Now this is something I like! One of the merit badges required to obtain the rank of eagle scout is Personal Management.

It takes three months to get this badge and it teaches the scout all about money issues such as loans, investing, budgeting, ROI, etc.

Can any scouts out there direct me to a copy of the merit badge book for this badge? I want to teach it my two daughters.

-Blast

That should be required in elementary school these days. I could have benefited from it, that's for sure.

Should be required for elementary school.
High school.
And a college coarse requirement.

If they make you learn a second language then this should DEF be required!!!

I was going to buy that merit badge book, but so far I haven't been able to save up the money to do it. There are just too many toys to buy, places to eat out, and bills to pay - you know, for those essentials like my rent, car washes, movies, cell phones, internet service, satellite TV, car lease, laundry service, rental furniture, ...




Just kidding. Actually I'm very proud of my son for completing that MB - it was his hardest one so far.

Anyone here ever see the Madame Blueberry video? Its part of the Veggietales series. This thread made me think of that video.

We have that one in DVD and VHS. Got it at Stuff-Mart. It's stored somewhere between the air compressor and the scuba gear.

Bob: "Larry, how much stuff do you need to be happy?"
Larry: "I don't know, how much stuff is there?"

They should teach this in schools...

Most definitely include an in-depth course in high school. Make it a whole year course instead of the half year we had in the 80's. The first four Six-Weeks would be spent on personal budgeting, credit cards, simple time value of money, etc. I'd include a realistic scenario as the last two Six-Weeks of the course. Make each day a month. One Six-Weeks the class has a set income, various expenses, and a home loan (half have fixed interest, half have variable). The next Six-Weeks, they start fresh and switch to the other interest type. Passing the course will include a report of how they did with each loan.

For the college level, it is depending on your major. Engineering Economy will give you the knowledge needed to evaluate loans, determine ROI, etc. It's presented as looking at different machinery lives, replacement costs, and such but it's all time value of money. So many years at an interest rate, annual cash flows, present value, future values, and salvage. The only thing that changes between loans & investments is which direction the money flows. IIRC what they don't go into is why you want a fixed interest rate rather than variable.

On a somewhat related note, here is a book I gave all my nieces and nephew when they were in School.

Money Matters for Kids

One thing I stressed to them as they were getting in their senior year was to avoid all the credit card offers they would start getting as they registered for college.

Blast,

Here is a link to the requirements from BSA:

http://www.usscouts.org/mb/mb011.asp