BYU–Hawaii professors said preparing economically for the future will largely come as a result of how students learn to adjust to these unique times. No matter where people live, they said being proactive self-learners will set someone apart in the eyes of future employers. When planning for the future, they said it is important to ponder, pray and rely on the Lord.
Erin Frederick, assistant professor in the Faculty of Business & Government, said planning for the future consists of hard work through investing and setting specific, achievable goals. “Investing really is balancing your incomes and expenses,” Frederick shared. “You need to learn what you’re putting your money into.”
Fredrick said with COVID-19, more and more people are “getting caught up in things like the GameStop situation and not really investing.”
Frederick recalled the time she and her young family bought their first house in her hometown of West Palos Verdes, CA. The house was 945 square feet, old and too small for Frederick, her husband and their two young children.
“We bought that house and all we did was work on it,” she said. “We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had some goals. I’ve done the same to every house I’ve owned since then.”
The profit is not instant money, she said, it’s hours and hours of work and budgeting. Frederick said the same process applies to economic planning for students.
Students’ major goals will be challenging to meet, so they need to develop a strategy, she said. Frederick noted students may not be able to directly achieve their goals now, but they can slowly work on them in the meantime to get where they need to be.
Gale Pooley, associate professor in the Faculty of Business & Government, said the biggest objective for students is anticipating what will happen tomorrow. “We need to ask ourselves what the future will be like based on our current situation,” he explained.
Pooley said the strength of the market is uncertain due to downsizing because of increased remote work. The only exception is construction because the demand is high, he added.
Ricardo Vicente, assistant professor in the Faculty of Business & Government, said students should see education as an investment, especially during the pandemic. “When you go to a trade school, you learn the ‘how’ of your field. The future, however, needs knowledge, which is the ‘what’ and ‘why,’” he said.
“When people say to follow your passions, what people forget is you need to put in the work every day,” he elaborated.
Learning experiences come from school or from working in the field, he added.
Vicente said students should assume they will not have the same success as someone else, and said they need to understand Heavenly Father will continue to guide them.
Frederick said the best financial advice she received was to start saving now and to never judge people by how economically successful they are. She explained some people may never figure their life out economically, yet have great character, and those who earn a lot of money may lack character.
“I have spent 37 years working, and I still have so many questions when I get to talk about money,” she said. “There are so many lessons that come from managing money the Lord has asked us to deal with.
“We find personal satisfaction through work and achieving goals,” Frederick explained. “Our achievements then make us feel better about ourselves, since you see the results of what happens, regardless of what you do.”
In the midst of a global pandemic, Vicente said the most important attribute to employers is the progress someone has made during this time. “It doesn’t matter where you live in the world, you need to be much more proactive and this means students must be good self-learners,” he said.
Frederick said people can easily judge how prepared students are if they go to college with a plan and achievable goals for the future. “Students should be seeing what adjustments they need to make, especially with COVID-19,” she explained. “There needs to be a strategy in place to use the skills [they] have gained.”
Pooley said he wants all students to understand they have the gospel to guide them and encouraged them to use gospel principles to answer questions about the new, post-COVID-19 environment.
“The economy is going to be the economy, but our ability to create value is more important,” he said.
Frederick said challenges are not something people can plan for economically. “When you are in that situation, you are completely reliant on the Lord, but you soon realize how to pick yourself up and move forward,” she said. “The willingness to humble yourself and submit yourself to the Lord is more important.”
She recalled when her husband suffered a stroke that made him unable to walk, talk or remember their children’s names. Her husband was able to make a full recovery while having two children at home and two in college, though it took a lot of work and rehabilitation, she shared.
Frederick said students can survive on their faith, and they must remain reliant on the Lord. When students plan out their futures, she said they should continually ponder and pray about it. “Anytime you are faced with change, there is always uncertainty. But if you have a plan and work towards it, you can always change your plan,” she said.