Assignment 4A – Forming
an Opportunity Belief
I
believe there is an unmet need towards students’ lack of education regarding
managing personal finances. Any student currently in high school and college,
especially college, has this need since the focus in schools mainly to prepare
students on for their possible future job. This need also applies to students
whose parents have not had any personal finance education through, for example,
a home economics class, or have parents who do not make good habitual financial
decisions and are thus unconfident in teaching their child how to properly
manage their own finances. I believe this need came from the gradual withdrawal
of the home economics class from the school curriculum as well as the focus shifting
from of teaching students how to manage personal life and preparing them for
jobs to the sole focus of preparing students for their future job. If the home
economics class or a varying form of the class is taught in schools, it is only
taught as an elective and is not a requirement, creating a lack of a pressing
need for students to learn about necessary life skills such as learning how to
manage personal finances, which leads to ultimately better financial choices,
saving more money, and less risk of falling into debt. I’m 80% sure that this
opportunity exists.
#1: Female freshman
undergraduate student
o Yes, because no matter
who you are or what career you choose, you will have to budget your own money
and/or the money of the company you work for. So, it goes to anyone, not just
people who do finance.
· Have you received any
education about how to manage your money? If so, when and from whom? Do you feel that the education you received
was helpful?
o I just learned at home
from my parents, never in school. They taught me from a young age to save my
money. And yes, because I still use the principles they taught me in college on
my own.
· How do you feel about
your personal money management skills? Do you feel confident in them?
o I feel confident in my
personal money management skills because I have been using the skills for a
long time and not just now that I am an adult. It’s because it’s been instilled
in me for so long.
· Do you ever worry
about how well you’ll be able to manage your money in the future? If so, how
often?
o Because I’m
unemployed, there’s a lot of uncertainty about what’s going to happen with my
money, so in moments where I need money, but I don’t have a lot, I’m a lot more
careful about where the money I have needs to go.
· What do you think is
the best way or the best resource for getting the best personal finance
education? Would you ever go to that resource?
o I don’t know of any
outside resource that is credible enough for me to go to and trust for this
education other than my parents.
· Are you happy with your
current resource for personal finance education?
o Right now, I’m okay
with just asking my parents questions, but I know when it comes to bigger
things, like better credit and a mortgage on a house, I know I’m going to need
more advanced experts to help me.
· Which group do you
think should have more responsibility of teaching students how to manage their
personal finances: teachers or parents?
o The students
themselves should be able to find the resources themselves. If their parents or
teachers aren’t helping them or teaching how to manage their money, they should
go out and find a way to learn how to do it on their own.
REFLECTION: I wasn’t
expecting every college student to be unconfident in their money management
skills, and this person was a good example of that. However, she was still
worried about financial situations in the future and that she’s afraid she won’t
be able to handle them well. I definitely wasn’t expecting her to say that
students themselves should be able to find their own personal finance resources
and that parents and teachers shouldn’t be totally responsible.
#2: PhD student in her
mid-twenties
·
Do you think it’s important for people to learn how to manage their personal
finances? Why?
o Absolutely. I think
it’s a skill that follows you into adulthood, and I feel like it can relieve a
lot of stress when you’re older. So if you know how to manage a bank account,
budget, and save for vacations, then it can alleviate a lot of stress in life
in general and in relationship with a significant other. It’s also a skill you
can build on.
·
Have you received any education about how to manage your money? If so,
when and from whom? Do you feel that the
education you received was helpful?
o I didn’t have any in
high school. The first time I had some type of talk about finances was my
undergraduate first or second year in college. The only reason why was it was a
requirement for my scholarship. It’s sad, because all I remember was something
about a 401k, putting money away, and have it grow over time, and also to start
young. I feel like I didn’t remember much of it because I was a freshman
without any income. I feel like I would’ve better remembered it if I were about
to have an income.
·
How do you feel about your personal money management skills? Do you feel
confident in them?
o I don’t. Not even close.
My significant other does all of the vacation planning, and he keeps track of
spending. I avoid it completely. I always go to the store and get worried if
I’m going to get declined.
·
Do you ever worry about how well you’ll be able to manage your money in
the future? If so, how often?
o I do. I actually do
worry about it, and I feel like I’m at a point in my life where I need to start
learning about it. I worry about it a lot, and I think growing up, I didn’t
learn how to budget because my family grew up without a lot of money to go
anywhere, so my parents’ income always went to necessities, and not much went
into savings.
·
What do you think is the best way or the best resource for getting the
best personal finance education? Would you ever go to that resource?
o That’s a tough one,
because I don’t know of any resources. I’m thinking about going to the bank and
talking to someone there would be my first one. What I would really like to see
is see more student, financial-geared workshops, something I had in undergrad
but at a graduate level, because we have different mindsets than undergrad
students. Having a workshop that teaches about how to finance with a family or
a significant other would be helpful, too. If it were free or if it didn’t cost
too much, and the people teaching were experts, then I would definitely go.
·
Is there something you are doing currently that would be a solution to
your personal need of improving your personal finance skills? Are you happy
with your solution?
o Um, I started the
savings account for my wedding, so I think that’s a great start. I haven’t been
checking my bank accounts more lately, so I’m not too proud with what I’m doing
right now. I do need to improve my skills.
·
Which group do you think has more responsibility of teaching students how
to manage their personal finances: teachers or parents?
o I think parents. Like,
I tend to blame my mom a lot for my lack of skills, but on the flip side, my
mom didn’t have the resources, so maybe it should’ve been the school’s
responsibility to teach me as well. I would say I think it’s the parents’
primary responsibility, but it’s the school’s job to support it and provide any
resources necessary.
REFLECTION: The
potential need for education about personal finance could be found more in
older undergrad and graduate students since they are more likely to have jobs
and have to manage the money they earn. This also brings to light the lack of
resources students could utilize to learn about personal finance management
because she was unaware of any.
#3: Male Undergrad
Student
·
Do you think it’s important for people to learn how to manage their
personal finances? Why?
o Yes, because well…if
you don’t learn how to manage your finances, you’re gonna die. If you can’t
manage your finances, you’ll blow all your money one Friday night after you get
paid and get stuck eating ramen noodles for a week.
·
Have you received any education about how to manage your money? If so,
when and from whom? Do you feel that the
education you received was helpful?
o I have received no
education about how to balance my money. It is horrible.
·
How do you feel about your personal money management skills? Do you feel
confident in them?
o I feel very confident
in my money management skills. The fact that I can maintain suitable living
conditions on three hundred dollars every two weeks is pretty good.
·
Do you ever worry about how well you’ll be able to manage your money in
the future? If so, how often?
o Oh, I worry about that
very, very much. I worry about it once or twice a week.
·
What do you think is the best way or the best resource for getting the
best personal finance education? Would you ever go to that resource?
o I think that having
someone in your life who is financially stable and willing and able to teach
you financial stability is the best resource, because a class can teach you the
theory, but nothing is better than practice and personal experience. And yes, I
would definitely go to that resource.
·
Is there something you are doing currently that would be a solution to
your personal need of improving your personal finance skills? Are you happy
with your solution?
o Oh yeah, I consider
messing up and learning from it a process that helps improve my personal
finance skills. And no, I am not happy with my solution.
·
Which group do you think has more responsibility of teaching students how
to manage their personal finances: teachers or parents?
o I think parents.
Teachers can teach the theory, but they can’t teach the application. And there
is a massive difference between theory and application in anything.
REFLECTION: Some students
haven’t been taught any personal finance management skills and can still feel
confident in their skills because they learn through their own experiences how
to handle money. However, they still prefer to be taught or given advice by
someone else who has had experience with managing finances.
SUMMARY: I believe my
opportunity still exists, though maybe not as much as I had originally thought.
Everyone I had interviewed were concerned with managing personal finances in
the future, but I learned that depending on whether or not you’re an undergrad
student or a graduate student, the mindset and the urgency to learn these
finance skills. The need is more urgent in graduate students who already have
jobs or are looking for a better one, so my opportunity is more accurate than
when I started. I think that entrepreneurs should find a balance in adapting
their opportunities based on customer feedback. Adapting their opportunities
based on their feedback will make the product better and get them better
reviews and as a result a better chance of their product being spread by word
of mouth and gaining more customers. However, I think that entrepreneurs should
only adapt to feedback that a good majority of their reviewing customers
repeatedly bring up. If they try to focus on trying to satisfy every negative
thing a customer says about their product, then the product might become worse
instead of better.
