Absolutely! I have two girls, one had a personal finance course in high school and the other didn't. They are adults with children of their own and there is a big difference in their handling of money all associated with the course. I think all schools should teach personal finance, especially since most of the parents today don't know enough about it to teach their children, as shown by the amount of people in financial trouble today.
Nicely done post. I guess the jury is out and always will be on this one. :) I am for the idea that we can heal ourselves and if the placebo effect has worked for me, great. When it comes to saving money, well that's keenly important, too.
Without a doubt, YES! I was fortunate that my father subscribed to Money magazine for years. I picked it up and started reading it - I was most interested in "One Family's Finances". So I started learning from a very early age. But not every child is as lucky as I was. I see so many of my friends who are in terrible trouble with student loans and credit card debt that a little education would have gone a long way!
Oh good grief! Reading this made my heart stop. Saving some money, any money, isn’t that hard or complicated and being slightly frugal now, but not banking some of it, means you will wake up one day and find a broke 60 year old woman staring back at you in the mirror. Math is real, even if you choose to ignore it, and playing catch-up late in life will really suck, or, as some of my friends are discovering, impossible!
Just for laughs, I paid my 20 year old daughter to do the math on retiring at age 60, living to 92, with $500,000 in investments that earn 4% a year. Even with Social Security added in, the shocking fact of how little that seemingly large sum of money provided really got my daughter’s attention.
Start with buying a $50 I Bond every month (auto purchase online for even less pain). It won’t make you rich; it will make you less poor.
Your friend ( just a bridge trip (and soon a toll) away.)
I totally forgot to mention that, but it's huge. TJ's return policy is completely no-hassle. I've never needed a receipt and never been question about my return, and I've returned at least 10 items.
Our local health store sells hair color in addition to foods & vitamins & other beauty products - I haven't tried it to see whether it works, but you might look at yours (I wouldn't have ever thought if that as an option).
We're glad to hear your Lending Club experience has been positive. You have joined the other 22,500+ borrowers who have enjoyed personal loans at lower rates.
Like you, nearly 64% of loans issued through Lending Club have been used to pay off high interest debt. Those pesky credit card rates continue to go up!
Hit me up with additional feedback or comments.
Cheers
Rob @LendingClub
Sr Director, Product Strategy
Yes. It should definitely be taught. When my daughter was in fourth grade, she learned how to write checks and picked several stocks to watch for a month. She had a lot of fun, and it was a great learning experience for her.
I think that personal finance should be taught at home, not at school. It is the job of a parent to teach kids basics--(manners, morals, proper behavior, to name a few) AND managing finances!
@Andrea - Amen, sistah! It's taking that leap of letting go of "stuff" that is the hardest part. But once we realize how little we actually need, it's quite liberating.
It's definitely wise to start your Roth IRA while your young just in case you need it early to if something happens. Or get it to grow for your future.
Also if you get something and you don't like it or it isn't fresh by the sell by date they give you your money back, no questions asked. I think they are great. Had an awesome talk about organic vs non organic meat, grass fed versus non with one their employees (who by the way get paid a living wage, as opposed to some other big name stores.) I shop there for all my meat, wine, and other products but try to hit the farmer's market for my local veggies in the spring-fall. Winter? Bleh nothing I can do to get local, fresh fruit or veggies.
I think young people should be taught personal finance sometime in the latter years of high school or sometime throughout the duration of college (especially concerning the effects that student loans are going to have on them). Everyone should have some basic knowledge of popular bank services/products, how to budget, paying off debt(s), etc. This kind of knowledge is forever useful, unlike most of the other things we're taught in schools which only have relevance in a handful of scenarios.
I really do think personal finance should be taught in schools. I know in high school they finally added some type of home economics class but I think it's too little, too late. These sort of things should be taught starting in middle school and going throughout their lives. I know some people my age - early 20's that can't keep track of their own finances because they think that by using credit cards they are getting free money.
There is a wonderful financial literacy program sponsored by CU for Reality in NH (my financial institution, Bellwether Community Credit Union is involved inthe program). CU for Reality teaches the kids responsible financial practices from beginning to end. The kids participating pick a career they would like, are given a "salary" and brought through samples of life's expenses with that salary. It is a very realistic and engaging approach and thie kdisa always remark how suprised they are with the expenses!
Kayduh, I wish I could. Unfortunately, I mislaid it somewhere in the past 4 years. If you search for what you're looking for, though, I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to find the pieces to assemble yours.
finance should definitely be taught in schools. our schools are hot beds of advertisements for the latest and most expensive gear. Our children are being raised to think they are what they wear. Many of our parents who can least afford this are falling prey to the" I don't want my child to be denied syndrome". Our children are not learning values which are important for life. They have no money sense and think that this is how they will live life in the future. Ask the average middle schooler where they will live and what kind of lifestyle they will have and you will hear real fairy tales. The sad part is these kids don't realize it's a fairy tale.The majority of these kids don't have bank accounts and in some cases, no one in their family has an account. Our children need to be ready fr the next century.
It absolutely should be taught. Maybe we can have a generation of folks who understand running up a credit card (or 2 or 3 or 4) to the max and only making minimum payments is a bad idea. And if you make $50,000 a year you probably don't want a mortgage on a $300,000 house.
It's a shame that the US Government (no matter which party is in power) doesn't set a better example.
J Wunderle
Springfield, MO
Absolutely! I have two girls, one had a personal finance course in high school and the other didn't. They are adults with children of their own and there is a big difference in their handling of money all associated with the course. I think all schools should teach personal finance, especially since most of the parents today don't know enough about it to teach their children, as shown by the amount of people in financial trouble today.
Nicely done post. I guess the jury is out and always will be on this one. :) I am for the idea that we can heal ourselves and if the placebo effect has worked for me, great. When it comes to saving money, well that's keenly important, too.
Without a doubt, YES! I was fortunate that my father subscribed to Money magazine for years. I picked it up and started reading it - I was most interested in "One Family's Finances". So I started learning from a very early age. But not every child is as lucky as I was. I see so many of my friends who are in terrible trouble with student loans and credit card debt that a little education would have gone a long way!
Oh good grief! Reading this made my heart stop. Saving some money, any money, isn’t that hard or complicated and being slightly frugal now, but not banking some of it, means you will wake up one day and find a broke 60 year old woman staring back at you in the mirror. Math is real, even if you choose to ignore it, and playing catch-up late in life will really suck, or, as some of my friends are discovering, impossible!
Just for laughs, I paid my 20 year old daughter to do the math on retiring at age 60, living to 92, with $500,000 in investments that earn 4% a year. Even with Social Security added in, the shocking fact of how little that seemingly large sum of money provided really got my daughter’s attention.
Start with buying a $50 I Bond every month (auto purchase online for even less pain). It won’t make you rich; it will make you less poor.
Your friend ( just a bridge trip (and soon a toll) away.)
Too late Andrea. By rules of the Blogger Code, Xin now owns half your house!
I totally forgot to mention that, but it's huge. TJ's return policy is completely no-hassle. I've never needed a receipt and never been question about my return, and I've returned at least 10 items.
Our local health store sells hair color in addition to foods & vitamins & other beauty products - I haven't tried it to see whether it works, but you might look at yours (I wouldn't have ever thought if that as an option).
Andrea:
We're glad to hear your Lending Club experience has been positive. You have joined the other 22,500+ borrowers who have enjoyed personal loans at lower rates.
Like you, nearly 64% of loans issued through Lending Club have been used to pay off high interest debt. Those pesky credit card rates continue to go up!
Hit me up with additional feedback or comments.
Cheers
Rob @LendingClub
Sr Director, Product Strategy
Yes. It should definitely be taught. When my daughter was in fourth grade, she learned how to write checks and picked several stocks to watch for a month. She had a lot of fun, and it was a great learning experience for her.
I think that personal finance should be taught at home, not at school. It is the job of a parent to teach kids basics--(manners, morals, proper behavior, to name a few) AND managing finances!
@Andrea - Amen, sistah! It's taking that leap of letting go of "stuff" that is the hardest part. But once we realize how little we actually need, it's quite liberating.
Absolutely. I don't even feel the need to explain why I agree. It's pretty obvious.
It's definitely wise to start your Roth IRA while your young just in case you need it early to if something happens. Or get it to grow for your future.
Also if you get something and you don't like it or it isn't fresh by the sell by date they give you your money back, no questions asked. I think they are great. Had an awesome talk about organic vs non organic meat, grass fed versus non with one their employees (who by the way get paid a living wage, as opposed to some other big name stores.) I shop there for all my meat, wine, and other products but try to hit the farmer's market for my local veggies in the spring-fall. Winter? Bleh nothing I can do to get local, fresh fruit or veggies.
YES. Definitely.
I think young people should be taught personal finance sometime in the latter years of high school or sometime throughout the duration of college (especially concerning the effects that student loans are going to have on them). Everyone should have some basic knowledge of popular bank services/products, how to budget, paying off debt(s), etc. This kind of knowledge is forever useful, unlike most of the other things we're taught in schools which only have relevance in a handful of scenarios.
I really do think personal finance should be taught in schools. I know in high school they finally added some type of home economics class but I think it's too little, too late. These sort of things should be taught starting in middle school and going throughout their lives. I know some people my age - early 20's that can't keep track of their own finances because they think that by using credit cards they are getting free money.
There is a wonderful financial literacy program sponsored by CU for Reality in NH (my financial institution, Bellwether Community Credit Union is involved inthe program). CU for Reality teaches the kids responsible financial practices from beginning to end. The kids participating pick a career they would like, are given a "salary" and brought through samples of life's expenses with that salary. It is a very realistic and engaging approach and thie kdisa always remark how suprised they are with the expenses!
Kayduh, I wish I could. Unfortunately, I mislaid it somewhere in the past 4 years. If you search for what you're looking for, though, I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to find the pieces to assemble yours.
I am going to go against the grain here and say no it shouldn't be taught in school...simple math is all that is needed for the most part lol
finance should definitely be taught in schools. our schools are hot beds of advertisements for the latest and most expensive gear. Our children are being raised to think they are what they wear. Many of our parents who can least afford this are falling prey to the" I don't want my child to be denied syndrome". Our children are not learning values which are important for life. They have no money sense and think that this is how they will live life in the future. Ask the average middle schooler where they will live and what kind of lifestyle they will have and you will hear real fairy tales. The sad part is these kids don't realize it's a fairy tale.The majority of these kids don't have bank accounts and in some cases, no one in their family has an account. Our children need to be ready fr the next century.
Definitely.
Would you be willing to share what website you used to buy the stuff you used for your centerpieces?
One very easy answer: YES. That pretty much sums it up!
It absolutely should be taught. Maybe we can have a generation of folks who understand running up a credit card (or 2 or 3 or 4) to the max and only making minimum payments is a bad idea. And if you make $50,000 a year you probably don't want a mortgage on a $300,000 house.
It's a shame that the US Government (no matter which party is in power) doesn't set a better example.
J Wunderle
Springfield, MO