A Lesson in Financial Planning Entrepreneur, credit unions team up to educate high-schoolers TOWN OF MERTON - Twenty-four-year-old entrepreneur Bryan Sims knows what it's like to worry about money, so he wants to educate as many young people as possible about entrepreneurship and sound money management. "I came from a background where I didn't have a whole lot of money," Sims said. "I was the first person in my family to invest, but I had a good support system." Sims, of Corvallis, Ore., is founder and CEO of brass|MEDIA Inc., which publishes brass|MAGAZINE, a lifestyle money magazine for young adults. He also founded the brass|STUDENT PROGRAM, in order to educate high school students about entrepreneurship and money management. Sims spoke to about 60 business students at Arrowhead High School on Wednesday morning. Local legislators and teachers have said students in the state are woefully uneducated in matters of personal finance, a fact that has dire consequences for both them and credit lenders in today's harsh economic climate. Sims got his start as a young entrepreneur in a high school business class, where he decided he wanted to expand young adults understanding of money and how it affects their lives, he said. After competing in several university business plan competitions, he launched brass|MEDIA Inc. in 2003. His student program, which includes a student edition of the magazine and online teacher resources, is taught in high schools in New York and Wisconsin. Learning the Basics As part of his presentation to students, Sims talked about his entrepreneurial background and gave them general personal finance tips. Kids often learn about money management by watching their parents, which can be good and bad, Sims said. "I know in a lot of cases, parents will often go to payday lenders, and then you see a lot of their kids going through the same process," Sims said. Sims encourages students not to purchase a new car right away, as it will lose 20 percent to 40 percent of its value during the first year of ownership. He tells students to start investing now, so their money can build over time. "Go set up a Roth IRA so right now at 18, your money can compound until the time you retire and you can pull it out tax free," Sims said. He also warns them about predatory lending practices, as many of the students he speaks to will soon be bombarded with credit card offers as they reach age 18. Credit union support Chad Helminak, a public relations specialist with The Wisconsin Credit Union League, said the issue of predatory lending is a concern on college campuses. "They'll lend to people, but they don't teach them about better opportunities which they can build to, and that's what credit unions try to do," Helminak said, "They try to help those people through affordable services, but move them on to better services." Member-owned, not-for-profit credit unions in Wisconsin support and sponsor programs such as their REAL Solutions initiative, which provides financial education to communities, he said. As part of that initiative, the league provides brass|STUDENT PROGRAM's magazine free of charge to all public high schools in the state, Helminak said. Sims, along with Wisconsin credit unions, will co-accept a 2008 Governor's Financial Literacy Award for the implementation of the program in state high schools. Planting an entrepreneurial seed Lastly, Sims tells students who are interested in starting their own business to go for it by doing research, telling people about their ideas and asking questions. "Find something you love doing and make money doing it, whether it's a hobby or a skill set or something you enjoy," Sims said. State Rep. Scott Newcomer, R-Hartland, who is chair of the Financial Institutions Committee, also spoke to Arrowhead students as part of Sims' presentation Wednesday. "I think we really need to look at making this mandatory, that every high school student participate in some type of financial literacy program," Newcomer said. It's also important that young people are encouraged to create entrepreneurial opportunities for themselves in a tight economy. "Kids have a lot of ideas, and you've got to help these kids funnel these ideas and take them to the next level," Newcomer said. "I think this program can do that for a lot of kids and a lot of families." (Shelly Janke can be reached at sjanke @ conleynet.com)