for her students.
"'SimuStock' allows my students to compete against each other while using real stock exchange data," Sale explained. "The kids, individually, started off with $500,000. Some have done very well. But others? Um ... not so well."
"I'm already over the $700,000 mark," Gettner, who said he gets stock tips while watching television, chimed in.
"You can see," Sales said, "the game gets very competitive."
How knowledgeable are kids when it comes to finances?
According to a recent national survey released by the Federal Reserve, high school seniors are getting a failing grade when it comes to money matters. On average, they're able to answer only 48.3 percent of questions concerning personal finance and economics.
Iowa high school students rank higher than the national average, according to the Iowa JumpStart for Personal Financial Literacy survey, but just barely. High school students from the Hawkeye State were able to answer 54.9 percent of the questions correctly.
That's why Gov. Chet Culver urged lawmakers recently to support a bill that would make personal finance planning part of the state's "model core curriculum," as important as reading, math and science.
That's something Sales thinks is long overdue.
"It's surprising that my class isn't a required one," she said, "because it's really important. We're talking about being able to fill out a tax return, fill out a rental agreement, planning for one's retirement. This is stuff every kid should know."
"This is stuff," Sales added, "every adult needs to know."
Sales' West High School counterpart, Haylee Junck, agrees.
"Accounting shouldn't just be an elective," she said, "and neither should personal finance. Some of my students won't be going to college, so what they learn in my classroom may be the only exposure to financial literacy they'll receive."
Gettner understands everything he needs to know about debits and flow charts and discretionary funds. In fact, at the ripe old age of 15, he's already planning for his eventual retirement.
His classmate Roberto Contreras also understands the importance of saving money.
"My friends?" Contreras, a senior who works part time at JCPenney, remarked. "They just blow through their paychecks immediately. Me? I want my money to last awhile."
Javier Amaway said he'd never invest in the stock market in real life -- "I get nervous playing with fake money," the East High School junior said. "Can't imagine doing it with the real stuff!" -- but maintains the personal finance class has given him the basic information he'll need after he graduates from high school.
"I didn't know how to fill out taxes before," he said, "but now I do. Didn't know that credit card debt could screw you up for a long time. But I know that now."
"Too many people learn about finances the hard way, after they spend too much money and after their spending becomes a habit," Amaway said. "It's nice that we're learning about this stuff before we get into trouble."
Are your kids ready to challenge their financial literacy?
This month, high school classes from across the country will take part in the first-ever National Financial Literacy Challenge.
A new initiative of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, the new recognition program will be used to determine and reward high levels of financial literacy among the nation's high school students.
East High School's Kelly Sales said her class will participate in the challenge.
"Students scoring in the top 25 percentile of national scores will be eligible for recognition from the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy," she said. "It's cool that kids will be recognized for having a high level of financial literacy."
According to his teacher Kelly Sales, the wily East High School ninth-grader has the Midas touch when it comes to stock picks.
"I don't know where Mike's gonna be after he graduates from college," Sales said with a smile, "but he's definitely investing my money."
Gettner and other members of Sales' personal finance class have been playing the simulated stock market game "SimuStock" as a way to learn about bear and bull markets.
It's just one of the ways Sales is making the subject of finance both relevant and fun for her students.
"'SimuStock' allows my students to compete against each other while using real stock exchange data," Sale explained. "The kids, individually, started off with $500,000. Some have done very well. But others? Um ... not so well."
"I'm already over the $700,000 mark," Gettner, who said he gets stock tips while watching television, chimed in.
"You can see," Sales said, "the game gets very competitive."
How knowledgeable are kids when it comes to finances?
According to a recent national survey released by the Federal Reserve, high school seniors are getting a failing grade when it comes to money matters. On average, they're able to answer only 48.3 percent of questions concerning personal finance and economics.
Iowa high school students rank higher than the national average, according to the Iowa JumpStart for Personal Financial Literacy survey, but just barely. High school students from the Hawkeye State were able to answer 54.9 percent of the questions correctly.
That's why Gov. Chet Culver urged lawmakers recently to support a bill that would make personal finance planning part of the state's "model core curriculum," as important as reading, math and science.
That's something Sales thinks is long overdue.
"It's surprising that my class isn't a required one," she said, "because it's really important. We're talking about being able to fill out a tax return, fill out a rental agreement, planning for one's retirement. This is stuff every kid should know."
"This is stuff," Sales added, "every adult needs to know."
Sales' West High School counterpart, Haylee Junck, agrees.
"Accounting shouldn't just be an elective," she said, "and neither should personal finance. Some of my students won't be going to college, so what they learn in my classroom may be the only exposure to financial literacy they'll receive."
Gettner understands everything he needs to know about debits and flow charts and discretionary funds. In fact, at the ripe old age of 15, he's already planning for his eventual retirement.
His classmate Roberto Contreras also understands the importance of saving money.
"My friends?" Contreras, a senior who works part time at JCPenney, remarked. "They just blow through their paychecks immediately. Me? I want my money to last awhile."
Javier Amaway said he'd never invest in the stock market in real life -- "I get nervous playing with fake money," the East High School junior said. "Can't imagine doing it with the real stuff!" -- but maintains the personal finance class has given him the basic information he'll need after he graduates from high school.
"I didn't know how to fill out taxes before," he said, "but now I do. Didn't know that credit card debt could screw you up for a long time. But I know that now."
"Too many people learn about finances the hard way, after they spend too much money and after their spending becomes a habit," Amaway said. "It's nice that we're learning about this stuff before we get into trouble."
Are your kids ready to challenge their financial literacy?
This month, high school classes from across the country will take part in the first-ever National Financial Literacy Challenge.
A new initiative of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, the new recognition program will be used to determine and reward high levels of financial literacy among the nation's high school students.
East High School's Kelly Sales said her class will participate in the challenge.
"Students scoring in the top 25 percentile of national scores will be eligible for recognition from the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy," she said. "It's cool that kids will be recognized for having a high level of financial literacy."
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Someone wrote on Apr 21, 2008 1:36 PM:
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IowaBoy wrote on Apr 21, 2008 9:45 AM: