Hooray!

Just a quick post to say that after this week, I'll be taking a class in economics which I am, truth be told, TOTALLY PUMPED FOR!! The course goes through both macro- and micro- economics (concepts that will be elaborated upon later, though I suggest you just look it up on wikipedia), and I will be trying to give you as much coverage on the course as I can!

Be warned, however, for this may end up containing more than just personal finance mumbo jumbo, and could be completely irrelevant to your life (foreign trade probably isn't that big of a deal for you guys). So, if Kelly and the school board (sounds like a rock band doesn't it?) approve, I'll be posting some of that too.

That's all for now, I hope it turns out well!

Merry Christmas!

So, on the twelfth day of Christmas  my true love gave me a partrige in a pear tree and a whole wack of other stuff.  But in today's messed up financial situation, what with Monopoly Recession Edition out and everything, where on earth did he get that much money?  

Well, seeing as I don't actually know the answer to that, I'll just completely change the topic now.  Hey, but I do know where that money is now!  See the picture below ((©funnelinc.com))

Back in the good old days, every dollar had it's equal in metal.  What that meant was your money was right there in the vault.  But now, with the digitalization of money, your dollar is everywhere.  Only "the computer" knows how much you actually have.  And simply put, if anything happens to that computer, you're screwed.  (not really though, I'm just half kidding...)

So, what are these almighty computers?  Financially Ill (with help from our buddies at Popsci) has your answers!  Stay tuned to find out!


Happy holidays :)

Financial course... ahh!!!

 

Okay guys, here's a secret... you ready?  (it's alright, I'll wait ;D)  THE FINANCIAL COURSE IS REALLY, REALLY HARD!!!  Ahh!!!  ESPECIALLY THE STOCK SECTION!!!  IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! :(  And I was the one arguing for it!  (epic fail, right there :P)  

Sorry, had to get that out!  Sample questions are below... see if you get them :)

How much do you cost?

Haha yup, surprise guys! I'm back! Probably not for long though, so no need to worry :) I had this uber long blog written out but someone (wonder who? ;)) deleted it... basically I was just saying thanks for your emails and asking if anyone wanted to guest blog... are you people still up for it? Or anyone else out there want to guest blog on finance? It's really interesting! (not trying to be sarcastic!) Anywho, onto my blog post!
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It seems like everyone out there is worried about the financial situation out there now. And they're worried about us! In fact, some even think we caused the recession! According to this article our folks even "go back to the banker and take out a line of credit and maybe a second mortgage" because we "cost so much to maintain"! What a bite to swallow! This couldn't be true! No $#&!@ way! But lets think... could there be some truth to this article? I've collected a list of some teen's (not mine of course, pssh, no way! Why would you even think about that? ;)) monthly expenses and added them up below.

A month's expenses of the "single greatest cause of the global financial meltdown"

(aka us)

• Clothes - okay, depending on who you are, this may be the place where most of the money goes towards. Brand names are an "essential thing for young people", and cost quite a bit... This teenager (not me, I repeat, not me!!!) bought a pair of Lulu pants, two pairs of A&F shorts, two Hollister hoodies, and 4 tees at Aeropostale this month which adds up to... $500 ouch.
• Your cell phone bill - how often are you not texting every day? Considering there's national texting competitions now a days, that probably isn't very often. And those 15 cent messages add up... fast. Of course, with a student plan from Telus, this only costed $25!
• Food - yeah, I know we don't pay for our own meals, but I'm talking about things like that Pepsi (which is, by the way, better than Coke) and Kit-Kat bar you consumed after volleyball practice, the bag of chips you have every lunch, the slushies from Macs you grab with your pals on the weekends and who knows what else! Lets say Sam (I'm calling the teen Sam now) did exactly that. So $6 maybe every school day (6x5 for you math people out there) plus $4 every weekend (4x2) times around 4 weeks in a month gives us a total of... (wait, gotta grab my calculator :D) $152 whoa.
• Entertainment - like, the movies that Sam goes to with his friends every friday ($10), the concerts he goes to every month ($100)and stuff like that. If there were 4 fridays, then Sam would spend... $140 this month
• Gas - I don`t drive, so I`m not too sure how much this costs... (and I'm too lazy to google it) but let's put it at about 2 full tanks at $45 per fill up, so that makes $270 (I lied, I did google it ;))

So, all in all, 500 + 25 + 152 +140 +270 = $947 spent every month on you. That could very well be how much your folks monthly mortgage payments are... :O No wonder some parents are going with the $50 a month allowances now. Time to cut back a tad perhaps, hey?

By the way, if any of you want to guest post, leave a comment and we'll (I'll?) get back to you :)

A great site! (last post, promise!)

If anyone still has enough enthusiasm to gain some knowledge of personal finance and some economics (maybe *gasp* in your free time), I've found a truly magnificent internet resource that gives the basics in a fast and understandable way.

Here's the link: http://www.fool.com/investing/basics/index.aspx?source=ifltnvpnv0000001

The site itself (fool.com) is a great way to keep up to date with the modern economy and businesses. It's a really informative and fun site, and I strongly recommend everybody try it.

Have fun!

(above image) Available in tee-shirt form from "snorgtees.com"

And so it ends...

Okay, so I know we haven't posted for eons, but it's summer and... (okay that's not an excuse) it's all Dan's fault!!! But anyways, just an update on our project, a few days ago, (okay, no, more like, a few months ago) on the 9th, Dan and I "achieved our final goal" of sorts, by presenting to the Saskatoon school board and urging them to "support curricular development of for financial literacy in primary and secondary schools". The presentation went smoothly, though it wasn't much of a presentation, seeing as we had around 5 minutes to say our whole spiel. But it was a start and the trustees (the people we were presenting to) seemed interested. So sorry guys, if all goes well for us, you may be forced into taking financial courses soon. The blog however, may not live for too much longer... unless you guys really want to read our posts. Would you keep reading if we keep posting?

Anyways, just thought you might like to know. :)

A Startling Analogy

I couldn't help but post my "findings" to the blog..

One night, listening to the sounds of.. stuff, I realized that my (startling) amount of overdue homework seems to have a correlation to an adult's pool of debt ("the pool came with a free deck chair, and that was just too much of a deal to pass away").


First comes the relaxing. Playing videogames instead of doing the homework, or buying that new videogame with a credit card (the latter being the "debt" scenario). Days after the due date, the student might start to work on the project, trying to make it better than before, to compensate for late marks off. In the case of debt, one would try getting a raise, and working harder to pay off what has accumulated. Meanwhile, the debt/homework starts to pile up over time through interest or school. The student/adult will try to work harder to pay off their debts, but by persisting in their ordinary activities, the work never compensates to the debt.

And so a vicious cycle has begun, and the only way to change it is to change our day to day activities.

Just a thought. I hope it's enlightening in some way.