How Do You Slice Your Pizza?

On Monday January 14th, the Youth Leadership Board was privileged to have Clay Carroll from State Farm come speak to them about learning to handle and budget their money. Since the group consists of Juniors and Seniors in high school the timing was perfect. Many of them will be in college soon and having to make financial decisions on their own for the first time.

Clay began the presentation by talking about successful people and how they handle their money. He noted the importance of having a plan, setting aside money, leaving set aside money alone, and protecting themselves from risk. He used the example of slicing a pizza to help them understand the idea of budgeting and gave each of them the tools to begin creating their own budget. Even if all of their money comes from their parents, he helped them understand that beginning to budget now will only help them later.

Clay left the students with four rules for building financial security.
1: Protect first that which you can least afford to lose... your potential earning power.
2: Protect yourself from large losses - which might be rare - but from which it would be difficult to recover financially. These are inexpensive to insure against.
3: Always have a liquid cushion to fall back on for emergencies and opportunities.
4: Save/invest as much as you can, as often as you can, starting as SOON as you can.

Many of the students expressed that they learned a great deal of information and have a new understanding of the importance of budgeting money. Clay helped Growing Our Own Youth further our mission of enhancing the future of today's youth by strengthening area families through education and community involvement.