Lesson Help on Finances
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I think anything you can do to bring some reality into this lesson is wonderful.  For example, you could give them a simple example that can be easily paralleled to society today.  Start by asking one (or all) of the girls if they would like $5,000 dollars to spend on anything they wanted.

Note the responses.  Specifically, take note if anyone asks you what the catch is or asks anything at all.  How many jump in and say "YES!" without any questions, etc.  If someone does ask what the catch is you answer, "There is no catch.  I simply let you borrow this money right now and you pay me back over time with some interest." 

You continue the exercise by letting them tell you how they spent their $5,000.  You move on by telling them that the repayment plan was very easy, they only had to pay $100 a month - a real deal for having $5,000 to spend right now right?  Then you add that they continued to
make the minimum monthly payments until the balance was paid.  Here comes the sting (this is basic math not including compound interest), it takes them 8 years and 4 months to pay off the balance and it costs them $10,000.  Then you ask if they realized when they said yes, they were actually agreeing to pay me $5,000 for nothing more than letting them borrow my money and that it would cost them $10,000?

You could do any variation of examples using borrowed money.  I like the credit card because it is the most common and several will be getting hit with "free money" in the mail when they turn 18.  You take this example and you go back to the responses you noted.  You compare
this with the training of the world.  Most people never ask any questions anymore when they are offered all this credit, and consequently are shocked to realize what they really committed to when they've learned the lesson the hard way.  You point out how nothing in life is free, no matter what anyone tells you and if you hear it you can be guaranteed someone is selling something - - and no one sells something unless there is profit in it for themselves. I love the
quotes about how interest never sleeps, takes vacations or gets sick, and how relentless a task master it is. 

This example would only take a few moments, but the impact should get things rolling for all the wonderful advice and content of the lesson.  You could also give another example of the opposite affect of putting some money away each month into savings and showing how interest can turn that into more money that you had originally - just for impact.

A few other things I enjoyed pointing out when I did this lesson were:

* Living within your means does not mean living within what you think (or can currently) afford.  And what a dangerous trap this is because you make plans on the future with circumstances that could change at any moment. 

* Wonderful quotes from President Hinckley in his book, Standing For Something about the details of the economy and the staggering numbers of how much consumer debt our nation lives on today.

On Young Women Connection there is an activity about budgeting that I used at a recent mutual.  The girls are divided into small groups and each is assigned to be a different "woman".  Each woman has a different set of circumstances. (i.e. single, married, children, students, etc.)  The girls are given a budget sheet and must try to make their budget work for the month.  You, as the leader, read from a list of things that come up during the month which the girls must decide whether or not to include in their budget as a result of flipping a coin.  I may have just made this sound more complicated than it is...but the full directions and everything you need for the activity are on the website for you to print out. My girls really enjoyed this activity.  At the end of the game, I passed out mini "100 grand" candy bars for a treat.

 

This page was  last  updated: 
 
  December 14,  2006

 

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