FINANCE YOUNG GUN BANKS TOP RANKING
A SAVVY year 10 student from The Geelong College could be on his way to being a financial guru after earning top marks in the state in a moneymanagement competition.
Yunrong Fan, 16, was among 6800 secondary students from 243 schools across Australia participating in the Suncorp ESSI Money Challenge and finished up the best in Victoria in the 16-18 age group.
in the simulation, students started with a set amount of money and tested their ability to invest it efficiently, with Yunrong adapting to the challenge the fastest.
“I experimented in the first few attempts and tried to perfect them in the last few attempts,” he said.
“I’ve learnt a lot from my family and school”
He said his school commerce class had taught him the value of diversifying risk.
Teacher Bernard Street said Yunrong’s determination to succeed was impressive, and hoped lessons learned in the competition helped shape all students’ real-world financial practices.
“What I noticed with Yunrong is every time he finished one set (in the challenge), he knew he could improve and was really able to apply to strategies from the previous attempt,” Mr Street said.
“I was stoked for him when I
realised he was in the top position in the state for his age group.”
Research suggests a failure to manage financial affairs is one of the leading causes of youth homelessness.
Deakin University professor of practice in financial planning Adam Steen said it was common for young people to not realise the value of money, to fail to prepare for the worst or to expect family to bail them out when things went wrong.
Mr Steen said such issues didn’t discriminate by socio-economic circumstances.
“It’s really hard to pick it. Some people grow up in abject poverty and homelessness and they are really careful and they have done really well,” he said.
“Other people who grow up in good families with lots of money, they might have a gambling addiction.
“Typically, younger, new Australians, first-generation migrants families’ kids, statistically we do know they tend to be more frugal and work harder and put money away.”
Mr Steen said the lure of online gambling and cryptocurrency trading was catching out young men, in particular.