Educating seniors on real life budgeting: Big Bank Theory

MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — As we’ve seen record numbers for inflation and a housing crisis, budgeting can be an intimidating issue to tackle for everyone, including those who have not yet entered adult life, like high schoolers.

The Manatee County Chamber of Commerce has spent years educating high school seniors about the importance of budgeting through their program called “Big Bank Theory,” where each student gets to be in someone else’s shoes for the day.

“This is an opportunity to expose the students as they enter the workforce and their lives to what the realities are,” said Nick Choat, the chairman for the education and workforce committee for the Manatee Chamber of Commerce.

“But it’s better to prepare them now, get them some advanced thinking about it. I won’t say they are experts, but they can prepare themselves for what it’s going to be like.”

The program is helping students like Matthew Jaskiewicz, who dreams of playing baseball.

“I love the competition, hang out with teammates, the camaraderie,” he said.

He’s been playing the sport since third grade and has a clear goal — to play at the college level.

“My favorite part of baseball is just always improving and always learning new things,” he said.

And any well-rounded student-athlete will tell you, it’s not just about learning new things on the field but also off it.

“With college coming up, I want to learn how to budget better,” Jaskiewicz explained.

The Parrish Community senior recently learned some new life skills through “Big Bank Theory.” For one class period, students are randomly given new identities.

In Jaskiewicz’s new identity, as a medical technician he makes an annual income of about $40,000. He has to balance his budget, and at each table, there are real-life scenarios involving housing, food, transportation and utility bills.

“I think I’ll go for the apartment since that’s the cheapest,” he said.

“I’ve seen all over the news with my parents talking, friends talking about energy going up and gas, so if I was in this situation right now, I’d have to cut back on spending,” Jaskiewicz added.

He says it’s eye-opening to see how expensive everything is.

“As a kid working as a cashier, this is a lot. This is more than I make per week, like housing and water, so it shows me when I get older I’m going to have to get an education and make more money to afford stuff like this,” he said.

Calculating his monthly expenses, he realizes he’s not left with much at the end.

“I’m saving about $200 a month, so if I want to retire in the future, that’s not going to add up to a lot. I did open up a 401K, but I would like to live a little more comfortably,” he said.

He says this program will help him after high school because he will be paying for college.

“I think it puts this into perspective how much life really is,” he said.

Just like the game of baseball, he knows that the more you practice, the better you become.

“I think the activity we did earlier really helped out,” he said.

He’ll now use his newfound budgeting skills as a foundation to support himself because practice makes perfect.

The Manatee County Chamber of Commerce visits seven high schools in the county once a year for “Big Bank Theory.”