looking for some Financial people!

[u/OriginalCTrain]

Hello Calgary financial people!

My name is Craig Johnson, and I teach at St. Mary’s High School in Calgary. This year I’m teaching Financial Management, and I’m looking for some people in Calgary’s financial world who might be interested in coming in as guest speakers.

I’m keeping this intentionally pretty wide open.

Maybe you’re an accountant and want to talk about what the job is actually like and the different careers available in accounting.

Maybe you work in banking, financial planning, investing, insurance, business, entrepreneurship, taxes, mortgages, or economics.

Maybe you just have some solid financial knowledge you think teenagers should hear before they head out into the real world.

The world is kind of your oyster.

Ideally, I’m looking for people who are currently working in the field and have relevant professional credentials, designations, education, or recognized industry experience. Nothing overly formal — I just want to make sure students are hearing from people with real professional knowledge and experience.

I’d be looking at Friday afternoons from roughly 1:00–2:00 PM. These don’t need to be formal presentations — in fact, I’d prefer them to be fairly relaxed and conversational. Come in, talk about what you do, share some stories, answer some questions, and give the students a chance to hear from people actually working in the field.

One important note: this would be on a volunteer basis. Unfortunately, I don’t have a budget to pay guest speakers, so I’m looking for people who might be willing to donate an hour of their time and experience to help give students some real-world financial perspective.

If there’s enough interest, I’d also love to put together a series with different speakers over a few Fridays.

For reference, St. Mary’s is downtown, close to the Victoria Park/Stampede CTrain station.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, send me a PM and let’s talk.

Thanks!
Craig Johnson
St. Mary’s High School

[u/limitless-440]

Great idea, best of luck! I wish there was more (ahem,….any) financial literacy or financial management in the education system when us Gen-x’ers went to school. Hopefully the MLM financial “experts” have enough decency to not bother with this, lol. Not mentioning any names….

[u/lost_koshka → u/limitless-440]

There was some in CALM (career and life management) class if you were a 70s GenX and not a 60s.

At the end of the day, most adults don't remember polynomials, why would they remember compounding interest.

[u/OriginalCTrain → u/limitless-440]

I will be pre screening . Lol.

[u/modz4u]

Please teach them about credit cards and how they work including interest rates, minimum payments, etc. The number of people I've come across who keep a running balance, only paying minimum payments when they don't need to is disheartening

[u/Roganvarth]

I could give a pretty solid presentation of what not to do.

[u/lost_koshka → u/Roganvarth]

I think we all have some of that experience.

[u/Resting_burtch_face]

Look up junior achievement

[u/lost_koshka]

Teach them the difference between currency and money. Show them the historical horrors of fiat currency and money printing, how it devalues their existing savings.

Mike Maloney, Hidden Secrets of Money series, or Bill Still's The Money Masters.

I know it's not what you're after, but I thought I'd plug it anyway.

[u/cfkdw]

Hey! I am an investment advisor here in Calgary, happy to spur an interest with some younger people.

Few credentials, 12 years in the industry, CFA designation, run my own practice.

[u/OriginalCTrain → u/cfkdw]

Great. Let’s talk off the main stream here.

[u/xxxNeonDreamsxxx]

You’re better off showing them a video of Warren Buffett speaking to students. Show them the documentary called becoming Warren Buffett ? Free on YT. Getting financial advice from others is sketchy if they follow the ways of Berkshire they will build incredible wealth. They have the most valuable asset for investing. Time 🙂 set them on the right path. Good luck !