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Personal Management - Eagle (PM)

Free
Full
Sat, Mar 8, 2025, 1:00 – 4:00 PM EST
Fairfax Presbyterian Church, 10723 Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia, United States Map
Ladies and Gentlemen:

Hello! I will be your merit badge counselor at the upcoming George Mason District Merit Badge Day on Saturday, March 8. I look forward to meeting you and working through the merit badge materials with you.

I want to briefly address a few issues that will facilitate review of your work and streamline the process of completing your merit badge:

1. Merit Badge Workbook - I attach the latest copy of the merit badge workbook. In completing and demonstrating your work, please use the attached to assist with our review. If you are able, please type your responses, rather than handwriting them in. Anything that you can do to make your work easier to review would be greatly appreciated!

Please Note:  The course description contains a "requirement" that is not listed in the current merit badge pamphlet or workbook, and otherwise contains some requirements that are out-of-date. (I have informed the Merit Badge Day organizers.). Fortunately, the additional requirement was pretty simple and is directly addressed in the pamphlet in the "Saving Versus Investing" section. The additional requirement is:

"5. Select five publicly traded stocks. Explain to your merit badge counselor the importance of the following information for each stock: 
a. Current price 
b. How much the price changed from the previous day 
c. The 52-week high and the 52-week low prices"

I will test only on the merit badge requirements as stated in the pamphlet, so please be guided by the attached workbook. However, I would appreciate it if you complete the above "requirement". It is a good subject on which to be versed.

2. Timing - Please note that several requirements (especially #2) require you to start your work well ahead of the Merit Badge Day. Requirement #2 entails a 13-week budgeting exercise that would have started on or before December 8, 2024 to be completed by March 8, 2025. If you can accurately back-date your budget to December 8, you are welcome to do so. If not, and you do not anticipate being able to complete all requirements by March 8, that is not a big deal. I would be happy to schedule a follow-up Zoom meeting to review work that is not completed by that date. Please just let me know. Please note - Any follow-up Zoom meeting will require that you be up-to-date with your Cyber Chip.

3. Review of Work - I invite you to forward to me via email, prior to March 8, a PDF (or other format) of your completed workbook when you are done. Even if you will not be able to finish everything before March 8, I would be happy to review a partially-completed workbook in the days leading up to March 8. The earlier the better! Anything that I can review/complete before that date will help things go more smoothly on Merit Badge Day. However, please also bring your workbook to the Merit Badge Day meeting.

Please remember to copy parents and/or Scout leaders on any correspondence with me.

Many thanks in advance for your attention to this. Please let me know of any questions or concerns, or if I may assist in any way. I look forward to meeting you on March 8!

Yours In Scouting,

Keith Robinson
Personal Management Merit Badge Prework
1.     Obtain a copy of the Personal Management merit badge book and read it. Bring it to class with you.

2.     Focus on the requirements that will take you time to complete – i.e. 2(a) – tracking actual income, expenses and savings for 13 consecutive weeks and 8(c) – following the one-week schedule you developed. If you haven’t already started on them, get started now. Please understand that if you don’t have the entire 13 weeks of actual expenses to show your counselor at the Merit Badge Day Class, you’ll be given a “partial” until you complete the work.

3.     Choose an item for requirement 1, research it, write the shopping strategy and bring it with you to the Merit Badge Day class to show your counselor.

4.     Prepare the budget called for in requirement 2 and then track actual results with your budget. Bring the completed work with you (or as much as you have at the time) to the Merit Badge Day class.

5.     Research the concepts in requirements 3, 4,5, 6, 7 and 10 so that you can discuss, explain or tell your counselor during the Merit Badge Day class.

6.     Develop the lists and calendars called for in requirement 8. Carry out the actions and bring the results with you to the Merit Badge Day class.

7.     Create a project plan as called for in requirement 9. Be sure to include in the plan all the points described in the requirement. Bring it with you to discuss with your counselor during the Merit Badge Day class. 
Personal Management Merit Badge Requirements
1. Do the following:
a. Choose an item that your family might want to purchase that is considered a major expense.
b. Write a plan that tells how your family would save money for the purchase identified in requirement 1a.
(1) Discuss the plan with your merit badge counselor.
(2) Discuss the plan with your family.
(3) Discuss how other family needs must be considered in this plan.
c. Develop a written shopping strategy for the purchase identified in requirement 1a.
(1) Determine the quality of the item or service (using consumer publications or ratings systems).
(2) Comparison shop for the item. Find out where you can buy the item for the best price. (Provide prices from at least two different price sources.) Call around; study ads. Look for a sale or discount coupon. Consider alternatives. Can you buy the item used? Should you wait for a sale?
2. Do the following:
a. Prepare a budget reflecting your expected income (allowance, gifts, wages), expenses, and savings. Track and record your actual income, expenses, and savings for 13 consecutive weeks. (You may use the forms provided in this pamphlet, devise your own, or use a computer-generated version.) When complete, present the records showing the results to your merit badge counselor.
b. Compare expected income with expected expenses.
(1) If expenses exceed income, determine steps to balance your budget.
(2) If income exceeds expenses, state how you would use the excess money (new goal, savings).
3. Discuss with your merit badge counselor FIVE of the following concepts:
a. The emotions you feel when you receive money.
b. Your understanding of how the amount of money you have with you affects your spending habits.
c. Your thoughts when you buy something new and your thoughts about the same item three months later. Explain the concept of buyer’s remorse.
d. How hunger affects you when shopping for food items (snacks, groceries).
e. Your experience of an item you have purchased after seeing or hearing advertisements for it. Did the item work as well as advertised?
f. Your understanding of what happens when you put money into a savings account.
g. Charitable giving. Explain its purpose and your thoughts about it.
h. What you can do to better manage your money.
4. Explain the following to your merit badge counselor:
a. The differences between saving and investing, including reasons for using one over the other.
b. The concepts of return on investment and risk.
c. The concepts of simple interest and compound interest and how these affected the results of your investment exercise.
5. Select five publicly traded stocks. Explain to your merit badge counselor the importance of the following information for each stock:
a. Current price
b. How much the price changed from the previous day
c. The 52-week high and the 52-week low prices
6. Pretend you have $1,000 to save, invest, and help prepare yourself for the future. Explain to your merit badge counselor the advantages or disadvantages of saving or investing in each of the following:
a. Common stocks
b. Mutual funds
c. Life insurance
d. A certificate of deposit (CD)
e. A savings account or U.S. savings bond
7. Explain to your merit badge counselor the following:
a. What a loan is, what interest is, and how the annual percentage rate (APR) measures the true cost of a loan.
b. The different ways to borrow money.
c. The differences between a charge card, debit card, and credit card. What are the costs and pitfalls of using these financial tools? Explain why it is unwise to make only the minimum payment on your credit card.
d. Credit reports and how personal responsibility can affect your credit report.
e. Ways to reduce or eliminate debt.
8. Demonstrate to your merit badge counselor your understanding of time management by doing the following:
a. Write a “to do” list of tasks or activities, such as homework assignments, chores, and personal projects, that must be done in the coming week. List these in order of importance to you.
b. Make a seven-day calendar or schedule. Put in your set activities, such as school classes, sports practices or games, jobs or chores, and/or Scout or place of worship or club meetings, then plan when you will do all the tasks from your “to do” list between your set activities.
c. Follow the one-week schedule you planned. Keep a daily diary or journal during each of the seven days of this week’s activities, writing down when you completed each of the tasks on your “to do” list compared to when you scheduled them.
d. Review your “to do” list, one-week schedule, and diary/ journal to understand when your schedule worked and when it did not work. With your merit badge counselor, discuss and understand what you learned from this requirement and what you might do differently the next time.
9. Prepare a written project plan demonstrating the steps below, including the desired outcome. This is a project on paper, not a real-life project. Examples could include planning a camping trip, developing a community service project or a school or religious event, or creating an annual patrol plan with additional activities not already included in the troop annual plan. Discuss your completed project plan with your merit badge counselor.
a. Define the project. What is your goal?
b. Develop a timeline for your project that shows the steps you must take from beginning to completion.
c. Describe your project.
d. Develop a list of resources. Identify how these resources will help you achieve your goal.
e. Develop a budget for your project.
10. Do the following:
a. Choose a career you might want to enter after high school or college graduation.
b. Research your anticipated career and discuss with your merit badge counselor what you have learned about qualifications such as education, skills, and experience.

Instructors

Keith Robinson

Instructor

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Fairfax Presbyterian Church, 10723 Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia, United States

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