Hey everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Today, I’m super excited to share my awesome experience in the Personal Growth and Planning (PGP) program, specifically focusing on Financing. In this post, I’ll be taking you through the ups and downs of this project. I hope you enjoy!

So, let’s dive right into it. In PGP, we started off with this cool activity called “Budgeting Reality.” We had to make a budget for one whole month, separating our Fixed Expenses (like rent and bills) from Variable Expenses (like eating out and shopping). If we didn’t earn money consistently, we could choose a month where we did. And if we couldn’t remember what we spent in a particular month, we just estimated. It was a great way to understand budgeting and how to manage our money.

Next up was “Your Financial Future.” This activity was all about planning for our future careers. We had to research summer jobs and set goals for how much money we wanted to earn. We also looked into the average costs of going to university. It was eye-opening to see what our future could look like financially.

But the highlight of this section was definitely the “Stock Market Challenge.” It was like a big competition in our class to see who could make the most money in a simulated stock market. We had two options: go for big stocks or focus on ethical stocks. I decided to go for the big prize and try and get the most money possible. I’m proud of my decision. We’ll find out tomorrow at the exhibition if I won or not, but I think that I did. You can click here to read about my stock market daily reflections.

To prepare for the stock market simulation, I did a ton of research on different types of investments and strategies. I had no clue about stocks before, but now I feel like a pro! Then, I dug deeper into money making stocks and narrowed down my choices. I even wrote reflections every week to track my progress. In the end, I made over $6,000 dollars in the simulation, it was a learning experience and I’m proud of myself for navigating the ups and downs of the stock market.

Apart from the financing stuff, we also did this personality test activity. We had to figure out our personality types and understand ourselves better. We even got a friend to take the test for us, thinking how they would answer. It was super interesting, and I wrote a reflection about the whole process. Something that was interesting was the me and one of my closest friends, Brooke, took the test for each other. And we almost got exactly what each one of us got for ourselves.

Overall, this project was amazing and helped me understand how to support my career choices. I learned that researching options that align with my financial situation is crucial. Budgeting and being smart about my finances are also important. So yeah, that’s how the Financing section in PGP went! Thanks for reading, guys!

Best wishes,

Dana