I was running my annual entrepreneurship conference called the Tigers’ Den in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic and received a video submission for a financial app from 3 students.
One of the students said, “School teaches you calculus, but it doesn’t teach you how to actually manage money.”
Their financial app, targeted to high school students, helped users navigate money management.
In fact, I recently hosted a virtual workshop with RBC Future Launch professionals where students asked a lot of questions. Some are below:
“What is an example of a good debt?”
“Does paying your credit card early help your credit score?”
“When is the best time to buy a GIC, a bond, or a mutual fund?”
“What are some good companies or things to invest in right now?”
“How much money do you need to start investing?”
These are questions that many adults should be asking themselves, but often don’t.
I couldn’t help thinking how mature and thoughtful the questions were, and how, in the pandemic climate, fraught with so many reasons to simply shy away from making decisions and hunker down in basements, these Gen Zers were thinking about their futures and how money will influence their decisions and pathing.
I always talk to students about collecting dots, experiences and activities that help them move forward and push their boundaries of possibility. Choosing growth-oriented dots leads to connecting those dots with more thought and possibility down the road.
They seem to understand that they will have to manage their money carefully and they’re not sitting back waiting for life to happen.
They’ve witnessed their parents go through a 2008 recession and have no doubt seen millennial siblings and relatives lingering in basements. The 150 kids who chose to attend the workshop want more and they chose this dot of a workshop to equip themselves with the skills and power to control their destiny.
If we’re worried about youth and whether they have the chutzpah to lead our economies an communites down the road, listen to their questions.
The right questions reveal a lot about the dots you choose.