By Carol Bronson
Mary McCune, a.k.a. Motorcycle Mary, points to a screen graphic during a personal finance lesson for students at the USD 382 Walden Center.Students learn financial realities
by Carol Bronson
January 15, 2009
For nearly two hours on Tuesday, students at USD 382’s Walden Center put away their laptop computers and put routine school projects on hold to learn some financial realities: that a $20 pizza, delivered, eats up half of the daily living expense for a person bringing home $7 an hour after taxes. That “poof money,” gone in a poof, with nothing to show for it, can add up to four working months in a year. That the stated interest rate for a credit card or payday loan can be just a small part of the actual charge.
“It doesn’t matter how much you make, if you can’t control it, you haven’t got squat,” was the overriding message of Mary McCune, a self-styled financial counselor and founder of Motorcycle Mary’s School of Finance, who kicked off a three- to four-week unit on personal finance taught by community experts.
Other lessons scheduled in the series include income taxes by accountant Bob Householter, insurance information from Sherry Hitt, and the basics of investment from Carolyn Kelley of The First National Bank in Pratt. Students will also learn to manage a checking account, reconcile statements and understand credit cards, according to Mike Shklar, director of the Walden Center, a charter school for students who choose to earn their high school diploma in a program incorporating work experience with online and project-based learning.
Most people aren’t stupid about money, they just haven’t been taught, McCune told the students. She knows this because she isn’t stupid, yet she bought a business that earned $12,000 a year and took it to $100,000 a year within two years and then lost it before learning some hard lessons about financial responsibility.
A form she calls Fritter Finder is one of the first steps — a daily record of out-of-pocket expenses like gas and groceries, meals out, hair care, hobbies and recreation. She recommends keeping the record for at least a month and two or three are better. On another form, amounts for non-monthly expenses, like insurance, taxes, holidays and vacations are listed and divided by 12 months or the amount to set aside from each paycheck. You’re going to pay those bills anyway, she said, and setting aside money for them is better than a periodic explosion.
“Most people cannot afford a credit card,” McCune advised, with the possible exception of one card with a $500 limit for emergencies.
She gave examples of how the interest rate on a $500 limit card can balloon to 52 percent with over-limit and late charges. Without naming names, she said she had worked with people in town who paid 700 percent interest on payday loans, which she described as the “new Mafia in town.” A $250 loan for a car the person needed to get to work became $1750 when she couldn’t make a scheduled payment because of illness.
Practical advice included: don’t shop as entertainment, shop with a list, plan meals based on grocery store specials and keep homemade meals in the freezer for when the “too tired to cook” evenings roll around, find out about monthly utility bills before renting a house and see if bills can be level-paid.
“Anything associated with the word ‘convenience’ costs you money,” she warned.
“There is no free dog” — the average cost over the lifetime of a
dog is $10,000 to $15,000.
“Everything goes on sale every six weeks or so.” Why pay full price
for life’s necessities?
“Most people wear 20 percent of their stuff 80 percent of the time.”
“A sale is not a sale if you can’t afford it.”
And most importantly — “establish a habit of saving.”
Setting aside just $8 a week as she worked to gain control over her financial life changed her life, she said.
“Savings are a must. You must pay yourself first,” McCune asserted.
“The kids are thinking about their future, not just getting by” Shklar said after the class.
The students, most of them 16 or 17 years old, related to McCune and her style of delivery, he said. She will return to the class on Thursday for a question-and-answer period.
