By: Aviva
Aviva is participating in Allowance for Good's autumn 2013 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy program.
This past week, we were asked to record our expenses on a
personal budgeting worksheet. Before starting, we were to give ourselves an
estimate/budget for each category of expenses. Then, as the week progressed,
after recording all of the money which we spent, we compared our estimates to
our actual expenses. Many people found that they over-estimated in some
categories while largely underestimating in others, most often bills which are
paid by our parents. I believe that a lot of us learned about the varying
amounts of money that go into certain things and learned that we might not be
as financially literate as we might think.
To me, financial literacy is about knowing what to do to make
your money work for you AND others. In class, I learned about the different
things to consider when deciding how to use my money. These included
researching the place where I am giving my money to see if it is reliable, and
considering the impact of my monetary contribution. An important factor that
our class came up with is knowing if an organization to which you are donating
has a plan to use your money to its full potential, aka making the greatest
impact.
The lessons I learned from the budgeting worksheet and the
discussion about financial literacy will stay with me throughout the future.
The most obvious place where budgeting and financial literacy will be put into
play will be when I go to college, and don't have my parents with me to help me
with managing my money. Financial aid and loans for college also require knowledge
on these topics. Farther into the future, when I have my own stable income and
decide that I am ready to donate a portion of that income, these lessons will
help me make smart decisions about how and where to donate. These lessons have
helped me become more confident about my financial future.
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| Aviva is a Catalyst for Good because she believes that all people have the right to health, education and happiness! |