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Episode 58: How Junior Achievement is Helping Young People find their Uncommon Path with Collin Lane
166 Plays5 years ago
Why don’t more kids learn about financial literacy and entrepreneurship in school? Why are these not part of the core curriculum from kindergarten through 12th grade? Some states (like Iowa!) and local school districts do have these requirements, but way too many do not. The result is adults who don’t know how to save and don’t understand basic financial principles. Stop the madness!
In our most recent episode, we are blowing the lid off this challenge, and bringing on the solutions! We discovered Junior Achievement last year and are in awe of how it answers so many of our concerns about financial literacy in the classroom. Our guest, Collin Lane tells us all about how JA brings experiential learning about financial principles—from finance, jobs, business, and entrepreneurship —to classrooms across the country, and how they’ve been doing it for over 100 years.
Collin is in his second year as the director of programs for Junior Achievement of Central Iowa. Before his time with JA, he spent nearly 14 years in public education for Des Moines public schools. He taught fifth grade for seven years and was an elementary tech teacher. He served as Instructional Technology Coordinator as a member of the district-wide curriculum team. Collin has his BA in Elementary Education from Moorpark College and his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Northern Iowa.
what you will learn in this episode:- Why we need to prepare our kids with financial literacy
- How Junior Achievement has been helping young entrepreneurs for 100+ years
- The kinds of financial literacy and entrepreneurship programs JA provides
- How kids can gain an immersive experience in business that they will remember the rest of their lives
- Teaching kids beyond basics to get at deeper principles of financial well-being
- Why school districts should include financial literacy as part of the core curriculum from K-12
- How to take financial literacy to the next level with college-age young people
- Why mentorship is the cheat code of life
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Uncommon Life Project
00:00:02
Speaker
Everyone dreams about living an uncommon life, but how we define that dream is very different for each of us. And for most, it's a lifelong pursuit. Welcome to the Uncommon Life Project podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living that life or enjoying the journey to get there. We're going to also give you some tools, tricks, and tips for starting or accelerating your own efforts to live an uncommon life.
00:00:27
Speaker
A life worth celebrating and savoring. Please welcome your hosts, Brian Dewhurst and Philip Ramsey.
Redefining Wealth: Beyond Money
00:00:34
Speaker
Hello and welcome everybody to another episode of the Uncommon Life Project. I'm your host, Philip Ramsey. And I am Brian Dewhurst. It is a good day today. I can't wait to get into this. Man, if anybody ever figured out the Uncommon Path as well as us, it's the guest on the show, Junior Achievement.
00:00:53
Speaker
But if this is the first time listening for you or if you're a regular listener, thank you for being an uncommoner, as we call them. We're really excited that you're joining us if it's your first time. But Brian and I have a little bit different approach on finances and wealth. One, wealth is way more than just the dollars in your pocket. So that's kind of fun.
00:01:12
Speaker
The other thing is wealth is a mindset shift for us, and especially this uncommon mind shift that we get to have every day get to work with our clients and help them change their mindset into what is it that God truly blessed you
Who is Junior Achievement?
00:01:26
Speaker
with? How is He gifted you? How is it that you want to live your life every day? A lot of people would say, I only think about that in retirement when I'm 70 or 65 or 59 and a half.
00:01:37
Speaker
where Brian and I challenge the client and the people we talk to of like, no, let's start doing that passion of what you're excited about right now. And how can you use your dollar bills to unlock that passion? So Junior Achievement is also doing this in a big scale and is working with younger adults, which gets both Brian and I super excited. So welcome to the show, Collin Lane.
00:02:01
Speaker
Hey guys, how you doing? Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So let's quick run over the bio because that's Brian's job. And then we'll go into all the questions that I have because there's a lot.
00:02:11
Speaker
All right, Colin is in his second year as the Director of Programs for Junior Achievement of Central Iowa. Prior to his time with J.A., he spent nearly 14 years in public education for Des Moines Public Schools. He has taught fifth grade for seven years, was an elementary tech teacher, and eventually became an instructional technology coordinator as a member of the district-wide curriculum team.
00:02:33
Speaker
Colin has his BA in elementary education from Warburg College and his master's degree in educational leadership from University of Northern Iowa. Fellow panther. Oh, man. That's me. That's me, buddy. Colin lives in Grimes with his wife, Janae, daughters, Addie, Cora, and their dog, Wendell. He is also the head of boys soccer coach at DCG High School. Welcome, Colin Lane. Let's go.
00:03:01
Speaker
All right, here's where we're gonna jump in here.
The Impact of Junior Achievement Programs
00:03:03
Speaker
Did you ever, in your, I'd say, education, know that there was something like junior achievement out there? Not in my, no, not prior to becoming a teacher, I guess. Growing up, I didn't have programs like this. And as I talk to people across our network, at least, they say the same kind of thing. Like, hey, we never had this growing up. We love this, that kind of stuff.
00:03:26
Speaker
No, I never had it, you know, growing up high school, middle school, anything like that. And if anything, you know, as I look back on that, it's like, man, this is the stuff I really needed to start exploring, you know, as I was making those big decisions in my life. And, you know, since I didn't do it then, now's a good time for me to start, you know, helping others figure that part out of theirs.
00:03:43
Speaker
Absolutely. I love that. I want to start with what is junior achievement because I just found out about this organization last year and my mind was blown. So tell our listeners about junior achievement, when it started, what your mission and vision is, and kind of the overall rundown.
00:04:02
Speaker
Absolutely, yeah. So junior achievement is actually the country's oldest education-related nonprofit. In 2019, junior achievement celebrated its 100th year as a nonprofit, all supporting schools along the way. So there's definitely a deep history with J.A. across the country. There are about, you know, there's over 100 junior achievements, you know, spread out throughout the United States. And so it's a beautiful network of people trying to accomplish the same types of things.
00:04:31
Speaker
And what Jay focuses on is entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial literacy. And so we like to tell schools that we're here to help you with your kids figuring out about jobs, money, and businesses, things that they're all going to have to be exposed to, they're all going to learn, they're all going to have to interact with regardless of what they choose for their future.
00:04:52
Speaker
Um, the, the unique part about junior achievement, um, is that, you know, our programs don't usually go directly to the classroom teachers because, you know, our mission is seriously rooted in a connection to the community. You know, if you think about, you know, your, your middle school, your, your elementary time, you probably knew your parents and you probably knew your teacher and you knew what they did and you kind of knew what a teacher did. But outside of that, you know, you may have known a few other people.
00:05:19
Speaker
So, you know, that connection to the community and the career paths and the organizations that all work together is something we want to start spreading the horizons of our students with. So, you know, that's what junior achievement as a whole is all about. We focus in the K-12 space, and so our programs are really aligned to those, you know,
00:05:38
Speaker
know those grades and we have you know over 30 programs that we offer in a variety of different ways to all those grade levels so yeah we're really excited about what we do and we're really excited for the next hundred years.
00:05:50
Speaker
For sure. That's a really huge accomplishment. So kudos to Junior Achievement for the old century. So it talks about just some of the programs that you provide for the K through 12. Maybe the ones that you get excited about or the ones that you see the biggest traction for children and like this aha moments. What are
J.A. BizTown: Learning Through Simulation
00:06:10
Speaker
those?
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah, so I think, you know, the whole reason I decided to switch out of public education and come to junior achievement was because as a classroom teacher, I had experience all seven years as a fifth grade teacher to a program called J. A. Biztown. And that's really it's the shining star of our office here in central Iowa is that program J. A. Biztown.
00:06:31
Speaker
And as a high level, that program is all about getting kids at a elementary or fifth or sixth grade level to explore what business is specifically. They learn about business. At school, they apply for jobs. They interview for jobs. Essentially, they earn a job. And then they get with their business group and their CEOs, their CFOs, their construction workers, disc jockeys, salesmen. I mean, it's an awesome entity here in Central Iowa.
00:07:00
Speaker
As soon as they're done preparing for all that they come to our facility for a four-hour simulation Where they run the city for a day they actually execute the jobs that they've practiced and they've earned in their time in the classroom So I taught that program. It's still around we love it And you know if I think back to my favorite part of teaching those those lessons It was a lesson on opportunity costs. So imagine fifth graders thinking about opportunity costs and that every decision they make whether it's a financial decision or not a financial decision
00:07:30
Speaker
There are things that you sacrifice or give up to make that decision, which I think is a huge alignment to what uncommon wealth does, is make you think about those things and what's worth giving up and what's not worth giving up.
00:07:47
Speaker
Yeah, Jay Biztown is the number one for me in my experience. But, you know, let's talk about Jay Biztown because this is a funny thing, I think, to give you edification. So my daughter is going to Jay Biztown, I think next week. She is so excited about it. And yesterday I was like, well, what are you going to decide? Like, this is a pretty big decision. Let's talk through this.
00:08:08
Speaker
And so we talked about it a little bit and she was like, I want to be a teacher and then realize that wasn't a teacher in the J.A. Biztown. And so then she came back to me this morning. She's like, I think I've changed my mind. And I was like, let's talk through it. So it gave us a great opportunity to just really talk through what you're talking about, the decisions.
00:08:28
Speaker
financially and un-financially decisions that actually do impact what you're doing. I love there's an opportunity for my daughter to be able to spread her little entrepreneurial wings in an environment where she isn't just going to get crushed. So great job. I'm glad you brought up J.A. Biztown because it's really a cool opportunity for people. I want to say one thing too real quick because this is an immersive experience at your physical location. You have
00:08:55
Speaker
Like I kind of think of almost like a children's museum effect, but they're stepping into like a makeshift town at your office. There's actual, excuse me, I'm bad on a cold today. There's actual like storefronts within your office and they get to actually immerse themselves into this experience.
00:09:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and I think that's the key. Brian, I was going to cover that exact same thing because that is, I think, the distinguishing factor of junior achievement is the experience part, the simulation, right? Like in a classroom, you're used to being talked at. You're used to getting information constantly throughout the day and never having a time to really process, experience, and do whatever it is you're trying to learn. And that's what JA tries to provide through either our capstone programs like JABizTown
00:09:43
Speaker
or our classroom programs where we have our volunteers go into a classroom and teach five lessons about these types of topics. So that's what we try to do. We want the kids to experience it over just hearing about it, because there's a huge difference in that. And I think JBizTown is one of the ways that we exemplify that.
00:10:01
Speaker
So let's talk about the in the classroom experience, because you do have a curriculum based type program for K through 12. And walk us walk our listeners through that.
Nationwide Educational Programs by Junior Achievement
00:10:14
Speaker
And then also maybe like how they could bring this into their children's school, because that's kind of something I'm working on right now.
00:10:22
Speaker
Yeah, so our classroom programs are really the foundation of junior achievement. So if you think of the 100 years in existence, we didn't always have programs like JA Biztown. We did have some really solid entrepreneurial type programs in the early days, which is when it was all founded. But the core of JA for the past 100 years has been our ability to support classroom teachers with community volunteers in programs that we have K-12.
00:10:48
Speaker
In K-5, we really focus on, you know, just have them thinking about themselves, their own wants and needs, and then start to think about the communities around them, the businesses around them, how money moves within a community or a city, you know, and start to explore, you know, that very relatable area of their life. And then as they get into middle school and high school programs, they start to distinguish a little bit further. And now you're talking specifically about, you know, maybe it's JAB entrepreneurial, where by the end of it, they have a business plan that they're done with.
00:11:17
Speaker
maybe it's something like a personal finance in the high school where they maybe are exposed to a financial professional talking about good money management tips over the course of six sessions you know we try to kind of cover the gamut and we try to find the best possible volunteer to head into the classroom
00:11:34
Speaker
that has that real world experience, that life story, those experiences that maybe came from work or anything like that and deliver that to the kids and share that to the kids. Cause there's nothing better than a story, right? Yeah. I want to be super specific because I think it's super important. I'm just totally blown away by what you guys provide. So like in the K through five example,
00:12:00
Speaker
there's a fee to get this into your child's classroom, right? So I think that, can you speak to that fee real quick?
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So the biggest thing for our area is last year we were the number two growing area and students served. And so we want to be smart about that growth and make sure that we can sustain it. And so, you know, Brian, you mentioned that in areas where we don't currently have JA funding, you know, there is a small fee to schools to help us just be able to provide that programming and continue to provide it across our entire territory. So
00:12:30
Speaker
In areas that are further outside of the Des Moines area where our funding doesn't exist, there's a small fee. If it comes from a school, we try to keep it at about $100 per class. That helps us provide the kit of materials, recruit, train the volunteers, support them in the process, and just make sure that the overall experience is good. In our K-5 space, there's six programs to choose from.
00:12:56
Speaker
And we deliver them across the entire school if necessary. If the whole school wants it, we can absolutely provide that. If it's just a couple of teachers, we can provide that. But we get involved with schools in a variety of ways. Sometimes it's a teacher that reaches out and says, hey, I'd love to have Jay in my classroom. Other times it's a principal that says, bring it into our school. And sometimes it's businesses or parents that say, this is important for my child. What can I do to get it into the classroom?
00:13:21
Speaker
Yeah, and I think when you say kit, it's really cool. You guys actually have like a bundle that comes in a, you know, it's like a lunchbox, but not a lunchbox. It's for education. But it is a kit of materials that takes the volunteer or the teacher, whoever's, you know, instructing the curriculum, you know, through the different materials and each of the kids in the class gets this kit. And it's actually really neat. So
00:13:47
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The materials are what make it, especially in the elementary, you know, because the kids want to do something. They want to interact with something. So absolutely. You know, our volunteers don't go in empty handed. They have an entire, you know, like I said a second ago, a kit full of games and activities and group work. And there's always some kind of takeaway for the kids, whether it's a wristband or a car, like a tiny little toy car, not a real one. I want that kit. You know, my hand.
00:14:11
Speaker
but we make it something that is fun for them and easy for the volunteer to use and then working with the kids through an active group work. And so we make it real quick and easy for them. Sure. So let's talk about the graduate numbers. Let's talk about the success that junior achievement has seen and that like maybe some of the biggest success stories and then what you're trying to accomplish in that classroom. And then I've got other questions, but let's just start there.
00:14:39
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. So I think one thing about our specific location here in Central Iowa is that, you know, when J. A. Biztown came in 2000, 2001, we had a huge focus on making sure that the students got to experience that, which ended at, you know, fifth or sixth grade. And so the focus was so much on elementaries that we almost forgot about our middle school and high school programs. And that's something that I'm really going to be intentional about at my time here at Junior Achievement is
00:15:05
Speaker
making sure that we have awareness around our middle school and high school programs. But the successes we see are really through some growth that we can actually record through some of the programs we've got. We do pre-testing and post-testing for some of our programs. And it's not specifically, what's the difference between a bank and a credit union? It's not questions like that. It's more like,
00:15:28
Speaker
I'm confident that I can recover if I struggle with a financial choice. It's deeper than just a yes or no or a multiple choice question. It's trying to measure an impact or an empowerment piece. And so we're starting to collect that data and the programs are having promise right now. Every single program we deliver for the most part is giving positive results
00:15:49
Speaker
with empowerment of students. The other thing that I would say that is sometimes really hard to quantify, but is equally as important are, again, the stories. We have teachers, we have students, we have people that came to J.A. Biztown 15 years ago that remember it, that can tell you all about it, and that you can tell it made an impact in their lives. And for me, the numbers are great, but the stories mean everything.
00:16:12
Speaker
Absolutely. It was interesting. I was talking to my dad. I got introduced to you guys last year. We were going to use your venue for an event. And I just was talking to my dad about junior achievement. I'm like, I had no idea this even existed. And he's like, Oh, I did junior achievement when I was in high school and did a business plan and presented it to the president of mutual of Omaha. I mean, just launched right into this story that happened 50 years ago.
00:16:35
Speaker
And it's just such a testament to the programs and the importance of this. I'm going to soapbox for just a second. I think it's insane to me of like how financially unprepared most of America
Financial Literacy in Iowa Schools
00:16:49
Speaker
is. I think the latest statistic was like 60% of retirees have less than $40,000.
00:16:55
Speaker
in like 90% of the countries living paycheck to paycheck, how we are not instituting and making it mandatory for financial literacy education in our schools from K through 12. Great. And so you guys have those tools and the kits and the curriculums, you organize the volunteers. I mean, you literally make this about as easy as it possibly could be.
00:17:19
Speaker
walk us through because the state of Iowa has made a historic, I think, law that now high schools have to provide financial literacy education.
00:17:28
Speaker
Yeah. And that's something that we've been definitely a part of since its inception, uh, in terms of, you know, making sure that everybody knows that we could be a partner in that area. But yeah, the state of Iowa, um, has made it a requirement for every student, every high school student that graduates from the state of Iowa institution, you have to have a semester long financial literacy course. And so currently there's still, you know, the back and forth of figuring out what that exactly looks like. Um,
00:17:54
Speaker
But we're starting to see it take shape as we speak, you know, schools are starting to make adjustments in their staffing. They're starting to make adjustments in their course requirements as well as you know what courses they offer. And we're trying to make sure that everybody realizes that, you know, Junior Achievement not only has great supplemental type programs through some of these, you know, six session visits of volunteers.
00:18:16
Speaker
But now we also actually have a whole semester long course called J.A. Financial Literacy that specifically meets this demand and meets this need. You know, all of our programs, K-12, are standards aligned, and this one is just that much further along that helps meet that requirement for those schools. And it doesn't sacrifice, which is what I love, it does not sacrifice the volunteer component. Even though it's a semester long course, there is still touch points by, you know, organizations or community members to help solidify some of this learning they're doing in the class.
00:18:46
Speaker
I just think that's huge and I just implore those listening or if you're active in PTO or a parent or you're an educator or a principal or administrator. I just don't know how we're not bringing this into our schools K through 12. So yeah, I just get involved. I think this is incredible information.
00:19:06
Speaker
Walk us through, you have a couple other different programs. One is coming up. This is going to, we're shooting this before it's going to air, but this event is the stock market challenge, I believe. Yeah.
Stock Market Simulation Event for Students
00:19:21
Speaker
Yeah. So we, our stock market challenge here in central Iowa is end of February this year. And right now we have 12 different high schools that are going to be competing. Um,
00:19:31
Speaker
What the stock market challenge is, it's a 60-day trading cycle and each day lasts a minute. It's really more of a team building piece because the students have to work together very quickly. They have to make quick decisions based on information they're given, hot tips and their own portfolios and company news that comes out. They have to just constantly be watching the market and figuring out what they should do with
00:19:56
Speaker
with their own holdings to make the best decisions possible for their team. It's a ton of fun. One of the things that we've added this year to the stock market challenge is, you know, hey, we realize that the stock market challenge is kind of an unrealistic thing that we want students to make. We want them to understand that this isn't exactly how it works. It's a game. It's fun. It has some real world components. But
00:20:18
Speaker
For an hour before the stock market challenge starts this year, we're going to have an investment hour. And during this time, kids are going to hear from financial professionals about, hey, what are some good decisions I can make right out of high school that are smart, long-term investments, you know, those kinds of things.
00:20:35
Speaker
What is diversification and how does that help me? And what could that mean for me as I start to explore these investment ideas? And then ultimately hearing from a panel, right? Just get five financial professionals in front of them and have the kids ask some questions. It's always a great event. So yeah, we're pretty pumped. Very cool. I think that's really cool. Let's talk about college because I feel like these people are students from K through 12.
00:20:59
Speaker
I think if they especially had exposure to junior achievement, they're excited about maybe some of these entrepreneurial ideas. And then their parents are telling them to go to college, which I'm not saying is wrong or right, but that they go to college. And then it's almost like this little incubator of don't worry about your finances, just focus on your education.
Financial Decisions: College and Beyond
00:21:20
Speaker
And I feel like the complete
00:21:22
Speaker
financial spoke of what you just taught could be lost pretty quick in four years. And now you're behind the eight ball with a whole bunch of debt and you got to go work at Wells Fargo at a cubicle job because you just got to pay the bills. So how do you get to the college? Um, what kind of, I'd say maybe curriculum do you have for college students?
00:21:41
Speaker
Oh man, that's that's a great topic and we talk about that a lot here because we see the same thing right that it almost seems like the next step that's required from some families. So the best thing I can relate to that is so we also have a brand new program that we started this year.
00:21:59
Speaker
Uh, other J has been doing it for a while, but it's called J finance park. Um, it's more like J biz town where they run a business for a day, but instead of running a business for a day, they run their financial life or a fake financial life, a simulated one, of course. Um, but the reason I bring up that program, not only is it new to us, but there's a, there's a lesson within that curriculum that the teachers work through their students with and it's titled college or not.
00:22:24
Speaker
And that's one of the first things that they do, is they explore, is college a good fit for me? And it's a personal thing. It's not a parent's opinion at this point. It's something that you're looking at, is college something that I wanna do? And for many kids, the answer is gonna be yes. For some kids, the answer is gonna be no. But the reality is, whatever you choose, you're gonna have to manage money. And then we take them through several other lessons after that one that help them go through those steps. And so,
00:22:52
Speaker
We agree, it's not the next step that is a good fit for everyone. But at J.A., we want to make sure that there's a nice balance of offerings, so kids don't seem like there's a pipeline they have to follow. And I like that, that you wouldn't have the influence of the parents in that decision.
00:23:08
Speaker
make it or not, but know that there's consequences, right? Financial consequences for that. I want Brian to talk about this because we do some coursework, classwork up in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. And we had one of the most fun times we had when we walk an individual, it was a girl, through her next maybe five, six years. And she wanted, do you remember what college she wanted to go to, Brian? Stanford, I'll never forget.
00:23:35
Speaker
So talk to us about that because it was so fun just to be able to get on her level for a second and then just kind of Work through those decisions and how they're going to impact her future. Go ahead
00:23:47
Speaker
Yeah, so it was really insightful just to be inside the high school and ask them questions. And we've done this in Sergeant Bluff, we've done this in Waukee. And it almost seems like the kids, I don't know how to put it, I'm kind of missing the word, but like, they're almost competing at how much money it's going to cost to go to college, if that makes sense. Like, oh, mine's going to be more expensive than yours.
00:24:13
Speaker
This girl wasn't like that, so I'm not saying it in that way, but basically wanted to go to Stanford and live in California to become like a dental hygienist. And so we just walked through, we pulled up online, like, what does Stanford cost a semester? You're obviously out of state. Walked her through, you know, are you going to get any scholarships or grants? And by the end of it, it basically was like, you're going to be a quarter million dollars in debt to make 60 grand a year. Living in California, by the way. Right.
00:24:41
Speaker
paying like whatever, almost, you know, their state income tax, federal income tax, paying over 30, 40% in taxes potentially. And then we started talking about like our monthly budget. Where are you going to live? It's kind of expensive. And then at the end of it, I'm just going to boil it right down. She had $15 to eat for the month. Not going to make it. And what we said, and we're like, we're not saying that living in California isn't a good idea.
00:25:07
Speaker
But do it in a smarter way that once you get out of that four years of college, you're not coming straight back and living in your parents' basement. So is there like a community college around here that you can get all your school and then go out there and actually live comfortably with not a noose around your neck of student loans?
00:25:27
Speaker
Yeah, totally I mean we we we see that same kind of thing. So we partner with we partner with several organizations, tons of organizations here in the metro area but you know one of them is is a student lending service. And when we talk to their you know their leadership. One of the things that come to us to talk about is
00:25:44
Speaker
Hey, you know, something that we're seeing is exactly as you said, guys, you said they're taking out entirely too much money in student loans than what they'll ever be able to repay based on their career choice, right? They're gonna make $60,000, they got a quarter million dollars in debt. And so they're talking about, hey, okay, how do we get to the preventative side? Because by the time they've taken out that loan, there's not a whole lot
00:26:05
Speaker
that the lending service can do, but they're really working hard to make sure that students are educated on how much is this career gonna pay you in the first five years, and is it realistic to take out that much money in order to do it? And if no, what are your options? Like you said, you don't need to go to California to be a dental hygienist. It's a cool life experience, but you could probably get some cool life experiences elsewhere that's a lot cheaper. So we see that all throughout, and our curriculum is designed to help that part, but yeah, we agree with you 100%.
00:26:34
Speaker
I like to with J.A. and what you're doing because it's not like it's just a mill of like everyone has to go to college. Like you're trying to teach real life wisdom and principles to help people wherever they end up. And I think that's huge because I just get this, there's such a pressure for kids to go to college right now. And I think it's predatory lending the way these institutions are approaching these kids and families.
00:27:00
Speaker
I think you're starting to see the costs pull back. I just got some information that Iowa State is trying to shrink their enrollment. They have a lot less international students. I think you're going to start seeing college prices plateau because the income isn't there to support these costs that these universities are charging.
00:27:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think the other thing I was going to add to that, which I completely you guys are right on track with a lot of this. Something that I do appreciate about J.A. is, you know, in this whole financial literacy world, right, we think about the numbers we think about doesn't make sense. The beauty of J.A. is its partnership with career readiness as well. Right. And then on the entrepreneurship side as well, because that gives kids an idea of what they could be doing immediately.
Career Readiness and Mentorship
00:27:45
Speaker
But those three together are a natural fit. You want kids to think about their careers and how it financially impacts them, and you want to think it the opposite. You want them to think about what they want financially and what careers can support that. So our programs that are well balanced in those three areas really help them explore the world outside what's expected of them, I guess, if that's something that is expected of them.
00:28:10
Speaker
Really cool. So let me talk about this. We believe here at Uncommon Wealth Partners and the Uncommon Life Project, we believe that mentorship is a cheat code of life. Yes. If you have a good mentor, they will exponentially shorten your time period of how stupid you are, for the most part. So how is mentorship and J.A., is there a big emphasis on mentorship? Is it not? And I will say this before you answer.
00:28:39
Speaker
that I feel like if you are going to go to college and you don't have a mentor in the future career that you want, I think you're doing yourself a disservice. So I'll give you that caveat. So let's talk about mentorship and J.A. Yeah. I love what you just said there because I think about what you just said and I apply it to my own life. Right. And I think about if I would have had a mentor before going to college, helping me decide and make some decisions that would have been extremely powerful for me. So I completely agree with what you said there.
00:29:08
Speaker
Sorry, say the question one more time. That was a really good point, by the way. How's mentorship in JA? How do you partner? And when you think about mentorship and you think about, let's say a kid wants to be a lawyer, great. So you're going to go to college and you're going to go in, you're going to sign into your general ed, then you're going to go to your other specialized classes. But the end of it, you're going to get a really bad professor and you're going to hate that class. And what I think a lot of people do is like, well, I guess being a lawyer is not for me. I'm out.
00:29:37
Speaker
let's change majors and then you're in for the five year path if not the six years super senior you get it but if you have a good mentor that's pouring into you and saying like hey drake is a really good for undergraduate and then drake is also good for your masters and your post college at je
00:29:57
Speaker
So, but there's someone pouring into you trying to walk you through and giving you kind of a path for you to go down. And if you've job shadowed that mentor, you can see like the end of the tunnel. I love, I cannot wait to get there. And then as that mentor is saying like, Hey, I think you should go to UNI for undergraduate and then get your graduate from Drake.
00:30:20
Speaker
but they are pouring into you and helping you guide and navigate different classes and helping you say, Hey, I know that class stakes. I had that same professor or maybe I didn't, but it's important. Hang in there. And you still have that person kind of helping you walk through your path. So does J a have anything like that mentorship pairing people up like that?
00:30:42
Speaker
Yes, so we do. And actually, this is a program of ours that, you know, I referenced the one that was that Jay was founded on, you know, originally, which is called Jay Company Program. You know, in central Iowa here, we haven't run one in a few years. And so it's a goal of ours here to bring that program back next year.
00:30:59
Speaker
But the ones I've talked about so far in terms of our programming really are that connector piece. You get to know somebody for a little while, but it isn't a true mentorship, especially as you described. However, J company program provides a team of students. So maybe there's four on the team, maybe there's eight on the team.
00:31:18
Speaker
It provides a team of students with a team of mentors. And the whole purpose of getting this team of students with a team of mentors together is for them to create their own business for real, real money, real bank accounts opened, real products or services that they're creating. And then ultimately these mentors are guiding this team of students through the entire thing, through the marketing, through the creation, through the execution, through the business plan, the financials, ultimately leading up to, did you get a profit or a loss? And then let's liquidate the company.
00:31:48
Speaker
that's what this program does called J company program and I would say in the in the realm of mentorship that is a high need for J a J of Central Iowa because other areas across the country run it that we want to bring back and we want to connect that at a deeper level because you know what we see across the country that run that program is Those students stay in touch with those mentors, you know
00:32:13
Speaker
You know, those students that ran that business for a semester are always in touch with that, you know, marketing, you know, marketing exec that helped them with the marketing part or, you know, the CEO that came down and helped them with the business plan.
00:32:25
Speaker
Think about those students who have a positive interaction or experience with that whole process. The amount of people are gonna be like, wait a second, I wanna do that in college. Help me define my process, help me make me smarter in this field so I can go out and do this in real life and I get to do that every day. That is powerful experience and one that we need to have way more people get because so many other people are gonna try to take them
00:32:55
Speaker
and make them employees for themselves so that they can make more money and that is important totally and those are those stories i mean you guys mentioned that you you may have talked to somebody that is you know over thirty years old and they had j when they're younger chances are it was that j company program and they're thirty years old and they remember the product or business they created with their team of mentors so
00:33:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's the one my dad was referencing. Yeah. He told me his story.
Entrepreneurship and Risk-Taking for Youth
00:33:19
Speaker
We're bringing it back, guys. We're bringing it back. Let's go. Well, I think it's so we talk about this in some of our content that it's such a default of like, we got to go to college and get a job. And then somehow that justifies the debt.
00:33:32
Speaker
But why isn't the default, especially in high school and college to like just start something and try it in terms of a business or a product or an entrepreneurship. And then the fallback could be getting a job like I tried to launch this product and it didn't go well. That's just not for me. But at least you have that experience.
00:33:53
Speaker
And so often we meet people that are like, they've been in the work world or corporate America for 10 years and they're like, oh my gosh, I can't do it anymore. I've always had this idea, but now they're making 80 to $100,000 and the thought of going out and quitting that and getting rid of their benefits and all this stuff.
00:34:13
Speaker
that we're taught makes you safe. It's like handcuffs and they can't, I don't want to cross over because I've tasted this cashflow too long. And so it's like, we agree that when kids are in high school and college, they have the most ability to take risk financially because they have the rest of their life ahead of them. But that doesn't mean just putting all your money in the stock market. Like what are you going to learn from that?
00:34:38
Speaker
But if you actually tried to launch something that you're super passionate about the wisdom and understanding that's going to come out of that is going to be monumental for the rest of your life. And I feel like we, as a society, and that's why I love, and that's why we wanted to have you guys on the show with junior achievement is that these programs are in place and have been in place for a hundred years. And we should be plugging into these to let kids have more of those experiences.
00:35:06
Speaker
It's great that kids can memorize stuff at school but at the end of it they're gonna be in the real world and they're gonna have to understand money and they're gonna have to understand business if they want money and so i just think it's super important that these programs get highlighted.
00:35:21
Speaker
and let people know that they're available right here in our own communities. And so I want to edify again. Junior Achievement is a hundred year old national program. You operate in every state. So wherever you're looking, I'm sorry, wherever you're listening to this in the United States, you could plug into Junior Achievement.
00:35:41
Speaker
So how do we do that? Well, how do we plug in more? How does the listeners hear more about what they can do to help? Cause I think there's a lot of our listeners like specifically that's like, yeah, we need to really pour into our next generation in this way. Talk to us, Colin.
00:35:56
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, depending on where you mentioned it a second ago, depending on where you live, there's a J office that can serve your area. And I mean, as at a national level, you know, our website, jusa.org, or Junior, just Google Junior Achievement, even, and you'll see not only our national site, but then all the subsidiaries.
00:36:13
Speaker
here in central Iowa, it's just a matter of reaching out, you know, reaching out, telling us what you're trying to do, what you'd like to get done, and how Jay might be able to help with that. And then it's a personal conversation. It's, okay, well, what can we do? What would work for you? And let's get on it. You know, we don't turn anyone away. You know, if it's something that we're able to provide a service for,
00:36:36
Speaker
and it's within that K-12 space, I'd say that's probably the one stipulation that we do have is we do try to focus our programs in K-12. If it's within those parameters, let's make it work. If it's an after-school program, let's do it. If it's during the classroom, let's do it. If it's something else, let's figure it out. It's just a matter of having them reach out, make contact, put us on the radar, and the awareness piece. Every time I go speak to a company or a group or an organization, I leave them with,
00:37:05
Speaker
J.A. is all about awareness. We are not going to be an in-your-face organization where we're trying to say, you need to have it, you need to have it, you need to have it. We want everybody to talk about us because when you talk about us and you come back to us, we know it's a real thing and we know it's something that we're going to have success with. Awesome.
Pursuing Uncommon Paths with Uncommon Wealth Partners
00:37:22
Speaker
Thank you so much for being on the show today, Colin, and sharing the mission and vision and the resources and tools that Junior Achievement has. Wealth of information.
00:37:32
Speaker
For sure and i think if for whatever reason i have your forever ability that you're willing to advance the cause it would help the uncommon life and really get people excited about this direction as all of our clients know
00:37:48
Speaker
This is a road or a path that not a lot of people go down because they're just scared. And so if you're at this point and you're just listening to us and you are a little bit older and you're stuck in a job, you have a family and you have no idea how to transition to this next uncommon path, that's where we come in. And we really love to help people in that way. And we have a lot of people that we can help in watching their enthusiasm.
00:38:13
Speaker
is contagious. So thank you for all you're doing, Colin. Thank you, Junior Achievement. Happy 101st birthday. And we are going to be close with you in the future and then currently just to help your your mission and plan because they are very unified with what you're doing and the uncommon path. So thanks again for being on the show. You've been listening to the Uncommon Life Project. I'm your host, Phillip Ramsey. And I'm Brian Dewhurst. Thanks for listening. Tune in next time. Bye.
00:38:41
Speaker
That's all for this episode of The Uncommon Life Project, brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit uncommonwealth.com to learn more about our services. Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.