I was personally cast into adulthood in the mid-'70s. I have never had an occasion to try to figure out how far apart two trains traveling in opposite directions would be after a certain amount of time. Instead, I had to deal with the same adult matters that my parents had been dealing with all along.
Rather than just describing how this could work, I have constructed a simple three-question test to demonstrate how much more useful learning actual life skills would have been in 1980 than what we were taught in the mid '70s. They made us take Civics in those days, and how many of us have ever used the knowledge we gained about the Constitution or how Congress works?
See if you don't agree that teaching these things to children who were still in school when we were young adults in 1980 would not have been better for them in the long run.
---------
Question 1 - When you write a check for a good or service, how many days do you have to deposit the money before the check is presented at your bank?Answer - Though floating checks can be an indication of other problems, it can also be done to meet due dates when the check is sent through the mail. Obviously, the mail time is available. After that, the amount of time is unpredictable and based on several factors such as how quickly the company receiving the checks processes its receivables for deposit, the process the bank it is deposited into goes through in makings its presentation of the instrument, the method of presentation, and even whether the company uses the same bank you use.
The best answer is to have the money deposited by the time the check is actually received by the company, but, for the most part, you will generally have a couple of days of float time even when the check is handed to a cashier.
---------
Question 2 - What are you allowed to itemize as deductions for interest paid?Answer - All interest payments are deductible. Most people will want to itemize deductions if they are paying on a house. It will help them reach the threshold to itemize more quickly than if the only interest a person has to deduct goes to car payments, personal loans, and credit cards. Often, the interest on a home loan exceeds the automatic deduction on its own. Then, all the interest paid on consumer loans is that much more valuable since it will all reduce your adjusted gross income.
Interest paid to friends and relatives is also deductible, but there should be some written record of payment. Also, the deduction you take for the interest paid to them is income earned to the friend or relative.
Even though interest is deductible, it is still probably better to keep the down payment and tax and license earning that 14% in savings than to pay 16% to 18% on a car loan - unless the interest paid on your home is at or below the amount needed to itemize deductions.
---------
Question 3 - How do you balance a checking account?Answer - There are several steps to take in order to balance a checking account.
First, put the cancelled checks enclosed with your statement in numerical order, and put a check in the ledger next to the item to indicate that it has cleared.
Second - Write down on the back of the statement in the area provided all the checks that did not clear on the statement. Be sure to refer to the previous month's statement to make certain the oldest checks that had not cleared on it either cleared on this month's statement, or are accounted for as outstanding checks.
Third, make sure all charges on the statement are entered into your ledger, and put check marks by them as cleared charges.
Fourth, put check marks on the ledger beside any deposit that is on the statement. You will also find on the back of the statement an area for deposits made after the ending date on the statement.
Finally, add the ending balance and deposits made after the ending date on the statement, and then subtract the total of outstanding checks. That amount should be the same as the balance in your ledger. If it is, then your checking account is balanced. If it isn't, your checking account is out of balance.
Banks often have customer service staff available to help customers balance their checkbooks, but the service may be limited on those days when the lobbies are full of people cashing their paychecks!
---------
See?
It should be obvious how much more beneficial teaching us this rather than classes designed to teach us how to think critically would have been in the long run.
It would have been different for my parents in the 1950s, though. They would have learned the importance of purchasing War Bonds, how to stretch food supplies from ration-ticket to ration-ticket, and the best places to move taking the dust bowl into consideration.
* * * * *
Other posts you might enjoy:
My Mom's Computer
Resolution Through Self Reflection
Is It Measure Once?
The Fishing Trip (A Final Version): Dedicated to Chas Henderson
