Many of us weren’t taught the importance of owning your coin and financial literacy as a child. There weren’t school programs and courses that encouraged the true meaning and understanding of financial literacy and the major role it plays in our lives. Imagine if you were given the opportunity to learn about wealth building, fraud prevention, budgeting progression, and investing basics in school that would ultimately prepare you and teach you lessons about the importance of goal setting, saving, and managing credit to give you confidence in your money management abilities.
That’s exactly what Girl Scouts has embarked on as they recently expanded their financial literacy programs and badges for girls in grades K-12 to take them on a journey through financial literacy and entrepreneurship at every level. Inspiring the next generation is something Boss Women Media proudly supports and encourages every single day to ensure the next generation is equipped in making a difference by making informed career choices.
We’ve partnered with Girl Scouts to share with you what it means to own your coin as we help the next generation get to the bag!
Owning Your Coin + Getting to the Bag
- Track your spending to help improve your finances in terms of your wants vs. needs
Taking the time to track your monthly spending is one of the first steps to owning your finances. If you don’t know what you’re spending each month, then you won’t know where you’ll need to make adjustments to your finances. In addition to tracking your finances, ensuring your wants and needs are equally spelled out will not only help you budget better, but will also help you align on managing your money. Understanding your spending awareness and let that guide you into better tracking your spending habits, which in return will help improve your overall finances.
- Create a realistic financial budget
What a realistic financial budget looks like to you, may look completely different for someone else. As you begin to assess your financial budget, you’ll start to see where you can cut out unnecessary expenses that don’t make sense – create a realistic budget that works with your lifestyle and spending habits.
- Begin building your savings
You never know when you may have a rainy day, so having savings for an emergency is so important. Think of your savings account as the account that strengthens your financial security and protects you when life throws you curveballs. We all know just how important a savings account is, so the sooner you begin building yours, the better.
- Start an investment strategy
Regardless of how limited your ability to invest may be, making small contributions to an investment account can help you use your profit to generate even more income. Know that the path to owning your coin and getting to the bag starts with changing your habits and being realistic about your finances.
The Financial Literacy Badges were made possible by a generous grant from Charles Schwab and its Founder.
Girl Scouts offers fun, interactive entrepreneurship and financial literacy activities for both members and non-member, visit girlscouts.org/entrepreneurship to get started. To sign your daughter up to be a Girl Scout and learn more about how to build your child’s financial literacy visit, girlscouts.org/join.
