Gamecocks Learn Money Management Skills
South Carolina student-athletes learned some lessons in managing their money thanks to a “Mad City Money” workshop from Founders Federal Credit Union Monday night at Williams-Brice Stadium. The event was part of South Carolina’s Beyond Sports Professional Development and Summer Internship Program.
“The goal is to get them ready for the real world and teach them how to pay all of their bills,” said presenter Jessica Banks, who is the Financial Education Representative from Founders Federal Credit Union and a former volleyball student-athlete at Virginia Intermont College. “We want to help them manage their money by tracking their transactions, budget their money so they don’t go into the negative, and teach them financial priorities. As a former student-athlete, I can relate to them.
“We propel them a few years into the future, and they all have careers based on what they’re studying in school. Some will be married and all of them will have a child in these scenarios. They will be buying a house, buying their own groceries and paying all their own bills.”
“This is going to help me because it will make me start thinking now, before I graduate, about how to manage my money, where to spend it, and finding ways to cut back if I need to,” said Brooke Gostomski, a junior pharmacy major from the volleyball team, who was a pharmacist in the simulation.
The Mad City Money simulation normally assigns random careers and related salaries to participants, but this presentation assigned careers related to each student-athlete’s major. Each student-athlete was given a folder explaining their new life, which includes a monthly take-home salary, and helps them navigate through their monthly real world expenses and financial choices. This includes the process of purchasing a home and cars within their budget, paying for utilities, deciding how many times they can afford to eat out, as well as childcare costs and other daily life expenses they may not have to think about during their college careers.
“Even if you think you don’t have a lot of money, there is always a way to work around it if you budget.”
– Megan Davies
“It showed me how you really have to plan out all the things you’re going to buy with your spouse, and how to find out what are the important things to spend your money on,” said Ty Jaye Robbins, a senior on the track & field team, who is studying criminal justice and was a probation officer in Mad City Money. “The hardest decisions I had to make centered around entertainment and the childcare area. I wanted the best childcare. For things like clothing, I had to pick things that were just OK and presentable. I was most surprised about all the costs with childcare. I came out a little bit ahead, so it wasn’t too bad.”
“The hardest part was thinking about things like entertainment and comparing that to things you actually need,” said junior women’s tennis student-athlete Megan Davies, who is studying advertising and was a graphic designer in the simulation. “Childcare was very expensive. Just learning to write everything down and learning to check yourself now will be helpful for when we really have to do more of this in the future.”
Founders Federal Credit Union offers these presentations to different groups and had recently made a similar presentation to Gamecock freshmen. There are similarities in each presentation.
“They’re always surprised by how much food costs,” Banks said. “That’s something we can all relate to. They’ll also get unexpected bills in this game, and we all know what that’s like!”
While the presentation can by eye-opening, the student-athletes had a positive outlook in terms of being able to handle their financial future when their college careers have ended.
“I figured out that even though it looks like I don’t have a lot of money on paper, you can make it work,” Gostomski said. “You have to decide what to splurge on, but you can’t always have it all.”
“Even if you think you don’t have a lot of money, there is always a way to work around it if you budget,” Davies added.
Beyond Sports is a professional development and summer internship program that includes weekly educational professional development programming. The program aims to provide student-athletes with a meaningful professional development and work experience, while also helping them to be better prepared for professional life after college.
