In June, high school students from all over the United States gathered at the Ohio State University Columbus Campus to learn the basics of financial planning. The Department of Education and Human Ecology (EHE) held its second annual Financial Planning Academy from June 26-30.
Caezilia Loibl, a professor who runs the academy in EHE’s Human Sciences department, said that studying financial planning as a potential career path also gave students knowledge of personal finance.
The academy provides an overview of things like “how investments work, why you need insurance and what’s the difference between gross and net income,” she said. “It covers all the basics, no lectures. It’s all group work.”
In group projects, students created financial plans to help a virtual family with investments, retirement planning, debt management, and other financial management issues. Each team also developed a personal finance app concept and a marketing plan to attract investors.
On the closing day of the academy, the teams submitted their plans to the jury. A panel of professional financial planners from central Ohio provided advice to the student team throughout the week.
One of the advisors, Candice Deluca, a financial planner, said the project will help students develop financial literacy, which will help them when they enter the workforce.
DeLuca said the students are “working on a case study of a young couple just starting out in Fort Worth, Texas, trying to negotiate their finances and where they should spend their money.” “This is a real-world scenario. …I think their eyes are definitely opening.”
Ohio State University partnered with the Center for Healthy Family, Columbus State Community College, and Franklin University to create the Financial Planning Academy.
“Financial planning is a relatively young field of study compared to accounting,” said Professor Martina Penn, dean of the Department of Accounting, Finance and Risk Management at Franklin University. “Many kids don’t know much about this profession, but we want them to understand that this is a great profession. We hope that it will help you better understand the
Jenai Wiggins, a junior cosmetologist student at Columbus Downtown High School in the fall, said she was introduced to the academy by the Center for Healthy Family. She said she learned financial management strategies that helped her reach her goal of owning a beauty salon.
“I learned more about money that I didn’t know before,” she said. “One of the things I like to do is build buildings and stabilize them financially, so I think this will help me in the long run.”
Orange High School junior Alina Rakimsianova said she learned about 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, and numerous sources of funding.
“I think it is very important for young people to have economic knowledge,” she says. “I am very interested in finance. Thanks to this academy, I realized that there is a lot of money and opportunities in the financial field.”
Ariana Chandna, a sophomore at Olentangy High School, said she learned about the importance of saving and investing.
“When I started working, a lot of kids my age, myself included, only got jobs because they wanted to go out and spend money, and didn’t think much about long-term goals like college. I don’t think so, either retire or start a family,” she said. “It’s important for children our age to understand that money is not something that can be invested or allocated simply for discretionary spending. It has to affect our future.” .”
Samir Ishalik, a sophomore at Rivermont College High School in Bettendorf, Iowa, said his father, a financial advisor, taught him the importance of starting retirement savings early. The Academy has strengthened this concept.
“The earlier you can learn about it, the less you need to invest long term to achieve the same goals as someone who started learning at 30,” he said.
Across the academy, undergraduates from Ohio State University majoring in finance-related subjects served as advisors to high school students. Noel Justice, a major in consumer and family financial services, said the academy allowed him to keep his passion for numbers alive.
“Both of my parents have jobs that involve money. When I entered college, I knew I wanted to help someone,” she said. “I love budgeting and all the money-related things I do in my day-to-day life.
