The annual ‘Reality Check’ financial literacy event took place Oct. 26 at Sask. Polytech. At the event, students are given valuable insights into the tough reality of making financial decisions and preparing a budget.
“The Reality Check event is a financial literacy program for Grade 9 students,” explained Moose Jaw & District Chamber of Commerce office administrator Heather Bergdahl.
“It gives them a little glimpse at real-life budgeting. They get a fictional job, fictional salary, fictional family, and they have to go out and spend their monthly budget wisely and make good choices.”
Throughout the day, Grade 9 students from Central Collegiate, Peacock Collegiate, Vanier Collegiate, and Cornerstone Christian School attended.
Many important financial insights from Reality Check are not covered in the school curriculum.
“It’s great to have an opportunity for Grade 9 students to get that little glimpse of what it takes in the real life of budgeting and what their parents go through on a monthly basis,” said Bergdahl.
“It’s kind of what the scenarios are in the real world: getting a car, getting a house, those extra costs of insurance, buying groceries, getting furniture – all those things they probably take for granted.”
Students start with an imaginary job. Once selected, they are handed a card that gives a proposed salary specific to that career path. From there, students visit a wide variety of booths where they learn about their options, the real-world cost of goods and services, and they can make a few financial decisions.
“(Students) will visit the financial services booth first, and they’ll get their taxes deducted off their monthly budget. They’ll all get a shock because the government is taking money away from (them),” said Bergdahl.
“From there, they have to actually go and get a house. They can choose from an apartment, a rented house, or they can purchase a house.
“They will then choose a brand-new vehicle, a used vehicle, or a bus pass. Then they’ll get insurance, and they’ll go to the various other booths such as clothing, utilities, etc.,” said Bergdahl.
Linda Drysdale is volunteering for her second year at the Reality Check event.
“We’re working the clothing booth. We give students information as to… what they can spend, either on generic brands or brand-name clothing,” Drysdale said.
Students approach her booth with their card and a pre-determined budget is assigned based on whether they are a single-income household or a family with a set number of children.
“It has been a real eye-opener actually. I wish they had this when I was in high school, or even when my kids were in high school. It would have maybe let them see the difference in what money can do, or what you can’t do if you don’t have money,” Drysdale said.
“I think it should be offered as a life skill class right through high school, especially in Grade 12,” she added.
One student from Central Collegiate, Theo Lopez, said he has learned quite a bit from the event.
“I’ve learned more now than I have over the last couple of months,” he said regarding financial literacy. “I think it’s going to be helpful because we’re learning things that are actually useful in life.”
Lopez said one of the biggest eye-openers has been “How unaffordable housing is these days. You can’t really get anywhere if you have more than two kids, and parents don’t really have a personal life because you can’t afford it.”
To help a few lucky students, event sponsor Conexus Credit Union is offering five bursaries that students can put into an RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) to use in their post-secondary education.
The Reality Check is sponsored by Moose Jaw & District Chamber of Commerce and saw over 70 volunteers attend to help out.
“If they didn’t support this, we couldn’t make this happen. It takes a tremendous amount of people to make this event happen,” Bergdahl said.
“We really believe that the Chamber is not only for the businesses, but for the community as a whole,” said Bergdahl. “These are our future entrepreneurs, future business owners, and our future employees in the community. So, we want to make sure we’re supporting everyone – not just business owners but also the future business owners.”
Bergdahl wanted to give a special mention of thanks to the sponsors who helped make the event possible, including but not limited to Family Pizza for providing volunteers with lunch and Sask. Polytechnic for donating the space to hold the event.
“It takes a community to make this happen,” she said.
Businesses and individuals wishing to volunteer or help sponsor future Reality Check events can contact Heather Bergdahl at 306-692-6414 or [email protected].
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