{"id":47,"date":"2026-08-14T11:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T11:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/?p=47"},"modified":"2026-08-14T11:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T11:14:25","slug":"what-would-you-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/?p=47","title":{"rendered":"What Would You Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s the thing about money dilemmas: there&#8217;s almost never one perfect answer. There are only trade-offs. And the more you practise thinking through them, the better your real decisions get. That&#8217;s what this series is for.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How it works<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each dilemma gives you a situation and a few options. Discuss it in pairs, argue it out, then vote. After the vote, talk about the trade-offs behind each choice \u2014 short-term fun versus long-term security, fitting in versus staying true to your plan. There are no winners, only better thinkers.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dilemma 1: The Birthday Windfall<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You&#8217;ve been given $500 for your birthday. Your friends want to spend a big weekend together, and everyone&#8217;s looking at you to fund it. What do you do?<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Spend it all on the weekend \u2014 memories are worth something.<\/li><li>Split it: half for the weekend, half into savings.<\/li><li>Save it all and say no \u2014 your future self will thank you.<\/li><li>Do something different: spend a little, save some, and give some away.<\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dilemma 2: The Friend Loan<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A friend asks to borrow $50 and promises to pay you back on Friday. You&#8217;re not sure they&#8217;ve got it. What do you do?<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Lend it \u2014 friends help friends.<\/li><li>Say no \u2014 never lend money you can&#8217;t afford to lose.<\/li><li>Lend a smaller amount you could live without.<\/li><li>Offer help that isn&#8217;t cash \u2014 a lift, a meal, advice.<\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dilemma 3: The Upgrade<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your phone works fine, but the new one is out and everyone&#8217;s getting it. You&#8217;d need to spend your entire savings. What do you do?<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Buy it now \u2014 you only live once.<\/li><li>Wait three months and see if you still want it.<\/li><li>Buy it only if it genuinely does something you need.<\/li><li>Keep the phone and put the money toward something bigger.<\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to run the debate<\/h2><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Give students two minutes to pick an option in silence first \u2014 before the group influences them.<\/li><li>Pair them up to argue for different options, even ones they didn&#8217;t pick.<\/li><li>Vote once, hear the best arguments, then vote again. Watch how many people change.<\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How this lifts your CQ<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decision-making is the whole game. Your Cash Quotient rises and falls with choices exactly like these \u2014 so practising them on paper means making better ones for real.<\/p><blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>A good money decision is usually just a decision you made on purpose, with the trade-offs in view.<\/p><\/blockquote><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Try it in class<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pick one dilemma, run the full debate, then have students write their reasoning down. Collect the best arguments for each option and turn them into a class poster. New dilemmas arrive monthly.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want to see how these choices move your score? <strong>MoneyCQ<\/strong> is a life-sim where your Cash Quotient rises and falls with decisions just like these. Follow the blog for build updates and early access.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A monthly money dilemma for class debate. No single right answer \u2014 just trade-offs, arguments, and better decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-money-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneycq.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}