Bring JA Budget Challenge to 30 Bellevue Teens

Thanks to the generosity of the JA Budget Challenge Micro Project we were able to exceed our original goal of reaching 30 students.  Over 100 students were able to visit the JA World facility and participate in the JA Budget Challenge.  During this experience high school juniors and seniors were transformed into adults for a day as they experienced this financial literacy simulation.  Each student was assigned a real life situation with marital status, children and income then had to create a monthly budget for items like housing, transportation, retirement, utilities, clothing, entertainment and much more.  The young people quickly learned that it is a challenge to budget for the things you need much less for the things you want.  They walk away from this capstone learning experience stating they understand why education is so important because if you have a good education you will get a job that pays more so you to get the things you want as well as the things you need!  Many of the students who participated expressed gratitude for all their parents do for them and many also say “kids are way too expensive.”    Another lesson the students shared is the importance of managing credit.  A strong message in this program is that you only charge the things you need and save for the things you want.  Therefore savings is an integral part of the simulation with a goal of saving 10% of your earnings, no matter how large or small your income.  Even the student who was assigned the salary of $21,000 a year was able to budget in 10% savings.  He said it was not easy but by making the right choices on transportation and by getting only a “land line” he was able to make it.  Aaron, a senior said it best, “ JA was a healthy dose of reality, I would happily do it 100 more times!” 

Megan shared, “The most important thing I learned at JA Finance Park, however, is how important it is to create a budget because if I hadn’t made one and just kept buying all my luxuries, I would have been digging myself into a hole that would have really cost me. This challenge really opened my eyes to the world I will be living in soon and I hope everyone gets to experience it before they too graduate and move out on their own.”

Links:

• Website - JA of Washington