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“Financially empowering young people means not just making money, but teaching them to manage their money wisely and invest for their future, so that financial freedom is not just a distant dream, but a choice they can make today. It means to make someone understand something.”
During the Fall 2024 semester, Texas Athletics’ 4EVER TEXAS Student-Athlete Development team will collaborate with strategic financial education partner UFCU to provide Longhorns with financial empowerment work focused on budgeting/credit, investing/banking, and taxes. Shop provided.
Each workshop began with the question, “What is Financial Well Being?” It highlights concepts across four major categories: spending, saving, borrowing, and planning. Each presenter explained how their topic related to topics shared in previous workshops.
During each workshop, moderators and presenters placed special emphasis on incorporating real-life scenarios to adapt lessons to a variety of backgrounds, learning styles, and experience levels. Instead of a traditional lecture format, the UFCU team created a more game-like simulation. Every game included an opportunity for student-athletes to immediately recall their newly gained financial knowledge and use it to make decisions that affected the outcome of the game. There were also several pause moments for presenters to explain terminology, answer questions, and encourage student-athletes to try new strategies.
During the budgeting and credit workshop, the room was divided into two teams and a representative tracked each team’s credit score. Student-athletes then read, consider, and navigate the scenario. The answers provided by each team determined whether money was lost or gained after each round. At the end of the game, the winning team was considered a “credit hero” and was given a superhero mask as the highlight of the session.
The investment workshop included an interactive software program that allowed participants to each create an avatar facing practical financial decisions that affected measures of wealth and well-being. Decisions such as where to live, what career to pursue, and which investment options to choose were presented during the exercise. After the fifth decision round, the results were ranked, a winner was selected, and discussed to allow participants to process the impact of their decisions on the final outcome.
The finance committee included UFCU staff members who are former student-athletes and tax experts from the foundation community. Panel discussions discussed a variety of topics including personal finance, banking, investing, and taxes. Students asked insightful questions and further demonstrated interest and understanding of the material. It was a rewarding experience to watch the students learn and stay engaged throughout the process.
Overwhelmingly positive feedback from student-athletes, high levels of participation, and demand for additional sessions confirm the success of the Fall 2024 Financial Empowerment Workshop. We have provided over 400 student-athletes with the tools and knowledge to make more informed financial decisions. By extending the duration of our workshops, introducing interactive simulations and games, and providing personalized resources, we are creating a more engaging and effective learning environment that we hope to continue building on next semester. Masu. It is a rewarding experience for student-athletes to develop the financial decision-making skills they need to thrive now and in the future.
For more Longhorn student-athlete development stories, follow @be4EVERTEXAS.
Gallery: (2024-12-17) UFCU International Financial Education
