MAGNA, Utah — As retirees watch their 401Ks like hawks during the current economic instability, some in the next generation are off to a good start thanks to a high school financial literacy class.
Cypress High School teacher Tyler Garcia gets one question the most from his students.
"The most common one is how do I become a millionaire?" Garcia shared.
Garcia says the first step for those new to the financial world is not to be intimidated. He wants to be sure he sets his students up for success.
"The reason I got into education is to make a difference," he said.
The purpose is to help the students write their own story, and as stocks rise and fall like a roller coaster, Garcia is taking them along for the ride.
"It’s a great application to show them what impacts the economy in terms of the stock market versus what they think impacts it," Garcia explained.
To minimize anxiety, Garcia teaches his students to not watch the market every day, which is not a bad lesson for the parents either.
'Looks really sad,' Shaky economy, stock market creates worry for Utahns:
"...as the stock market is going down, now is the time to invest. And when it goes up, that’s when you kind of let it ride," he shared.
But back to the question that students keep asking... how exactly do you build wealth?
"I had a great personal finance teacher, he said save 10 percent, invest in land, invest in food and you can't go wrong. And he was right," said Garcia. "I wish I could have taken it a little more seriously when he said it!"
