Financial Knowledge Is Power

Financial "miseducation" is an epidemic that can affect generationally. Having great credit is necessary to having financial freedom in the future and it is my belief that today's youth are grossly misinformed and unprepared regarding how to achieve financial success. They need to know the mistakes they make now, will have an adverse effect on them later.

I am a student in my senior year who attends Donnelly College. I have a capstone project in which I will provide financial education to 10 high school seniors, who have received an acceptance letter from a HBCU (Historially Black College/University) for attendance this fall 2014. The financial education will include topics such as: the value of saving money, credit cards, bank accounts and debt. My goal is to host two financial seminars providing detailed information on each topic. Each student that attends both seminars and completes a 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year financial plan will be awarded $100 to open their first Savings account to help jumpstart their path to financial success. These students were selected by way of a 3-minuted iMovie submission where they had to detail why they thought this seminar would benefit them.

The students will be well prepared to make wise decisions on how to handle the abundance of credit card offers that they will receive as incoming Freshman and beyond. They will learn about good versus bad debt, appropriate strategies to saving money, and utilizing financial institutions to achieve their goals. The intent is to ensure they will not fall victim to living beyond thier means and will know the pitfalls of not following their financial plans/goals.