ASB Getwise

LI: To be wise with money.

ASB Getwise is a programme that teaches students how to be smart with your money. Marlon from ASB Getwise taught us how to make wise choices with our money by playing an educational game. We learnt that making clever decisions with money is based around stopping, thinking and making good choices by determining what to spend and what to save.

In the game we played, each team was given a $1800 budget for our trip to Fiji. We had to decide how much to spend on passports, plane ticket class, accomodation, insurance, activities and food. Depending on what we choose, we earn a different amount of enjoyment points to determine how much we enjoyed our holiday.

Our choices for passports was to buy a passport at the current time for $200, or buy it later on after purchasing other items then buying the passport for $400. All the groups chose to buy it for $200.

The options for plane ticket class were to buy the economy flight for $500 (2 enjoyment points), including no food, entertainment, comfort or much enjoyment or the first class flight for $800 (6 enjoyment points). All of the groups chose to save money and buy the $500 economy flight.

Next, we determined the accomodation (which is where we would stay). Our choices were a 5 star resort by the ocean for $500, and if we wanted the all-we-can-eat buffet in advance for an extra $100 covering all food later on, or an old budget hotel for $200. All groups chose the 5 star resort including the food in advance for $600 total.

After this, we had the option of insurance. Insurance covers anything that happens over the course of our holiday. For example, if we were to lose our phone, instead of losing money towards getting a new phone, the insurance would pay for it instead. Insurance was $300, however we were not allowed to know whether something bad would happen or not. All groups chose to get insurance, but 2 groups chose to use a credit card (they borrowed money from the bank and payed the bank back before interest).

For activities, our options were surfing for $100 (2 enjoyment points), snorkling for $200 (4 enjoyment points), or skydiving for $300 (6 enjoyment points). All of the groups chose to do snorkling for $200 dollars. During the activities, we returned very late at night and hungry (the buffet was closed) so we decided to go to the fish n' chip shop down the road. We resulted in having very bad food poisoning and going to the hospital. The hospital bill was $2000, however insurance luckily covered the fine.

Since the food was payed off at the 5 star resort, noone had to buy food later on. Everyone ended up spending all of their money at their Fiji holiday and ended with 12 enjoyment points each.

I found this ASB getwise experience very fun and enjoyable because Marlon was friendly and we made lots of choices based off what we thought was best for our game experience in Fiji. I loved this programme experience because I was able to practice making wise decisions with money basing off what we would require during a holiday.