How Personal Finance Helped Me Succeed by Kira

How Personal Finance Helped Me Succeed by Kira - August 2016 Scholarship Essay

According to Msn. Com/en-us/money, the average college student is now more than twenty thousand dollars in debt at the time of their graduation. Considering this statistic, I am very thankful that I chose to take a course on personal financing in high school. Seniors at Nampa High School are required to take a math course so therefore I chose to take this course believing it would be the most beneficial to me and what do you know – it was. This class curriculum included lessons on balancing checkbooks, filing for taxes and filling out W-2 or W-4 forms and interest rates and how they worked. This class not only bettered me as a student, but also helped me become a better average adult.
First, knowing how to balance a checkbook is critical to know. In this day and age, less and less people are aware of how to do this skill because of the advancement of technology. But, like anything else that is kept online, things can be hacked a little bit easier. Don’t get me wrong; I am all for online banking but that does not mean that I am against the original check balancing done on paper. Being taught how to balance a check book definitely helped me become a better student because this requires keeping all of your receipts that are received after purchasing something and it requires you to write down all of your transactions. Now, as a college student at Boise State University I have made it a habit of mine of keeping extra copies of all the work and assignments that I have completed. This way, if any issue is to surface, I have back-up copies to aid in the solving of the problem.
Second, filing for taxes and filling out W-2 or W-4 forms is something that almost every person is going to have to do at least once in their life. I am more than thankful that I had graduated high school already with a brief understanding of taxes and employment forms. Applying for my first job I didn’t have to ask any questions because I was already aware of all of the steps that I had to take. This wasn’t just helpful in preparing me for my adult life that was creeping up every so quickly but it helped me exceed in my other classes that were on my course load. Knowledge of these things helped me have a better understanding of how things worked in my Economics class and also helped me follow along better in history class because I knew about the issues that taxes have brought to the U.S.
Lastly, interest rates have helped me on so many levels. Yes, I am a college student that has taken out loans and yes I am a young adult that also has a credit card. Interest rates can capture any normal human and hurt them immensely because they are unaware of the affects that they have. With the understanding of interest rates and how they work, I was able to open a credit card and avoid nasty interest rates because I asked questions to each company regarding their policies. I was also able to take out loans interest free because when speaking with Financial Aid, I didn’t just sign the paper and say give me money, I actually have them explain each little detail about each loan. Not only has the knowledge of interest rates helped me with my money it also helped me graduate high school. Yes, it sounds silly but it made me realize that the longer you wait to turn something in the more deductions you will get. Just like the longer you wait to make payments on your credit lines, the more it’ll hurt you.
I am beyond thankful to have taken Personal Finance in high school to not only make me a better student that helped me succeed in other classes but it also helped me become a responsible adult. So, a huge thank you goes out to Nampa High School for offering this course and to Mr. Whitworth for choosing to teach these skills to not only myself, but other students who I bet I could tell you are just as grateful as I am.