<prompt> Human: My mother is a scoutmaster for a Boy Scout Troop and wanted me to earn Im female this badge when I was in High School. She seems to think it is the end-all-be-all that most people need to know to manage their money reasonably. I think that its not necessarily giving more than one example of rules to manage money, other than the dont spend more than you make, save some money.Understandably the major variable here is the counselor you go to to earn the badge- if its someone with more experienceknowledge and the scout takes an interest then there could be more learned. If the scout does insufficient study on it and doesnt have a very good counselor- I would have a lot of concern about how well those skills are applied.Personal Management RequirementsWhat would you add or how would you counsel this merit badge?  <response>: I just want to throw in my experience with this merit badge, because many of the comments seem to be along the lines of I did this 20 years ago when I was 12. I am 17, and completed this merit badge this past July. It was one of the last merit badges I needed to get my Eagle Rank. Most scouts in my troop told me to do this one right away - get it done while youre 12 - because of the long term aspect of it 3 months is a long time to keep track of incomeexpenditures for someone of that age. I put it off, though, because thats what young guys do. Im so glad I did.When I started high school, I had to take an intro to Economics course and fell in love with everything that has to do with it - Micro, Macro, Public Policy, Personal Finance, all that stuff. I got involved with The Econ Challenge, JA Company, and Personal Finance Decathlon competitions and have done extremely well in all of them. Ive had one of the best teachers ever teach me in various economics courses and coach me in these competitions. I will be the captain of the Econ Club at my high school this coming year. Economics in general and personal finance, specifically, has taken a huge part of my life. I plan on going into the field when I grow up.When I completed my Personal Management Merit Badge, I met with my counselor. I planned on it lasting about a half hour because we would breeze through the requirements, and then Id go to my buddys house for some band practice. My counselor was a Financial Advisor who worked for - and, in turn, became a family friend - of one of the families in my troop. When we started talking about the first requirement, he immediately noticed that I was more than just some kid trying to blunder his way through an Eagle Required Merit Badge. He could tell that I was actually knowledgeable about the topics, and, more importantly, that I was passionate about them.When we finished, two hours had flown by and we had talked about so much more than just the basic requirements. I learned a lot, and I got a lot out of the Merit Badge.That is how the Merit Badge program is meant to be run. It is, from my understanding, meant to A teach Boy Scouts basic skills in many topics, B introduce Scouts to knew topicshobbiesfields that they may not have been introduced to before, and C cultivate the passions within each Scout. I can tell that the Personal Management Merit Badge, in particular, is put together for these reasons. It introduces basic life skills in a field that many young men dont have muchany experience in, but allows the passionate to develop their love further. I must note, though, that this takes cooperation from the Scout and the counselor. If either one decides to do the bare minimum, it can diminish the experience for both. But what kind of Scout is the Eagle Rank meant for? The one who does the bare minimum or the one who goes above and beyond? There is a reason very few attain the rank of Eagle, and there is a reason it is these Scouts who will get the most out of the Merit Badges. 