Tomorrow Makers®
Learn More! Transamerica & Financial Planning Building Blocks
Enjoy Today: Spending Money
Planning for your today is key for having your tomorrow. Whether it is planning a night out with friends or planning a grocery list for the week, the value of planning is essential. If you think of your average week, what are you needs? What are your wants? Can you differentiate the two? It's important to remember that enjoying Today involves evaluating your needs vs. wants when spending your hard earned money. As you prepare for tomorrow, you can enjoy today easier by living within your means.
Plan For Tomorrow
Tomorrow will be here sooner than you think - hours turn into days, days into weeks, and weeks into years. It is Never too soon (or too late) to start planning for Tomorrow! Whether you want to buy your mother a nice birthday present or you want to contribute to your local charity, nothing is out of reach if we plan for it. Remember, just as hours compound into years, pennies compound into dollars. Before you know it, a better Tomorrow will arrive!
Brace For Tomorrow: Emergency Funds
Whether you forget your lunch or you get a flat tire going to school, life will always bring uncertainties and unexpected challenges. Challenges enter our lives for a very specific reason, to Challenge us. By properly planning Today and showing strong individual resiliency, we can put ourselves in a position to handle any challenge life throws our way.
Live Your Tomorrow
It has finally arrived! It is time to enjoy what you have achieved! Whether your plan was to buy that new pair of running shoes or to help feed your family for the week! Enjoy it, but remember that this doesn't have to be a one-time occurrence. This time it was something smaller, but next time it may be your college education or maybe even retirement.
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Transform Tomorrow®
In the Experiential Learning Program designed exclusively for Expedition Africa students will learn about the importance of individual resiliency and how, when combined with social entrepreneurship and developing their own micro-enterprise, whole communities can be impacted! By planning for their future they will Transform Tomorrow!
To reinforce this concept, here's an example that we can all relate to: A lemonade stand at the end of a driveway is a micro enterprise. When the proceeds are used to build a well in Africa that is social entrepreneurship, which makes a community more resilient. Ultimately this will Transform the Tomorrow of individuals in the community, and the community itself. These are the Financial Planning Building Blocks in action!
Concepts at Work
In this video you will see an example of social entrepreneurship at the University of Iowa Dance Marathon, and its importance in building a strong foundation for community involvement!
Steve shares his story of individual & team resiliency. Early in the season, his baseball team had high expectations to finish the year strong. They began the season very poorly, and so as a team they examined what they needed to do to get where they wanted to go. Through this adverse situation, the team members were resilient and came together to achieve an outstanding season!
Brenna believes that we can all make a difference, no matter our age! Even though others said it wasn't possible, Brenna and her friends were resilient and raised $1500 for wells to build in Africa!
i2P Youth Ambassador Marie Donovan found herself not as prepared as she would have liked to be! Luckily she has a great team, but she found herself relying on them too much. She discovered that this took up too much time when asking her teammates for things out of their bags. Marie is taking some time to plan better for the days ahead. Planning for individual success will ultimately translate into team success!
i2P Youth Ambassador Hope McCarty is preparing to run up to 200km in just 4 days (50km per day)! With check points, food and water already planned and taken care of, Hope and her team can then put quality focus into running their mileage! We are all capable of achieving the extraordinary if we plan for it!
i2P Youth Ambassador Hannah Elkington shares a unique analogy to resiliency in the middle of a sandy road. Despite the fact that this tiny piece of vegetation has little access to water, it's adapting to its surroundings and making an attempt at surviving, growing and flourishing!
i2P Founder Ray Zahab discusses the planning, commitment & resiliency required on these expeditions. The flow of having an idea, planning it out, and following the plan through takes a tremendous amount of individual & team resiliency. However, obstacles should be expected in even the best plans. By being resilient and navigating around these obstacles, you can achieve anything!
After running an ultra marathon per day for 3 days, i2P Youth Ambassador Marie Donovan discovered how to tap into her mental power reservoir. Finding the strength to continue after running 43K, 45K and then another 43K can be incredibly hard. Marie was able to dig deep and eliminate thoughts of self doubt, stay positive and keep moving forward. Truth is, we all have this capability, and it applies to every facet of life!
The i2P Youth Ambassadors have demonstrated that we are all much stronger when we work together. With positive support, open communication and humour, we can achieve anything when working together!!
The i2P Youth Ambassadors ran Day 4 together; with the first group on their last day, and the second group on their first day. A new i2P record was achieved with a total of 51km on Day 4! It was also a day for many amazing learning experiences - adaptation, teamwork, staying positive, being resilient, listening to your body and planning for tomorrow!
i2P Co-Founder and Executive Director Bob Cox takes us through the similarities between financial planning and planning for an i2P expedition. Both involve having a clear vision for the end goal and planning for the 'what if's' that may arise down the road. It's important to consider as many possible obstacles so that if they do happen (and they will!), there will always be a solution!
There is no doubt that planning is absolutely essential to individual and team success! From Day 1, the i2P Team & Youth Ambassadors were faced with the task of organizing and coordinating daily & weekly plans for the expedition. It takes a tremendous amount of planning and communication to execute goals and move forward. But even the best planners and best plans will encounter obstacles along the way. Plans will inevitably change. The key is to be resilient as individuals, find balance and adapt on-the-go, and as a team move toward a common ground - reassemble, reassess and revise!
Experiential Learning Program
Financial Literacy
Financial Literacy is a foundation of individual resiliency and for transforming tomorrow for yourself and those around you. The Financial Planning Building Blocks help to get you on your way to a better tomorrow.
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Video Examples
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Micro Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship
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Cooperation & Resilience