Extra Credit Essay: Speech or Financial Advice Column in Crimson Crimson

Write a 2 page graduation speech or a HHS Crimson Column to your fellow graduates:
How to Survive the Great Recession;
or, How to Spend Less Than You Earn; or,
How to have a girlfriend, apartment, car, new cell phone, and go to clubs with no money whatsoever!!
Use your textbook and internet (to support your opinions) and cite your sources. Write the pros and cons of each issue. Then provide your final comment or advice on each. Use the terms from your final exam list throughout your essay. Use wit, humor, artwork, quotes---to make it readable, entertaining, and informative.

Do or Don’t
Open Credit Cards—give facts about interest rates, ads, problems, alternatives….
Buy a Car—costs vs. income, interest rates, best next alternative
Go to College or a technical school. Graduate from College---expenses, loans, jobs and salaries from each
Take out a Student Loans---how to, interest rates, how much to borrow, problems
Buy Health Care Insurance?—costs and benefits, alternatives to insurance
Buy the next, newest cell phone---needs vs. wants; cost vs. benefit; planned and perceived obsolenscence
Save money, play the the Stock Market, put money saved in a CD—examples of interest rates, successes in UpDown, problems, profits, etc.
Renting an apartment—initial costs, rents/examples, agreements

Make sure each of the above is supported with facts from the textbook and the internet if you want to
Score high on this essay. 8 paragraphs. Each paragraph should be well constructed with a topic sentence and
3-4 facts supporting an argument or opinion. Conclusion: Make an argument for being ‘thrifty’ or make an argument for
Borrowing and spending that you will pay off with a good job one day.


Example… “Do not carry a credit card balance. Use a debit card. Don’t borrow….but if you have to… pay off the entire balance each month. If you’re tempted to use it to buy something that you can’t otherwise pay for, don’t. Period. Let’s say you buy a Nintendo Wii and a few accessories and put $400 on your credit card, then only make minimum payments for a year. On a typical “first” credit card with a 19.9% APR, you’ll have just watched $80 vanish into thin air. Here are some typical credit card offers…….
Here is how they try to get you to take a credit card….Here is some advice I found on the internet…..

Draw a timeline of your plans for the next year, 5 years, 10 years…