Kurzweil A.2
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Read the article using Kurzweil, answer the questions below, and turn in by clicking the Submit button at the bottom
The Uses of Money
Questions to think about while you are reading this section:
1) What are the uses of money?
2) Why invest?
3) Don't forget about giving it, too.
4) What is a synonym for charity? (use Kurzweil)
Everyone loves money — you can use it to buy all kinds of stuff, like burgers, iPods, and plane tickets to Costa Rica. And Americans are definitely good at spending money.
But there's more that you can do with money than just spend it. You can save it, invest it, or — and let's not forget this — donate it to charity.
Since you probably get the gist of spending it, we'll dive right into saving it. You've heard this since you were wobbling around the floor in diapers: save, save, save. Your parents were right... sort of.
Everyone should have a rainy-day fund for when the car needs a new engine or when the cat needs her gallbladder removed. But what do you do with non-emergency money? Put it in your savings account?
Perhaps a Certificate of Deposit (CD)? Well, that's way better than burying it in your backyard, but it's still not great. Why? Because your money is being lazy.
Your money might be earning a little interest (one or two percent) if you put it in a savings account or CD, but it will barely keep pace with inflation, which is about three percent. That means your money is losing value every year.
If you had $1,000 today, you would need to have $1,030 next year to buy the same amount of stuff. So how can your money keep up? Make it earn more for you.
Enter the stock market. Investing your money gives it the opportunity to make more than one or two percent. (It also gives you the opportunity to lose more than one or two percent, but hopefully by the end of WeSeed's Learn levels, that won't be the case.)
On average, the market pays out about eight percent. That's quadrupling what you would have earned by investing your money in a bank!
And then let's remember that there's always charity. There's a saying we like to throw out every now and then: Make as much as you can, save as much as you can, donate as much as you can, and spend as much as you need.
In all of this talk about making money, we should remember to give some back, too.
Three Facts to Wow Your Friends at a Party
1) Warren Buffett made his first stock purchase when he was 11 years old.
2) In the 18th century, people would store their money in "pygg" (clay) pots or jars, which became known as "piggy banks."
3) The saying "Save your money for a rainy day" comes from an Italian comedy, The Bugbears, written in 1561.
1) What are the uses of money?
2) Why invest?
3) Don't forget about giving it, too.
4) What is a synonym for charity? (use Kurzweil)
Everyone loves money — you can use it to buy all kinds of stuff, like burgers, iPods, and plane tickets to Costa Rica. And Americans are definitely good at spending money.
But there's more that you can do with money than just spend it. You can save it, invest it, or — and let's not forget this — donate it to charity.
Since you probably get the gist of spending it, we'll dive right into saving it. You've heard this since you were wobbling around the floor in diapers: save, save, save. Your parents were right... sort of.
Everyone should have a rainy-day fund for when the car needs a new engine or when the cat needs her gallbladder removed. But what do you do with non-emergency money? Put it in your savings account?
Perhaps a Certificate of Deposit (CD)? Well, that's way better than burying it in your backyard, but it's still not great. Why? Because your money is being lazy.
Your money might be earning a little interest (one or two percent) if you put it in a savings account or CD, but it will barely keep pace with inflation, which is about three percent. That means your money is losing value every year.
If you had $1,000 today, you would need to have $1,030 next year to buy the same amount of stuff. So how can your money keep up? Make it earn more for you.
Enter the stock market. Investing your money gives it the opportunity to make more than one or two percent. (It also gives you the opportunity to lose more than one or two percent, but hopefully by the end of WeSeed's Learn levels, that won't be the case.)
On average, the market pays out about eight percent. That's quadrupling what you would have earned by investing your money in a bank!
And then let's remember that there's always charity. There's a saying we like to throw out every now and then: Make as much as you can, save as much as you can, donate as much as you can, and spend as much as you need.
In all of this talk about making money, we should remember to give some back, too.
Three Facts to Wow Your Friends at a Party
1) Warren Buffett made his first stock purchase when he was 11 years old.
2) In the 18th century, people would store their money in "pygg" (clay) pots or jars, which became known as "piggy banks."
3) The saying "Save your money for a rainy day" comes from an Italian comedy, The Bugbears, written in 1561.
Saving Is Hard, Spending Is Cake
Questions to think about while you are reading this section:
1) Why do we need savings?
2) What do you think discretionary income means? (look it up using Kurzweil)
3) What do you think the term savings rate means?
4) What is the Spanish word for economic?
Legend tells us that Marie Antoinette, the one-time queen of France, uttered these memorable words about the impoverished Parisian populace: "So let them eat cake!"
Americans seem to have taken those words to heart.
In the face of hard economic times, what do Americans do? They eat cake — yellow cakes with cream filling, to be exact. Every day, Americans buy 500,000 Twinkies.
While Americans have the option to spend, save, or invest their money, most people spend their money right away — and Twinkies aren't all they are buying. Every day, Americans purchase:
• 35 million cans of Bud Light
• 150,000 pounds of Starbucks ( SBUX) beans
• 628 Toyota ( TM) Camrys
So that means we're well fed, caffeinated, and driving sensible cars. But while Twinkies might be good in the short term, they do very little to buffer us from hard economic times.
One third of Americans who earn more than $75,000 spend all their discretionary income on cakes, cars, coffee, and other material goods. Of those who earn less than $30,000 a year, almost nine of 10 spend every penny, leaving little or no money to save.
Speaking of savings, the US savings rate was negative for years. But in 2008, it crept up into the black. All told, this means that 46 percent of Americans have less than $5,000 to float them in bad times.
The bottom line: If you save and invest your money today, you'll have more money tomorrow. At WeSeed, we believe the world would be in better shape if all Americans (of investing age) bought at least one share of stock.
So that's a start. Put down the Twinkie and start researching your investing options.
1) Why do we need savings?
2) What do you think discretionary income means? (look it up using Kurzweil)
3) What do you think the term savings rate means?
4) What is the Spanish word for economic?
Legend tells us that Marie Antoinette, the one-time queen of France, uttered these memorable words about the impoverished Parisian populace: "So let them eat cake!"
Americans seem to have taken those words to heart.
In the face of hard economic times, what do Americans do? They eat cake — yellow cakes with cream filling, to be exact. Every day, Americans buy 500,000 Twinkies.
While Americans have the option to spend, save, or invest their money, most people spend their money right away — and Twinkies aren't all they are buying. Every day, Americans purchase:
• 35 million cans of Bud Light
• 150,000 pounds of Starbucks ( SBUX) beans
• 628 Toyota ( TM) Camrys
So that means we're well fed, caffeinated, and driving sensible cars. But while Twinkies might be good in the short term, they do very little to buffer us from hard economic times.
One third of Americans who earn more than $75,000 spend all their discretionary income on cakes, cars, coffee, and other material goods. Of those who earn less than $30,000 a year, almost nine of 10 spend every penny, leaving little or no money to save.
Speaking of savings, the US savings rate was negative for years. But in 2008, it crept up into the black. All told, this means that 46 percent of Americans have less than $5,000 to float them in bad times.
The bottom line: If you save and invest your money today, you'll have more money tomorrow. At WeSeed, we believe the world would be in better shape if all Americans (of investing age) bought at least one share of stock.
So that's a start. Put down the Twinkie and start researching your investing options.
