Week #13: Financial Challenge

Here is today's deposit information:

Week #13
Deposit Amount: $13.00
Total Savings: $91.00

Next week we will hit our $100.00 mark. Hope everyone is still making deposits.

Here are few tips to make saving a little easier: 

- Break up your weekly amount into daily deposits. For example: Next week's deposit will be $14.00. Put aside $2.00 every day and you will have your total deposit come next week.
- Make your own coffee instead of the daily stop at Starbucks
- Bring home lunch to work

Also, what's been helping my co-workers is that they give me the money each week and I put it away for safe keeping. This way they don't get tempted to sneak a little from their savings. It also keeps them accountable because I remind them of their weekly deposits and they make sure they work it into their spending plan.

Poverty affects our Keiki more than you think

When speaking about Financial Literacy, I often use the word PASSION. At first, I wasn't quite sure why I chose that word to describe what Financial Literacy was to me. It's just the word that naturally came to me when I shared with others. Today, while doing some research, it all became clear to me, and the word PASSION is definitely the correct word to use to describe how I feel about Financial Literacy, and here is why...

Poverty is a well-documented risk factor for many negative outcomes in childhood. Children growing up in poverty have more social, emotional, behavioral, and physical health problems than do children who do not grow up in poverty (Lempers, Clark-Lempers & Simons, 1989).

This fact hits straight to the heart. Although, poverty is not the only culprit of these problems, Poverty is state in which derives by CHOICE, not of the child, but of the parent.  As I develop my Financial Literacy program, this is why I do what I do and why I call Financial Literacy a Passion of mine. If I can impact households to raise themselves out of poverty and allow them to raise children without poverty being a risk-factor for them, then I strongly believe that our keiki will have higher rates to strive and succeed.

Furthermore, I wanted to look at statistics of the state of Hawaii and this is what I found:

- In 2011, the number of poor children Under age 6 living in Poverty Households in the State of Hawaii totaled 28,085.

That is 28,085 of our state's babies, who if are exposed to poverty for at least half of their childhood, will be more likely for teenage pregnancy, school failure, and inconsistent employment in adulthood in the United States.

I have a huge task ahead of me, but I am determined to fight the poverty epidemic and my weapon of choice is education through Financial Literacy. Who is ready to go to battle with me?


Reference:
D. Lempers, D. Clark-Lempers, and R. Simons, "Economic Hardship, Parenting, and Distress in Adolescence," Child Development 60, no. 1 (1989)

Only 11% of Workers Under age 35 Currently Participate in their Companies' 401K Programs

Here is another surprising statistic that I came across during my training:

Only 11% of workers under age 35 currently participate in their companies’ 401K programs. (American Institute of Public Accountants)

I've been working since I was 17 years old. I've contributed to some kind of 401K/403B* since I was 19 years old. I wonder why majority of my peers that are under 35 years of age aren't participating in a 401K plan, especially if your company will match your contribution?

Contributing to a 401K/403B has several benefits including tax savings since the contributions are taken out pre-tax from your wages and it's a great way to start investing with minimal effort on your part. 

Because my retirement age is decades away I am able to be a bit more aggressive with my Mutual Fund choices for my 403B than those of my parents generation who are approaching retirement age. I am fortunate that the organization I work for contributes to our plan on our behalf, whether or not I contribute. I will be meeting with my 403B consultant in the next month to review my plan and possibly increase my contribution. 

Suggestion: As you receive pay increases, consider increasing your contribution to your 401K. 

How many of you are contributing to a 401K program through your employer? 

*403B is for non-profit organizations. 

40% of Americans Will Never Gain a Net Worth of $10,000

During my studies to become a Certified Financial Education Instructor, I came across this statistic.

40% of Americans will never gain a net worth of $10,000 (American Dream Education Campaign)

To clarify this quote let me first define net worth.

NET WORTH: an individual's net economic position; similarly, it uses the value of all assets (long term assets) minus the value of all liabilities (Wikipedia). 

Hereʻs a simple example, you have $1000 in a Savings Account, $500 in your Checkings Account, and a car worth $15,000. Your total assets would be $16,500.00 

You also have $3000 in credit card debt, you took out a personal loan to take a Vegas vacation of $1500, and you still own $13,000 on your car loan. Your total debt would be $17,500.00

So what is your net worth? Your net worth is -$1,000.00

  $16,500.00   Assets
- $17,500.00   Debt (Liabilities) 
--------------------
- $1,000.00     Net Worth

This is a very simplified example to help you understand how to calculate your net worth. The fact that 40% of Americans will NOT achieve a net worth of $10,000 is clearly a sign that Americans have too much debt. Take a moment to inventory your assets and total your liabilities to see what your net worth is. 

Do you want to be a part of the 40% or the 60%? The choice is yours and everyone has the opportunity to be a part of the 60%. 

(If you need help calculating your net worth, please feel free to contact me at saydeepojas@gmail.com and I will be happy to assist you)

Week #12: Financial Challenge

Here is this week's deposit information!

Week #12
Deposit Amount: $12.00
Total Savings: $78.00

2 more weeks and your savings will be over $100.00. As the weekly amounts get higher, be sure that you adjust your budget to accomodate for the weekly deposits.

Responsible Money Management

It amazes me when I observe the spending habits of others. I understand that when you work to earn your money that you have the right to spend it how you wish. However, when I see money spent on material things like department store clothing, alcohol, etc. instead of putting money aside to be able to purchase a car so that you donʻt have to bum rides off of others or to put towards a savings for your two young children, I have to stop and think that a lesson needs to be learned about responsible money management.

I respect that people can chose to spend their money how they wish, however if I see that irresponsible spending is occurring, my natural reaction is to want to step in and teach them a few simple lessons that can save them years of heartache and financial troubles. The question is how do I help others who donʻt think or even know that they need help. This is definitely something that I hope to learn as I continue to go through my certification to be a Financial Education Instructor.

Week #11: Financial Challenge

Today marks the 11th Deposit for the 52 Week Financial Challenge. Deposit Information is as follows:

Week #11
Weekly Deposit = $11.00
Total Saved = $66.00

In 3 more weeks you will have saved over $100.00. Keep it up and donʻt give up.

Week #10: Financial Challenge

I was so excited about my first Financial Literacy Workshop last Friday that I forgot to post a Financial Challenge Deposit Reminder, so here it goes...

Week #10
Deposit Amount: $10.00
Total Savings: $55.00

Weʻre in the double digits for deposits so make sure you adjust your spending to make sure you can make your deposits.

My First Financial Literacy Workshop was a Success

Today I was given the opportunity to speak to parents who attend a parent participation preschool about how to talk to their children about money. There were six parents in attendance, although I wish I could have reached a larger audience, having a small group for my first workshop like this helped to keep the entire group engaged.

The workshop was titled "Money Talks for Kids (Pre-K Edition)." We discussed the following topics:

- Financial goals for your keiki
- Why it is important to talk to your keiki about money
- What kind of example are you currently setting for your keiki about finances and money. 
- What kind of example do you want to set for your keiki about finances and money. 
- How to teach the value of money to your keiki
- Age appropriate activities to help teach your keiki about money and related concepts
- How to battle the "gimmies" (when your keiki nags for items at the store /expects gifts from relatives)
- Tips and advice on how to start a chore/allowance system with your keiki

Because it was a small group, I sat with the group in a circle and we were able to have an open dialog about these topics. I compiled some information to re-cap the workshop. I wanted to highlight some insights that this group was able to provide. Of my participants, 66% of them were self-taught about finances and money, however 100% of them believe that it is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children about money and finances. Knowing this bit of information helps to reiterate how important it is for parents to be their child's first teacher when it comes to money and finances. I now have some data and feedback from this small group to be able to create a curriculum to reach this demographic.

One comment left by a participant, let me know that I was able to reach my participants and bring them a new way to think about money. She wrote the following on her evaluation and feedback form "I have learned how to look at money differently and how to use it wisely." If I can touch just one person's life each day, I know that I will help others to live a life with less financial worries and have a better financial future.

This first experience was a success in my book. I look forward to making a career out of helping others through workshops like this. I have another one scheduled in April, but the audience is college students. I'll be sure to post about my experience.

Continued Money Lessons of a 5 Year Old: Part II

Last weekend Kū had another visit to the Dentist. When the procedure was over he was allowed to pick a toy from the drawer. There was a lot of things to choose from, tattoos, stickers, toy cars, army men, etc. But to my surprise, he chose a pack of play money. He said now he can learn about "Big Money" since he knows all his coins. The fact that at the age of 5 he is eager not just to be able to play with the "play money" but knows that he can also learn from it makes me very proud.

There are simple things we can do to teach our children about money. Allow them to help you compare prices when you are at the store, show them different denominations as you pay for things at the store. They may make your trip last a little longer than youʻd like, but the lessons your children will learn will be well worth the time.

Continued Money Lessons of a 5 Year Old: Part I

My 5 year old son never ceases to amaze me. In the short time we have been actively implementing Financial Education with him, he has grown to be such a money wise young man.

The other week my co-worker gave me $5.00 to give to him to get a Jamba Juice. So that evening during dinner I told him, Aunty gave you $5.00 and before I could even say "for a Jamba Juice" he said "Now I can get my Ninjago game!" because he knew he was about $5.00 short of his goal to be able to buy it. So last week, I took him to Toys R Us to get his toy. I made him stand in line and hand the cashier his money, he even was very adamant about her not putting it in a plastic bag. (I guess he pays attention to me when we go to the store, because I try to avoid plastic bags as much as possible). I then made sure he got his change and receipt. When we got back to the car, we went over the receipt. He wasnʻt very interested in learning how to read a receipt, but I wanted to make sure that he knew why he got a receipt and what kind of information was on it.

While at the store, the family that was in front of Ku had a young girl probably around 4 or 5 years old with a couple of toys on the counter. The cashier told the family their total and the mom turned to the little girl and said ok, open your wallet and give the lady your money. She opened her wallet and stared at her mom because it was stuffed with bills and coins. So the mom helped her count it out to make sure she had enough to cover the total. The cashier was very patient during this process and the mother turned to me and apologized for making us wait. I told her that it was fine and that I was glad to see another parent teaching her child about spending money.

When we were done with our transaction, I overheard the cashier say to her co-worker, wow these kids have a lot of money nowadays. I walked out of that store happy, knowing that other parents are being proactive in teaching their children about money. I also walked out happy because my son reached his savings goal and was able to purchase his toy with him own money.

Week #9: Financial Challenge

Week # 9: Financial Challenge

Todayʻs Deposit: $9.00
Total Savings: $45.00

Now that the deposit amounts are getting larger, plan ahead to incorporate this savings into your budget. If you donʻt have budget...MAKE ONE!

"There are two ways to get a lot of money. Earn a lot, or donʻt spend all that you earn."
- Bill Hettinger