I’m losing money to the stock market… fast.
Welcome back folks… to yet another blog post. We just finished both our year-end spring exhibition and our PGP project about finances, both of which I’ll be reflecting on in this post.
Finances
The first thing we did for finances was to plan how much it would cost to attend our ideal and more realistic post-secondary education options. This was a bit of a slap in the face to see just how much costs to live independently with the costs of tutuion, rent, cell and groceries. Check out my plan doc below:
We also did a stock simulator to learn about investing in the stock market. We wrote reflections for each week we did. I found it really challenging to know when to, and when not to, buy and sell shares. Overall I was able to stay (mostly) above zero and managed to get roughly an additional 2K worth of money. Check out my reflections below:
The other thing we did to learn about stocks and money managment was to watch the movie Moneyball. Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of the movie (it was about baseball, a sport I find extremely boring), I was able to learn about the 5 pillars of financial literacy:
- Earning
- Spending
- Saving and investing
- Borrowing
- Protecting
You here’s my thoughts on Moneyball:
In the movie Moneyball, we see Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team, struggle to create a successful team on a very tight budget. The Oakland A’s were a small market team with a very tight budget, forcing Beane to recreate his team by outsmarting the richer opposing ball clubs. He meets Peter Brant, a finically literate Ivy League graduate, who introduces him to the world of baseball analytics, which was not widely known to the baseball world at the time. Beane hires Brant, and they begin to recruit players that traditional scouts have labeled as useless despite their game-winning potential. Beane and Brant begin to challenge traditional baseball recruitment and trading methods. An example of this was when they recruited a player with nerve damage in his elbow. Although he could no longer play his original position as a catcher, he could play a different one that would still benefit the team in the form of his ability to “get on base.” This method of using analytics to invest in players not wanted by richer teams was ultimately very successful: they were able to win 20 consecutive games which was unheard of at the time. Moneyball shows financial literacy by using statistical data to invest in and protect players, and spend money on less expensive players that still had a lot of skill, earning them victory.
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We also did an Uber sim to learn about the opportunities gig work has to offer to earn extra money. Here’s my thoughts on it:
In the UBER Game I discovered that being an Uber driver would suck. I managed to fail both the hard and easy version of the simulation. I discovered that working as an Uber driver pays VERY little, and you have to sacrifice a lot to make a decent earning. Hours average at around 12 hours per day, you receive no benefits, you sometimes have to drive long hours to reach a more populated areas and you have to pay for your own vehicle rental, business licence, phone mounts and chargers. You often have to work instead of spending time with family or friends. I don’t think this gig would work out well for me as I value free time and I wouldn’t enjoy sitting around in car all day…. Also it simply doesn’t pay enough for it to be worth my while, when I can work a 4 hour lifeguarding shift and earn way more than I would in a single day of Uber driving.
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Spring Exhibition
We just recently had our PLP Spring Exhibition, titled “Pathways.” PLP 10 created an office themed room complete with desks, filing cabinets, cubicle signs, music and a reception desk.
At the exhibition, we showcased our both our personal and podcast business cards. Here’s mine:
Overall I think our exhibition turned out really well and I enjoyed getting to see what the other grades created as well!
Thanks for reading!