Dear Past Self
Dear Past Self
Topic: Setting Long-Term Goals to Create a Solid Financial Future
Empowerment Video: Investing Early
Basic Supplies:
- Blank paper, enough for one sheet per student
- Envelopes, enough for one per student
- Glue
- Writing utensils such as pencils or pens
- Old magazines or newspapers
- Scissors
- Various art supplies such as colored paper, paint, markers, glitter, and stickers
Video Discussion:
Ask students what it means to “invest”.
Tell students that investing means to place money somewhere with the expectation of making more money. Some examples of investments include stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
After watching the video Investing Early, ask your students the following questions:
- What steps should someone take if they want to start investing? What do they need to do first? What happens next?
- What advice would you give to someone that felt nervous about starting to invest?
- Why is it important to start investing early? What might happen if you wait 10 years? 20 years?
Activity Instructions:
Students will be writing a letter to themselves from the future. By pretending to be a future version of themselves, students can consider and plan for long-term goals.
- For this activity, you should be imagining yourself 15 years in the future. You will be using this pretend “future self” to write a letter to yourself in the present.
- Answer the following questions as your future self. You can write your answers, or you can discuss your answers with a partner. These questions should help you get “into character” and think about the types of things you might include in your letter.
- How old are you?
- Where do you live?
- What kind of job do you have?
- What types of things do you like to do when you’re not working?
- List three words you could use to describe your life.
- What’s the best part of your life?
- What is one challenging thing you had to do to get where you are now?
- What is the most fun thing that has happened in the past 15 years?
- What piece of advice would you give your younger self?
- Now, use the information you imagined in Step 2 to write a letter from your future self. This letter should summarize your future life and list advice your future self would like to give you.
- Once your letter is complete, use any of the available art supplies to decorate it.
- Finally, place your letter in a sealed envelope. Keep your letter in a safe place and consider opening it in 10 or 15 years to see how close your life is to what you imagined!
