Working

This week in the wonderful class known as Personal Finance, we completed two activities on the computer about identity fraud and taxes and insurance.  These were both fascinating things to learn about!  The identity fraud one was very interesting!  The assignment discussed how we can avoid it and the steps to take in case it has happened.  We all really think this can't happen to us when in reality it can.  This is a very serious problem that can ruin your life for many to come.  It can really harm you bank account, job and personal life.  These people basically steal your lives.  Do whatever you can to avoid this from happening to you!  I really enjoy doing these modules because they show real life situations, information and solution from everything to taxes to insurance to renting and owning to financing in a higher education.  This information will help me so much in college and career!  What do you guys think?

Going Through Changes

This week in Personal Finance, our lovely teacher decided to change a few things.  She is still lecturing but in a very unique way!  We are learning about credit and financing.  She is showing us people who are struggling with money but continue to purchase very expensive items.  For example, we helped a guy decide what was the best way to purchase a new T.V.  Sadly, he must pay about $99 every month for the next 5 years.  He might have made the right choice but it definitely costs him.  On this power point, it does have some more scenarios but in the "thought bubbles" lists facts such as benefits and costs of credit cards, reading the fine print of the credit card contract etc.  I really like this new power point.  It gives real life examples that a lot of people experience and even smart ways to avoid going into debt or something illegal.  We saw that this guy had a friend named "Broke Billy" (correct me if I am wrong) who kept giving advice such as "steal one..I mean borrow".  The man made a smart decision to not listen to this advice.  I really enjoy this power point because it is easy to understand, gives facts and is so much fun to actually "help" these people in these situation.  What did you all think?

Saving with Scrubs

This week in the wonderful class of economics we touched on a very important topic for everyone: budget.  Everyone should have one but many people in this country do not because they feel as if they do not need one.  We watched a video starring Scrubs star Donald Faison who taught us that even if you have a good career and make money, it is important that you still have a budget.  We witnessed different people living 3 different lives who believe the right idea is to have a budget.  One person was from a famous music group and even though they were pretty popular, she told us that it is always best to keep a budget.  Another person was in $30,000 worth of debt.  Crazy!  She talked about how she should have started a budget and kept a closer eye on what she was spending, plus she has to work even twice as hard to get out of debt.  The other person bought a television worth $2000 but spent less money on his furniture and talks about how he lives on a budget.  For him it is difficult but he knows he is saving himself from money troubles and stress.  The video also talked about how it is better to use cash instead of a credit card because you can actually see how much money you are spending and only have a limit amount in your wallet.  The video was really interesting and definitely helped me to understand why it is so important to keep a budget.    

Not so lucky penny?

This week, we returned from spring break and began a very fun and interesting class: Personal Finance!  Yay!  Our lovely teacher, Mrs. Weser, started off this very fun week with a power point on money, what it is, its characteristics and the function of it.  Our thought question was "What is money?"  I don't know about you, but before the power-point I had a very tough time trying to find the words to use to describe exactly what it was.  I always thought of it as just green paper we use in order to purchase items but in reality money is "any good that is widely accepted for the purposes of exchange and in the repayments of debts."  We even watched a video on how a man was able to get a house by trading a bunch of items but started off with a paper clip.  Crazy right?!  Today, everyone opened their own bank accounts in Weserville and received checkbooks!  How exciting!  This activity will help us learn how to write a check and manage our bank accounts carefully.  I honestly cannot wait to get started!  The most interesting part of this week for me was learning about how the penny may actually be costing everyone more money.  I love picking up pennies that are faced up because then I'll have good luck but in reality do pennies cause us bad luck?            

New Studying Method

This week in the wonderful class of Economics, we learned about GDP and what it takes to figure it out!  Doing the math is easy!  The formula is C+I+G+X, which stand for consumption, investments, government spending and next exports.  We also learned about recession and depression, four stages of the business cycle, the different ownership of a business.  Our lovely teacher also discovered a very unique yet effective way to prepare for our test!  She put the letters A,B,C,D in different areas of the room and she would ask us a multiple choice question, read the choices and we would have to walk to the letter we felt was the answer!  How much fun was that???  I thought it was so much fun!  A great way to help us prepare for the test and not just reading the questions and asking what we think the answer is!  I really think we should do this more often because it is a great way to make everyone move and such a fun way to study!  I really thought moving around the room helped us all remember the answer to the question!  I hope we do this more often!

PepsiCo

This was probably one of my favorite lessons in the wonderful class of Economics!  We discussed the differences of monopoly, oligopoly, perfect competition and monopolistic competition.  We talked about the number of buyers and sellers, the types of products, control of prices and freedom to enter or exit for each of these and found out the most competitive is perfect competition with monopoly being the least competitive.  I did not fully understand what a monopoly was until we watched a video on Pepsi Co!  In this video, we discovered that Pepsi Co is not only in charge of the second most popular soft drink but also owns large brand names, including Frito Lay and Quaker!  It was really fascinating to learn that all of my favorite snack and breakfast foods are all owned by the same company!  A monopoly is defined as only having one seller and controls the prices and Pepsi Co is a perfect example of this!  We also learned that in different countries the same company produces the same product but in different flavors, for example, the curry flavored Lays chips!  I was so happy to watch this video and really learn what exactly a monopoly was and how it worked and this really helped me understand it.  Because it had to do with food, something we all know and love so very dearly, it really made it exciting and interesting and easy to focus on!  If anyone asked what a monopoly was I would definitely show them this video to have a full understanding of this type of competition!  What a fun lesson!      

The Rock!

This week in the wonderful world known as Economics class, we split up into groups and created our very own motorized scooter!  My lovely partners and I came up with a very interesting scooter that will certainly make an impression on people.  We call it the Rock!  It has a rocket engine, parachute (just in case you go off a cliff or something), a snow plow so you do not have to just sit at home wishing someone would come and plow your street because now you can do it!  It can also carry your oxygen tank and even has a cup holder!  Who wouldn't want this?  I mean yes it is about $30,000 but it would be such a great investment!  You would not regret it!  I would highly recommend this product but for people over the age of 16, for safety reasons.  Kids should not use it!  Doing this project we learned about setting up all the different prices and profits that would work best for everyone.  We decided that it would cost about $20,000 to make and we could make a $10,000 profit if we charge it for $30,000.  Also, we learned how when creating a brand new product, all of the workers must agree on the various ideas and changes in order to create something that everyone would agree on and would sell well.  I really enjoyed this project and a big thank you to my wonderful partners!  These projects really teach us the lesson that we are learning in Economics that week and help everyone to understand the lesson in such an easy and fun way and also teaches the values of teamwork!  I think more classes should do projects such as these ones we are doing!