WHITTIER, Calif.–Students from La Serna High School here got a “bite of reality” when they participated in an interactive financial education simulation designed to teach them how to manage money.
The event was presented by Anaheim Hills, Calif.-based Credit Union of Southern California to students in the school’s Guided Studies, OASIS, HAVEN, and Read 180 academic intervention programs and their mentors as well as consumer math students. The program—offered by the Richard Myles Johnson (RMJ) Foundation, the state foundation for credit unions in California and Nevada—has young people take a “real world” test drive, complete with a job, money, and the freedom to make their own financial decisions.
Via the Bite of Reality app, each of the nearly 300 students received a persona complete with occupation, salary, spouse and family, student loan debt, credit card debt, and medical insurance payments. Then each student went “shopping” for items such as housing, transportation, food, clothing, household necessities, and daycare. Throughout the event, the students dealt with pushy salespeople portrayed by some 35 employees from the credit union. And when some students overspent, those staffing the "credit union" station provided much-needed assistance.
Bryan, 18, said he now knows how his parents feel and what they go through. The experience taught him how to use money wisely.Eighteen-year-old Nathan called the event overwhelming but one that taught him valuable lessons. “It teaches how to manage money right (money management) and to focus on the future,” he said.
And that’s exactly the lesson RMJ Foundation Executive Tena Lozano hopes young people take away from the Bite of Reality program.
“It’s great to provide a no-risk environment like this so that when these young people face these same situations later in life, they can make good financial choices,” she said.