Blog 24: Last Presentation Reflection

Label: Presentation

(Truer words have never been said.)

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

• I am proud of all the positive comments I got after my presentation since i put a lot of effort to make my presentation and was pleased with the result. I am also proud of all the work I have done since I worked very hard to not only complete it but also make it a good quality.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

• For my presentation, I would give myself an P+ because I followed the guidelines and made sure that I didn't miss anything and also that I feel I presented well, plus the comments I got also was a good sign. 

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

• Overall I would give myself on my senior project an E since not only did I do everything that was asked of me, I went above and beyond with my independent component 1 and 2. I put a lot of work into them and looking at the other independent components, I feel my took more work and that no one else did something like what I did that wasn't expected. I would even show my board game even more and my website to show how much effort it took to make them. Besides one late notebookcheck for 60 sources since I heard misinformation, everything was down on time. Even if I am denied an E, I would still consider an AE since all the work I have done shows this.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

• Learning about my topic was great since I got to learn a lot about money and how to take care of it. Seeing how a budget is made, looking into what makes up a credit card and how bad it can be, but also seeing what the lottery can do to people. It was great to work with Eric and learning from him all the things I know now. 

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?

• Meeting my mentor was challenging since he is busy a lot and not being able to be with him for long hours was hard. To change this, I would communicate more with him to see what his schedule is like and see if we could meet. Towards the end, finding credible sources was also tough since I had found so many sources that last ones was hard to find credible sources. I would want to go back and research more to find those last credible sources.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

• The senior project has helped me understand how money works and what I could do with it. I now know how to make a budget and how credit cards can drain your money, something I would have never found out if I didn't do this project. I now know I won't be going into bankruptcy of my own endeavors and that I will be prepared for the future.

Blog #24 Exit Interview Prep

Label:  Exit Interview
(Yep, the last interview. Man time goes by fast!)

Content:

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

• My essential question is "How can a person become a millionaire, without inheriting or winning the lottery?" My answers are a person can become a millionaire if they know when to spend their money, and when not to, making a budget and sticking to it will help a person become a millionaire, and using time effectively will help your money grow and make you a millionaire. My best answer would have to be my first one, a person can become a millionaire if they know when to spend their money, and when not to. This is because the biggest thing that people have problems with when it comes to money is discipline, not knowing when to spend money and knowing when to hold back.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• It came up a lot during my time with my mentor since a lot of people have problems with this. 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• The problems I faced was finding credible sources that weren't books, interviews, or my mentor. Since there are many articles about finance that are good but the website title is a bit like, they got information from a site called Money Crashers. I did resolve this by making sure to not only defend the articles I found that were good to the best of my ability and narrowing down what to look for in a credible source.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• The two most significant sources that helped me answer my EQ is my mentor since he not only has experience with this but also a lot of knowledge about my topic. And the other is The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey since this is a book my mentor gave me but also because Dave Ramsey experienced the many hardships of dealing with money and the book helps illustrate that discipline is the biggest thing to do first.

Blog #23: Independent Component 2

(My Board Game)

Content:  

LITERAL
(a) Include this statement: “I, student name, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents ___ hours of work.”

• I, Ethan Walls, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 Hours of work.

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

• Ramsey, Dave. The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub., 2003. Print.

(c) Update your Independent Component 2 Log (which should be under your Senior Project Hours link)

• Done.

(d) Explain what you completed.    

• I created a game board that has people answer financial questions that will let them move further on. 

(e) Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.   

• This component helped me take my knowledge and research and make a game out of it that people can enjoy. It also has helped me understand my answers more. All my evidence is on my blog with the Independent Component 2 Label

(f)How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 

• This component has helped me answer my EQ by having me research even more on the answers I created. Like how the debt questions helped me more on answering my first question, A person can become a millionaire if they know when to spend their money and when not to. 

Blog # 22 Interview 4 Reflection

Label:  Interview

(No I will not kill anyone.)

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?

• I learned mostly that people who are not able to control themselves, will mostly like get into debt and stay there. If they seek help to fix their problems, they would be better off.

2.  How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

• This information will help me answer some questions I have had for a while, like is having and expensive house a bad idea?

Putting everything on Game Crafter

Today I started to put all my cards and board design on the Game Crafter website. After that my Dad and I printed out the board and questions so we could play to see how it was. After that, we then ordered it soon after I found a box to put it in and game pieces.

Hours Completed: 1 Hour and 30 Minutes

Looking Over Everything I made for the Game

Today I looked at everything again to see if there was anything wrong aesthetically. There were minor things that I had to change, fixing the design of some cards that looked off, and figuring out how Game Crafter did their decks. Decks were weird when I first was putting in some of the cards to see how the cards would look, when I put the back of the card for a deck, I realized that it would be for every card in the deck. Not only that but figuring out what proofing was and how to put everything into an order, then going  to see any mistakes on the cards.

Hours completed: 3 Hours and 30 Minutes

Editing the Questions and Answers

Today I edited all the questions and answers so that they make sense and that the questions fit with the category. This took a while since there was two questions that didn't make sense and a lot of the answers weren't good at all.

Hours Completed: 3 Hours and 20 Minutes

Creating the Rules

Today I created the rules for the game.

Hours Completed: 20 Minutes

Using the Template from Game Crafter on the Cards

Today I fixed the cards with the template since the cards I made before had to be fixed or parts of it would be cut off when the cards are made.

Hours completed: 1 Hour and 25 Minutes

Making and Finishing the Cards

Today I started making the cards. This took multiple days to finish I started on the 9th through the 11th. On the 9th I completed the 5 cards front and back. On the 10th I completed 5 cards front and back, and on the 11th, I completed the last 5 cards front and back.

Hours completed on the 9th: 1 Hour and 25 Minutes
Hours Completed on the 10th: 1 Hour and 25 Minutes
Hours Completed on the 11th: 1 Hour and 25 Minutes

Creating the Design of the Cards

Today I created the design of the cards, and started seeing how the questions would fit on the cards.

Hours Completed: 1 Hour and 20 Minutes

Creating the Rest of the Questions

Today I finished creating the rough draft of the questions with the Debt and Investment Categories. This also took a while to do since the debt category was difficult to find questions that don't involve credit cards and the usual things people will get debt from.

Hours Completed: 3 Hours and 50 Minutes.

Creating the Questions and Answers

Today I created the rough draft of the Savings and Lifestyle Questions and  Answers. Researching all these questions took a while and coming up with answers for them. Especially when I was getting to the end of the savings questions.

Hours Completed: 5 Hours

Creating the Game Board

Today I started creating the game board and finishing it with the template that I got from researching a site called the Game Crafter. This site would make the game for me by paying them, so I used the template they had to make the board.

Hours completed: 2 Hours and 45 Minutes

Creating the Board Game Idea

Today I created the board game idea that I wanted to make. I wanted the game to have an end where the players have to reach. So I thought of how people would be going around the board along with some places that could either mess up the people, or help them. Then I started thinking about the cards that would be used, the categories I wanted to use, and what would make people get a certain category. A rough design of the card was also created.

Hours Completed 2 hours and 30 Minutes

Blog # 21 Interview 4 Prep

Label: Interviews

(No, I have the questions here, all 20 of them!)

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

• I plan to interview Jim Hollifield who is a millionaire and one of my mentor's clients. 

2.  Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.

• Should people really focus so much on investments and why?
• What is the most important thing that helps people focus on managing their money and why?
• Why is time so important when it comes to money?
• Is it possible to keep investing money even during retirement or is that a bad idea?
• What is it that makes a budget rub some people the wrong way?
• When buying a car, what are some things that people need to watch out for, so they don't get ripped off?
• When do you consider that a person should consider a financial adviser?
• How can someone ask for help when it comes to money?
• Why can't people "live within their means" when they know it could help them?
• Why is just sticking to a plan that someone made about their money could not work?
• How could someone help control their impulse to buy?
• What are some ways to help a person manage their time for their money?
• Even though getting a job is hard these days, why should people still get a job early when they might be still in college?
• How is it that people don't use time to their advantage with money?
• What has caused so many people to just spend willy-nilly when they know they can't afford the stuff they are buying?
• Is having a expensive house necessary a bad thing, why?
• Would you consider a Traditional IRA over a Roth IRA or vice versa, why?
• How easy is it to find a savings account with a good interest rate?
• How come people would rather get an expensive car that they can't afford, versus a car that has a decent price?
• Looking at what happened in 2008, what is important to remember when the economy crashes?

Blog 20: Third Answer

Label: Research

(No, but i will do it.)

• EQ 
• How can a person become a millionaire without inheriting or winning the lottery?
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*
• Using time effectively will help your money grow and make you a millionaire.
• 3 details to support the answer
• Using time with interest will make your money grow over time.
• The interest on loans will get worse with time, so paying off them early will save you more money over time.
• Taking the time to plan ahead is what will make someone a millionaire.
• The research source(s) to support your details and answer
• Time Smart
• Concluding Sentence
• Time is crucial to making your money grow, either with interest on your banking account or interest on debt, it is important to take the time to get your finances under control.

Blog #19: Answer 2

Label: Presentation

(Fitting since I made a new answer to my EQ.)

1.  What is your EQ?

• How could a person become a millionaire without inheriting or winning the lottery?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• A person can become a millionaire if they know when to spend their money and when not to.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• Making a budget and sticking to it will help a person become a millionaire.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• For people who are big spenders, a budget can help them keep them from spending to much so they can save their money. 
• A budget can also help people know how much they spend and how much they have so they know when they are doing good or bad.
• A budget can help manage your debts and help pay them off.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• How to Stop Overspending and Get Your Budget Under Control.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• Understanding Why Budgets Fail – 8 Steps to Fix a Broken Budget

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

• A budget can help many people struggling to pay off debt, don't know if they can afford anything or who spend too much on stuff they don't need.

Blog 18 - Interview 3 Reflection

Label:  Interview

(Yep, basically what I did.)

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  

• The most important thing I learned from this interview is that even if you know how to make your money grow, there are things outside your control that can go horribly wrong. For example, my mentor told me that when he retired he thought that his accounts would give him 5 or 6% interest, however he has 0% interest and that has hurt him in the long run.

2.  How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

• I my approach to interviewing has improved since I talked a bit more than before, I am a little less stiff when I am talking to him.

 Skip to 0:21 for Start of Interview.

Blog #17 Independent Component 2 Approval

Label: Independent Component

(When I finally found out what I was going to do.)

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• I will create a board game about my topic. It will be game about becoming a millionaire and people will have to reach that goal how you would in real life. This game will have rules people will have to follow and a bit of randomness that is in real life. I will be designing the board, making the rules, creating game pieces, and making the game around my topic.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• I will take pictures of what I am doing to make my game, I will do videos if necessary to show what had been created in total. When creating my game layout I will take pictures of my progress so far and how I have either changed or make something new.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• This component will help me explore my topic more by making me research what will make the game people become millionaires that can also help people in real life. It will also help me answer my EQ with how people are their own worst enemy when it comes to money.

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

• Done.

Blog #16 Independent Component 1

Label:  Independent Component

(My thoughts about finishing Independent Component 1.)

Content:

LITERAL
(a) Write: “I, Ethan Walls, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

• I used the book, The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and my mentor Eric Myre who also gave me information for my Independent Component 1.

(c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.
(d) Explain what you completed.  

• I completed a website that has 12 pages that explains a topic about becoming a millionaire. The website is fully functional that works and is aesthetically pleasing.

INTERPRETIVE

Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.

• On my blog, there are posts for every page I created for my website. They each have a video of me working on my website.

APPLIED

How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this.

• I got to learn a lot of things about my topic, like how credit cards can be evil and learning how people are their own worse enemies. I also got to see what things people actually believe is true about money and how I faced palmed myself when I first heard this. I have learned that it will take a long time for me to get to millionaire status, especially for paying off a house.

Link to Website: http://bogenisys.com/htbm/

Get Some Help Page Creation

Today I created the Get Some Help page. This page contains the information the page is about, and the picture that helps give the page its look. This is the last page in the page line.

Hours Completed: 1 Hour and 20 Minutes

Buy A House Page Creation

Today I created the Buy A House page. This includes the writing of how to buy a house, all the statistics, counters of house prices, the description of the next page with the link to it and all the pictures that combined with the layout make the page aesthetically pleasing.

This page took a lot of research to make this page with all the information that it has.

Hours Completed: 5 Hours

Blog #15 Lesson 2 Reflection

Label: Presentation

(Very true for the people who went up today.)

Content:
1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I am most proud of the compliments that I got from after my presentation. Since, they were very great to listen to and I had made people's eyes wide open after the presentation.

2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

       AE       P          AP       CR       NC
(P)

     b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• I deserve a P since I did everything that was asked of me, I referenced my mentorship with one of my sources, had a good speaking voice, cleaned up my supplies, and my activity was engaging.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

• My activity since people actually remembered what I said and the information I said since people are thinking of using what I have said from my presentation in their own daily lives.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

• The only thing that I would change is that I would practice more since I stumbled a few times before. Then again, I have had that problem since I was little but I would still practice more.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

• For a person to become a millionaire, one needs to know what they are doing with their money.

Debt And Money Myths Page Creation

Today I created the debt and money myths page.

Hours Completed:

Choosing A Financial Adviser Page Creation

Today I created the Choosing A Financial Adviser page. This includes the text of what to look for in a financial adviser, the quote, and the picture. This page took long due to finding out what people should look for when getting a financial adviser.


Hours Completed: 1 Hour and 30 Minutes

How to Purchase A Car Without Going Into Debt Page Creation

Today I created the How To Purchase A Car Without Going Into Debt page. It contains the picture that represents the theme, steps to purchase the car that is based off an example, reasons why not to buy a car, a quote from Dave Ramsey, and the description of the next page with a link to it.

Hours Completed: 2 Hours and 30 Minutes

Pay Yourself 1st Page Creation and Front Website Page

Today I created the Pay Yourself 1st page. Which has the image, the text about this topic, and a little description of the next page with a link to it.

I also worked on making the front website page what I want it to look like. Finding all the pictures that are on the page, making little descriptions of some of the pages, having links for the main three pages that have the subtopics, and putting all the other text on the page like how long it will take to pay off debt.

Hours Completed: 3 Hours and  45 Minutes

Living Within Your Means Page Creation

Today I created my Living Within Your Means page. Writing the text, getting a picture for the page, creating the description of the next page with a button to that page, and making it pleasing to the eye.

Hours Completed: 1 Hours and 15 Minutes

How To Put Yourself On A Plan Page Creation

Today I created the How to Put Yourself On A Plan page. I did all the text, the title, and added a picture. The information took awhile to find, understand the information so that I could write it and make sure people understand it.


Hours Completed: 4 Hours

Credit Card and How to Stay Out of Debt Page

Today I created the Credit card page that talks about why credit cards are bad. I put all the text, put in a debt reduction calculator, a video explaining a point I make in the beginning, put a little description of what the next article will talk about, and added a picture.

I also updated the How to Stay Out of Debt Page with a description of the credit card page and updated the How to Stay Out of Debt menu.

Hours Completed: 1 Hour and 40 Minutes

You Need A Job and How to Save page

Today I created the You Need A Job Page. I wrote all the text, put the picture of the page overall, made the title and the description for the page, made a little description of what the next page will be with the button.

I also updated You need a job portion on the How to Save page with a working link and description. I updated the menu so that it shows the You need A Job and How to make your money grow page links.


Hours Completed:1 Hour and 10 Minutes

Attitude and How to Save Page

Today I created my attitude page for my How to Save page. I made the text on the subject, made the title with a little description of what people are going to read, added a picture, made a link at the bottom of the page that will lead people to my next article about jobs and fixed the format of the page so that the link at the bottom with the description would be full width but the text and title would only be in the center and not full width.

I also added attitude to the How to Save menu, and added a description for attitude on the How to Save Page.


Hours Completed: 2 Hours and 30 minutes

Blog 14: Third Interview Preparation 4

Label: Interviews
EQ: How does a person become a millionaire without inheriting or winning the lottery?


(Basically what my mentor said when I told him about the interviews.)

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

• I plan to interview Jim Hollifield who is a millionaire and one of my mentor's clients. 

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview?

• I have called my interviewee but we have not come up with a date yet since he is busy as his job is a doctor, and he hasn't responded back on the date. So unless we find a date to meet up, no time has been made.

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

• Where are some places I can find research that can help me answer my EQ?

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

• What are some activities I could do that would help me understand my EQ better?

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ.

• What do you think of people inheriting money rather than earning it?
• Why do people have problems on handling their money?

Budget and How to Save Page

Today, I started creating my Budget Page for How to Save category. For what I did, I changed the title of the page, wrote the basics of what people need to know before making a budget, how to start off their budget and put a picture of what the budget should look like that I created from excel.

I also updated the navigation of my website so that it shows home, how to save, how to stay out of debt, and how to prepare to be successful. I added a description to my how to save page about the budget.


Hours Completed: 5 Hours and 30 Minutes

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

Label:  Mentorship

(Here is a money tree that sadly doesn't exist, but growing money over time is not fake.)

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

• I am currently doing my mentorship at Trilogy Financial Services, Inc. in Corona, CA.

2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?

• My mentor is Eric Myre who is a financial adviser who has helped many people with their money and how they can make it grow. He has been working in the finance industry for 8 years, has a degree in business from Azusa Pacific University, and has a Series 6 - Limited Securities License, a Series 7 Stockbrokers License, a Series 63 - Uniform Securities License, and a Series 65 - Federal Advisory License. 

3.   How many  hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right hand side of your blog).

• 11 Hours during the school year.

4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.

• What I did with my mentor, Eric Myre, was the two interviews, discussing the book he gave me, and mainly helping me work on my Independent Component 1. We worked on the outline of what is going to be on the website, the financial strategies on an individual basis, and showed me where to look for information for specific subtopics. My mentor and I work well together when we discuss how the website would be like and what would be on it. Yes, my interviews might not show this, but when I am not recording something we work pretty well. For the remaining hours, we will help me give advice to finish the web, help me with Independent Component 2, and anything else that comes up later on.

Blog 12 Holiday Project Update

Label: Research

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

• I will be honest, I did not get much done(mostly for independent component 1). Mostly what I did was working a bit on my independent component 1 basically fixing up a page that has links that I will be working on, and got more mentorship hours.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

• What I learned was that, my independent component will take time to plan out all I am going to say for each page on my website since just planning what I am going to write will take time to research and then write out. I mainly learned this just from listening to my mentor giving advice as to which information should I put in and what I shouldn't.

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

• I plan to interview Jim Hollifield, who is one of my mentor's clients. He will be useful since he is a millionaire and I can talk to him about how he ended up becoming a millionaire and how tough was it to get to where he is.