It happens to everyone sooner or later: The big financial emergency that makes you feel like your life may crumble and fall. But if you have a good financial plan in place, those great big, one-time bills or financial emergencies won’t be as life altering as they might otherwise be.
Saving money is critically important today. Unfortunately, a majority of young adults are still struggling with high levels of debt and the lack of basic financial management knowledge and skills that could help them save for the future. For the past decade, the Ad Council and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)’s Feed the Pig campaign has been working to improve Americans’ financial literacy by encouraging them to make savings part of their daily lives.
The action you take today could change your life. Really. But how do you know which financial decisions are the right ones? There are tons of resources and articles out there on what people think you should do with your money, but none of them could possibly understand your individual circumstances, the issues you face, and what your future financial goals are.
Thankfully, FeedThePig.org has great resources to help you figure out how and where to save more and spend wisely, including a new game called Yesterday’s Tomorrow (https://game.feedthepig.org). The game is like a “choose-your-own-adventure” in the form of a digital photo album! You get to develop a relationship with a future version of yourself–how cool is that? Along the way, you jump through key life stages and instantly see the outcomes of the choices you make from your teenage years through retirement. As you think through life decisions like school, job, and awesome vacations, you’ll see how your choices may save, or lose money. No one wants to blow their money needlessly, right?
With kids and young adults today so involved in gaming, what better way to teach them important life skills than with a game, something they can really relate to? And if my kids are going to be playing video games, I’d much prefer that they be learning something along the way. The new Yesterday’s Tomorrow game lets kids not only have a little fun, but also discover for themselves that financial literacy is important, and that adopting healthy financial habits can pay off! At that stage in life, all they can think about is the fun stuff. This shows them how great the fun stuff can be, and how to get to a point where you can do the fun stuff without losing out on the important stuff too.
Oh, and Yesterday’s Tomorrow and Feed the Pig’s other resources aren’t just for kids. Playing through Yesterday’s Tomorrow helped me to focus more on my future self and realize the different ways to reach my financial goals.
The game and FeedThePig.org helped us a lot. A majority of millennials (65%) attributed their lack of saving to impulse buying and not establishing a personal budget (62%). Yesterday’s Tomorrow helps young adults realize the importance of making positive financial decisions early in life, and shows the long-term benefits of being financially savvy. This unconventional approach to financial literacy is a win/win in my book, no matter what your age.
What are your financial goals? Make sure to play Feed the Pig’s Yesterday’s Tomorrow and figure out how you can make them happen!
For more information and to play the game, visit FeedthePig.org!
