Family Resource Management provides you with the information you need to spend and save your money wisely. Visit the state website here.

Erath County Leadership Advisory Board has been actively supporting a program called Real World Simulation since 2012.  The goal of the Real World Simulation is to teach teen financial literacy skills such as keeping and balancing a check register, saving money, and planning for expenses that would be accurate to their geographic area.

LAB members suggested local community partners who would provide relevant information at such stations as Housing, Transportation, Food, Pets, Entertainment, Children, Charitable Giving, Credit Cards, Clothing, Insurance, and Utilities.  Two community resource people from each of those tables were there to answer student questions.  One station, the “Wheel of Fortune/Misfortune” was a simply a game of chance spinning either bonus money like a $50 birthday gift or unexpected expense like a traffic ticket of $100.

Students were given a packet that held such information as their age (all were 25 years old), marital status (all were single), and occupation, along with a paycheck stub showing how much money they made after they paid taxes, social security, student loan payment, etc.  A random 30% of the students were given the parenting packet, meaning they had a child to provide for.  Occupations ranged from retail sales person, to physical therapist, vet assistant, teacher, maid, firefighter, home health care aid, hair stylist, etc.

Finally, students who ran out of money before the end of the month visited a “financial advisor” who suggested what cuts they could make to help them attain their financial goals.

This simulation has been conducted in Stephenville and Dublin, with Lingleville, Huckabay and Hudson Academy participating as well.

Here are some comments made by this year’s students:

• I need to go through college and figure things out before having a child.
• Plan where your money goes before you spend it or you will go broke.
• I just didn’t really know all the complications in life.
• I have a better understanding of the bills I have to pay.
• It changed my view on a lot of things – having a kid is very expensive especially with a low income.  The struggle is hard.