By Spring break, Itancan and Tre had both completed the money management course called "Hands On Banking for Teens." They both earned a certificate!
"Hands on Banking" is a free course from Wells Fargo. There is also a course for Seniors, Military, Adults, Young Adults, and Kids. They are all free. Anyone can take the courses. Go to this on the internet: https://handsonbanking.org
The Teen level course focused on savings and checking accounts, budgeting, and the basics of investing. We learned about:- Savings Accounts
- Certificates of Deposit (CDs)
- Money Market Accounts
- the Stock Market and Mutual Funds
We also learned a lot about budgeting. We already knew about needs versus wants. We already could make our own budget for saving for something in the future. The course added some other things like discretionary spending and fixed spending.
The section about Credit taught us to be sure we are not just paying the "minimum amount" if we use a credit card. We also learned the "72 Rule" for finding out how long it would take to pay back a loan or credit card at a certain rate. It can get expensive! But sometimes you do need a loan or even a mortgage (that is a loan to buy a house) because you have a good job but cannot save it all up beforehand.
We really liked the section about investing, even though you really should not invest in the stock market unless you have a lot of discretionary funds laying around. That is because of the risk. That means you could get more money or you could also lose your money. So you have to cover your needs first.
