College Sophomore Fixes Personal Finance Crisis … or Does He?
Mon 24 Nov 2008 – 11.31
Zac Bissonnette, a sophomore at UMass Amhearst and columnist for WalletPOP.com, has proposed a simple solution on how to fix the financial problems faced by our nation.
In this case, he tackles personal finance, as opposed to institutionalised banking and large-scale industrial money-mongering. Since those companies are run by people, perhaps the principles are transferrable. How to fix personal finance and instill responsibility with credit cards, for example? Teach finance in High School.
The high school I attended, however, like most other public schools, had no financial literacy program in place. As I wrote in an op-ed piece when I was a student there, the failure of the schools to teach kids about money has done more to perpetuate the status quo than any lobbyist in Washington could ever dream of.
However, I disagree with this notion. I feel, perhaps too traditionally, that finance matters should be taught at home, by parents. My view may be skewed by the fact that I was raised by a Jewish mother, but I feel very strongly that my own savvy in managing my own finances goes back to the days when I received an allowance, had to complete chores, and worked for minimum wage. My parents showed me that money is important, and that I could only buy nice things for myself if I made a difficult decisions to save instead of spend. When I received my first credit card at 18, no one had to lecture me on how not to drown in debt, I already knew the simple maxim of living within my own means and paying off the balance each month.
Are high school students ready to learn life-long lessons on personal finance? Will dealing with abstract dollars in textbooks have the same impact as real-world money earned at a crappy after-school or summer job? Methinks it will not. Nothing teaches you the value of a dollar more than waking up early, working a hard day in the sun, and then getting disrespected when that paycheck arrives. Ever scrub a toilet? That helps too.
So rather than mandating high school students drop Latin for Personal Finance, why not give them less homework and ask them to get a part-time job. They might even learn something on the job.
posted by Scott in education, personal finance.
Wed 19 Nov 2008 – 15.55
photo via http://www.icantaffordtoloveny.com
News flash, the economy sucks. Work has been slow for me, as it has been for my roommate and numerous other friends and contacts. Some have been laid off, some are between projects, and some are holding it together in their day jobs while clients become icy and cautious. In other words, there are a lot of folks looking for jobs.
Today I headed to a job expo here in New York. Tons of people looking for jobs. Recruiters trying to meet people. Resumes, suits, business cards. That whole thing. But this was, without a doubt, the lamest job expo I have ever seen, or even heard of.
I had been to a number of job expos and career fairs over the years, most of them while I was still in college, and they had all been similar. Conventional halls filled row upon row with corporations’ booths and well-trained recruiters. Large companies like Pepsi and International Paper hand out goodies like keychains and post-it pads. In fact, some of these job fairs have been so massive and busy, that even after hours of hand-shaking and resume-dishing, you haven’t met with everyone! So in comparison, today’s escapade was absurdly, almost insultingly small, poorly run, and lacklustre.
I turned up this morning at 10:30, half an hour after the event opened. I figured that time was still early enough to be relatively empty, but not so early that I’m the awkward first guy there. But I wasn’t greeted by a cluster of less-than-busy recruiters, but rather by a queue of job-seekers that stretched for half an avenue! After waiting in the cold for nearly 90 minutes (srsly.), we entered a windowless conference room where no more than 10 companies were unlucky enough to be sat.
Naturally, the Army had a table. There was a Navy recruiter working the line, but that almost doesn’t count. Cablevision and TimeWarner were both there, looking for service personnel and salespeople, ie, grunts, and there were at least 4 companies looking for financial advisors to sling mutual funds, life insurance, and other financial bricker-brack. Macy’s and Sleepy’s were looking for bodies to help with retail sales and whatever I can’t recall specifically really didn’t matter.
This was small. One room, maybe 30 job-seekers, and out. In ten minutes you could meet with everyone, give out your resume, collect the brochure, and even hear the spiel. It was a whole lot of nothing. Actually, it was a dash of nothing. What a waste.
The only reason I wasn’t entirely embittered by the ordeal is because I found it rather humourous. I now have a new low by which to measure job fairs, and my own situation. It forces me to evaluate the sort of jobs that I would be willing to take to pass the time — and the methods used to get it. At the event, I actually made friends with some people in the line and handed them my business card. I met a fellow graphic designer and a gal who used to work at a software company (which might need graphics help). So maybe these tragic job fairs are actually good places to network.
The trouble with job fairs is that they rarely lead to actual recruitment. The whole notion that face-to-face is better (than an online application) is lost if you’re forced into an assembly line-like grip-and-grip. And for recruiters, what do they actually do with that stack of resumes at the end of the day? Scan ‘em for terms? Enter the data into a computer? Shred them while laughing maniacally?
This was a story to tell and I’m not going to dwell on it too much, but the question I have to ask myself is simply, will I be going to the next one? I think it depends where, and how big. No more job fairs unless they’re A.) held at a convention center or large venue, or B.) specified for creative/advertising/marketing jobs.
posted by Scott in careers, life.