Financial Reality Fair Program for Ohio Credit Unions
MoneyAndStuff.info makes it simple for you to educate kids and teens about financial matters using real-life examples and exercises. Using this custom program from Connecticut Credit Unions, you can lead lessons right out of the box. Take these financial lessons into your local schools, youth centers, or host your own class.
About Reality Fair
An important goal for credit unions is to provide financial education to their members in order to help them better manage their money on a day-to-day basis as well as direct funds to savings for the future. How to budget, how to look for the best prices, how to stay out of or at least manage debt—it’s a learning process that all of us have gone through.
A Financial Reality Fair is a hands-on experience in which students, after identifying their career choice and starting salaries, are provided a budget sheet requiring them to live within their monthly salary while paying for basics such as housing, utilities, transportation, clothing, and food. And some not-so-basics like entertainment and travel.
Along the way there are many temptations for additional spending, and students must learn to balance their wants and needs to potentially live on their own. After they have visited the various booths covering components of independent living, students will balance their budget, and then sit down with a financial counselor to review their standing. A Reality Fair is a unique opportunity for students to experience some of the financial challenges they will face when they start life on their own.
Downloadable Resources
Reality Fair Guidebook in Word Format
Reality Fair Guidebook in PDF Format
Reality Fair Budget Sheet (MS Excel Format)