#sycep2015

When I had the interview for Sycep, I actually think that it did not go as well as I expected it to go. While I was being asked questions about my interests, my strengths and weaknesses,my dream job, and such, I said a lot of “umms” and “likes”. Additionally, I gave some vague answers where it was not really detailed. I was not fully prepared, for example, I did not have my working permit yet. During professional development, I learned that saying “umm”, “like” and not being prepared were things that we should not do.  However, it did not go that bad. Anh who was interviewing me was able to understand what I meant with my answers and I was not really stumped by any of the questions, I was able to answer all of them. Fortunately, I was accepted into this internship despite the mistakes I made.

Share a time when you effectively used networking to accomplish a goal OR talk about a time when you were interviewed for a position, and share what went well and what didn't.

What did you learn in today's workshop that you plan to implement in your job/school search?

A time when I was interviewed for a position was my college interview for University of Pennsylvania. I was interviewed by a current UPenn student at the Starbucks closest to my school. Whenever a dull moment in the conversation occurred (or I tried to think of something to say), I would take a sip of my coffee and then continue. What worked was that I would occasionally ask my interviewer a question so the entire conversation was not just about me. What did not go well was that the interview ended so soon. It was only about half an hour but I ran out of things to say so the interviewer said she felt the interview was over.

By using the concepts I learned in professional development, I decided that I would put the money I earned into a savings banks account. By putting it into a savings bank account, the amount I have is able to grow over a span of several. Unlike investing it into stocks or markets, I am guaranteed an increase in my money as long as I do not touch the money I put in. Putting in a savings bank account carries less risk to it rather than investing it. By putting in a bank, I am not only guaranteed growth when I put it in a savings account, but the money has less chance being lost due to the fact that many banks are protected by the government.

We also covered more subjects during professional development such as loans and credits. However, with all the information coming at once, there were many times where I got confused and a little lost. Some of the subjects where I got lost in was during the credit section, and when we learning about inflation. I also have a few questions a subject that I think was not covered as much-taxes. Rather than having specific questions, I would just like to learn more about taxes. A couple questions on taxes would just be, for example, what is income tax?, why do we pay taxes, and how our annual income affects our taxes and what are the other things that our annual income would affect?

Hey folks,

3 hours straight was clearly not enough to say everything there is to say about financial literacy. (There are people who study this for a lifetime, so 3 hours is but a drop in the bucket...granted, these people are investigating phenomena and tools that most people never need to know about, so this might not be the best comparison.) Props to you all for sticking through it.

As requested, this blog post will be an extension of the workshop and will cover taxes/tax season and credit unions v. commercial banks.

Taxes

I’m going to try and provide some general, but what I find to be crucial, information about taxes in America. I believe the question was specifically about tax season...so I’ll try to say something about that as well.

First, what are taxes? Taxes are mandatory contributions to (your) governing bodies on the federal, state, and local levels. Taxes are how the government gets money. So just like how your parents may give you allowance and that’s all you have to spend...the government gets taxes, and that’s what they have to spend. In turn, the government uses that money to pay for 2 types of things: 

1. Items that everybody can use and that people can’t be prevented from using, such as parks and defense;

2. Items where everybody is better off if everybody has it, even if they don’t always want it or can afford it, such as schools and healthcare.

I want to make this point because taxes and government spending can be demonized in the media, sometimes without great awareness of what that tax money is for. Taxes are not just the government trying to take your money...in theory, government spending benefits society.

(And if you disagree, then you are supposed to VOTE, not refuse to pay taxes. THAT’S THE POINT OF DEMOCRACY. Please vote, everybody.)

There are a couple different kinds of taxes, such as sales tax and income tax. Sales taxes are taken when you buy something. Income tax is taken out of your income. Pretty straightforward. You can think of taxes as another potential spending category (related to contribution to society maybe?), since it is a place where your money is being spent.

Income tax can be taken out of your paycheck before you get the money. That’s what’s happening to you guys right now. All of you are earning $7.25/hour gross pay. Deducted from that are state and federal taxes of  approximately 13%, so you have a net pay of $6.31/hour. 

The amount being taken away from you is an estimated amount by the government and is called withheld, or withholding. This may or may not happen to your parents as well. But, since it’s an estimate, you need to tell the government exactly how much they should be taking. And that’s what tax returns are for.

In your tax return, you report exactly how much you earned and, in turn, how much you should be paying in taxes. How do you calculate how much you should owe?

The US federal government has a progressive tax system, meaning that people earning more money pay a higher percentage of their income. This is set up through tax brackets, or different groups split by income level being assigned a separate tax rate. See the US brackets here

(Note how confusing it looks. Important point!! When you move up a bracket, it is not ALL of your income that is taxed at a higher rate. All the money that falls in the first bracket is taxed only at that rate. So if bracket 1 is 0-$10,000 at 10% and bracket 2 is $10,000-$35,000 at 15% and you’re earning $11,000, then that first $10,000 is taxed at 10% and only the additional $1,000 gets taxed at 15%. FYI. Now I’m getting into too much detail, so I’ll move on.)

It is also set up so that people earning below a certain amount , or who have particular costs (such as childcare and dependents) do not need to pay taxes. This is set up through deductions. To figure out which tax bracket you belong to, you take your net income and minus any deductions that apply to you. For instance, there is a standard deduction that applies to everybody of $6,300 (if you are single and without children). If your net income is $6,300, then $6,300-$6,300=$0 --> You pay taxes on $0, meaning no taxes. Check out standard deductions here.

But remember how taxes are withheld from your income before you get it? If you earned something like $6,300/year and the government took some of it, but you should actually have paid none of it, then the government owes you money. 

(The flip side is also true: if you paid less taxes than you really owe, then you owe the government money...)

So now, tax season! The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or the federal body that does all the tax stuff, has decided that tax returns are due every year on April 15. Tax returns are like homework for adults, and the IRS is that teacher who gives you a hard time. In your tax return, you can show how the government calculated your taxes correctly or incorrectly. After everything is turned in, the government may owe you money, in which case you get sent a refund check...or you may owe the government money, in which case you send them a check...or everybody’s math may have been fine, and nothing else happens (except you don’t go to jail or pay a fine for not doing your taxes).

(Another important deduction is education expenses. If you’re paying for college, for example, that money you’re paying for college is deducted from your income to decide how much you owe. This is another common way to get a refund.)

So that’s all for taxes for now. Shoot me any questions you have.

If you want to learn more, and in particular about all the anger around billionaires being taxed very little, check out this video.

Credit Unions

Phew, this is going to be a long post.

So, what are credit unions, and how are they different from the other great big banks we know and love (or hate)?

Remember how I said that the bank has an interest in their money, which is why they charge you lots of money to lend it? That is because most banks are for-profit institutions. That’s exactly what it sounds like: their ultimate goal is to make more money.

A credit union, on the other hand, is a non-profit institution. (BPSOS, by the way, is also non-profit.) Again, straightforward: this institution is not driven by profit. Instead, a non-profit institution just wants to exist, serve its mission, and hopefully not lose money. (If they lose too much money, they won’t exist anymore.)

Where in a regular bank, you are a customer and, by opening an account, you are lending the bank your money to do whatever they want...in a credit union, you are a member and, by opening an account, you are essentially buying into the institution. You are a shareholder, a co-owner.

What does that mean for you?

1. Generally, lower fees, more flexibility, possibly higher interest rates on savings, probably more personalized service and flexibility if you have problems, and more decision power by YOU. Since you co-own the credit union, you in theory are also somebody who makes the decisions. (You, and all the other people in the bank. It can be like a huge group project.) Also, since the credit union is not looking to turn a profit, what would count as profit at a bigger bank will just turn into returns for you, the member.

2. Smaller institutions with less products and less services. It costs money to run a bank, to have people working in it, to come up with many options for loans and checking accounts and online infrastructure and ATMs. A credit union is smaller and may not have the funds to do all that. So you may have lower fees, but you may also have lower options. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if looking at Bank of America’s 30+ banking options is overwhelming to you.

3. A wide variety in quality. A credit union is member-owned and -run, so how good it is can depend on who’s in it and how much they know about what they’re doing. Just like with a regular bank, you should do your research.

4. Restricted access. Again, a credit union is like a member’s club...and so they can also choose who gets to join or not. There are specific credit unions for teachers only, or firefighters only, or people who live in this neighborhood only.

Knowing how a financial institution works (that it’s a home for money that can then be moved around by the bank, for example, and that the bank itself has different values that guide their decisions) can help you decide what is the best option for you. The big difference between credit unions and other banks is this for-profit/non-profit nature, which then plays out into how the institutions are run. As mentioned (over...and over...and over...!!!) in the workshop, the most important thing is to do your research and make fully informed decisions!! 

Read about credit unions here, the information is similar to what I had here and pretty accurate.

And as always, shoot me any questions you may have. Our goal is to inundate your brains in the 6 weeks we have with you, and I’m not sure you’re drowning in the information yet ;)

See you all tomorrow,

Write about how you can apply the concepts of financial literacy and decision making to a choice you are currently facing (for example, college, career, what to do over the weekend…). And any questions you have for Jess A. that may not have been covered at PD.

Since I am entering college in the fall, financial literacy will be very important to me. I will need to know how to open and manage a bank account, open a loan, have good credit to apply for future loans, and pay back all that student debt. College introduces someone to financial literacy since in high school I did not have to worry about anything since my parents paid for my supplies and education. In college I will probably also have to get a job to pay back the debt instead of acquiring a job and using the money on food or clothes for myself (although I will need to buy clothes for college if I outgrow my old clothes).

Throughout this program I have been trying to manage my money in the best way possible. At the start of this program I decided to buy my breakfast and lunch every day on Temple campus. After realizing I will be needing this money for college books, I decided to instead bring breakfast and lunch from home so I would not have to slowly drain my college funds.

“Write about how you can apply the concepts of financial literacy and decision making to a choice you are currently facing (for example, college, career, what to do over the weekend…). And any questions you have for Jess A. that may not have been covered at PD.“

Financial literary is very important. In a world that currency and value has been standardized, we all need to understand the same language and be on the same page. To a certain, it is a way of communicating. And, like all ways of communicating, certain things work and certain things don’t. Understanding the basics can can make the communication for natural.

When it comes to loans and bank things, we are all asking for something. And, the idea that there isn’t a such thing as a free lunch comes up. As you already know what you want from them, they are looking to see what you can provide them. Because you know this already, you can make yourself look like you are able to compensate. Simple guidelines can help you in getting what you want. Like, having a good history with paying people back. This is what your credit score is. Having good credit score for smaller purchases can show how prepared you are to pay back for a bigger purchases.

Another thing to keep in mind in banking. Understand that a bank is a business. They make a living off of investing with the promise of interest but also holding money. They save your money at a small interest rate in your favor and then lend your money out with much higher interest rate in their favor to get money. So it’s not weird to get a really small interest rate. Even with inflation, the bank helps to stop that. It only cancels out a little. That is why investing in stocks is such a appealing option. But, there finicky. So it all comes down to to finding the right balance and not having all your eggs in the same basket.

“Financial literacy is the ability to understand how money works in the world: how someone manages to earn or make it, how that person manages it, how he/she invests it (turn it into more) and how that person donates it to help others.”

Honestly, as a sixteen-year-old student, I don’t really care about money. All I know is that my parents give me money when I need it. It sounds very boastful, and I’m not proud of that. I realized that I am now getting older and I should know how to manage my money. As I learned about financial literacy, I started to understand the importance to manage my money on the right way. I realized that I have to start thinking about what I want to do with my money. I can’t always rely on my parents. Once I have a real job, I have to manage my money.

The first thing that popped out of my head was that I (unconsciously), have been using the concepts of financial literacy. My parents give me a financial budget every week. Having a budget requires me to set my priorities. Even though I can’t really feel that I am managing money, but I think that is a small step to ecstatically manage and make decisions about my money.

I am a spender, the undisciplined one. I think saving is financial literacy concept that evades the undisciplined spender. I admit that I had to force myself at the beginning. Saving is not really my thing. I tried to save my money several times, and I found out, as I am getting older, it becomes easier to save my money. All I need is self-control. Well, and a bank account. When I did my research, I read that saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind. It is true, and I can prove it myself. I can see myself spending money wiser than before. Since I am an underage student, the best thing about saving my money is that if my parents don’t want to buy something for me, I can purchase it myself.

“Reflect upon what you’ve learned at Professional development series so far. Discuss how the skills that you’ve learned at Professional Development connect to each other and how they will help in preparing you for college/job. Why are strong, distinct resume and cover letter important in school/job search? Why is it important to create an honest, distinct and personal brand in your college/job application? What steps are you taking to improve your personal brand and social media presence?”

Through these Professional Development series, I have been taught the positive steps to take in my professional life. While most of these steps were about first impressions in writing and in person, our actual work experience gives light to the steps we can take in the job. As an internship not paid by the work site, we can learn what works and what doesn’t. The professional development series help the students with the questions they had about their seventeen hours a week on the work site. Simultaneously, it gave the students tips about a generalized work environment.

For me, it was nothing extremely novel. From last years less formal professional development, we also touched on strengths and cover letters. Even though we did not focus on body language and first impressions as heavily, we also did the 30 seconds on the elevator activity. Overall, the messages are the same: it’s all about finding the right balance of confidence and cooperativeness. This might be a little too big of a generalization, but I see it hold true for more and more aspects that naturally come with working. I think that this is most embodied by that phrase that almost seem like an hackneyed platitude to us by now: every job is a learning opportunity that we capitalize on.

But, the emphasis is not a bad thing. Whether it’s because this year’s professional developments has gotten to me or because I’m a different person from last year, I have come to understand this more and more. Jobs are different from school. The assessments in school evaluate, not always accurate though, how much you take away from a class. This is simple and efficient and does not require any social evaluation. In jobs, what you take away from previous experiences is measured through the first impressions. That isn’t to say that you should tell bald faced lies no matter how much psychology tells you that lies are socially beneficial. It means that you should always be looking for opportunities. Or, as some people would say, see it as an opportunity. In the Chinese language, the words for crisis and opportunity are the same. I think this really speaks to the importance of context. When you are giving a first impression, you need to realize when you are hurting yourself or aiding yourself.