Students attend Financial Reality Fair organized by Lesco Federal Credit Union

Miss Echard’s personal finance classes participated in a “Financial Reality Fair” organized by Lesco Federal Credit Union. Students were asked to choose a profession and were given a budgeting worksheet with that profession’s starting salary on it.

Representatives from Lesco were seated at various tables to emulate different types of expenses students would have to make with one month’s paycheck. Students would go from table to table and “deduct” that payment from their monthly paycheck. This included housing, utilities, car payments, loans, insurance, food, entertainment, credit card, cell phone, and a “Wheel of Reality” that students had to spin to determine an unexpected expense. After all the tables were visited and deductions were made, students were able to see how much extra money was left after all of their monthly expenses were paid. Students were surprised to see that there wasn’t much left over at all!

By participating in this activity, students learned the importance of fiscal responsibility.