Reflection Blog by Connor Kissack

 This is my second year taking this course and I definitely believe that I have taken in more information than I did in my previous year in the J-term. This two week course has certainly redirected my entire life path. I have also learned to be much more of a precocious person when it comes to my spending habits and to be more attentive with the money I have now. Although I have already read the two main texts, Your Money or Your Life and Why Didn't They Teach Me This in School, reading them again and fully absorbing the information provided by the books has changed my view on money, what to do/not to do with it, and how to live while saving it. Since it was my second year in the J-term, I was allowed to focus on my own text of my choice. I chose to learn about index funds. The book taught me what the best one to get into was and also how it has an impact on your savings. Because of this book (The Little Book of Common Sense Investing), it has had changed a view on how I should save my money, and, as of now, I am putting some of my own savings into an index fund, specifically the S&P 500. It wasn't just the books, however, that solely had an impact on me throughout this course. The projects, the seminars, the games, and the movies we watched were impactful to all of us as well. The course of its entirety changes people for the better, and it changes the futures of people as well. In provides precautions and a "heads up" for what's to come in the near future. Sure the course may be rigorous and difficult at some points, but that's what learning is all about. Once one is done with the course, it shapes them into a new being. The movies and the games bring out the fun side to this course. It brings out laughs and contemplation. I definitely had fun with the course and learned a lot from Dr. Ott, the information from the movies, games, presentations, and also from the speakers in the course that came to inform us about specific topics that we were learning throughout the day.