You know, I could never understand why with all the time that kids spend in middle school and high school, they’re never really taught anything about finance! This has always absolutely baffled me. If they can spend years and years learning about English, Art, Science and Math, why can’t a little bit of time be dedicated to real financial education? Yea they’ll get a basic economics class, and some generalities here and there, but rarely will someone actually sit down with them and explain how to plan for retirement, how compounding works, and how, if they just start their retirement planning early, they can have a serious advantage in reaching their financial goals.
That’s why I was so happy to hear this recent news about two people, Julia Heath and Douglas York, who are devoting their time and energy to teaching young Americans about personal finance and the world of business. They’re setting up one of the country’s first financial education programs – training teachers to teach their students about finance. And listen to this! York volunteers his time teaching elementary school kids about finance! How amazing is this? These kids are gaining real, practical knowledge that will give them the tools to build better lives for themselves! It doesn’t matter what profession they have in the future, or what career path they follow – just having a basic understanding of how money works will help them plan better, budget better, and at the end of the day, have more money in their pockets. That’s how the next generation of kids will learn what not to do, and how to stay out of trouble – knowledge that most of us unfortunately didn’t learn until AFTER high school!
How many of you agree that our kids should be taught about finances? How many of you think that if you were taught some financial basics early on, that you would be a retirement rock star by now!? Maybe starting really young is the only way to teach the next generation how to retire comfortably!?
This news really brightened my day, and was followed by having lunch with a dear friend, who is also a client, who told me that her 20 year old son had a question about a retirement savings plan at his job! Even though he’s not my son, I was still SUCH A PROUD MOM at that moment! WOW! How amazing that at just 20 years old, this young man was already thinking about his future and his retirement!
WAY TO GO to my friend Bobbie! You are teaching your son some AMAZING lessons today that he cared enough to enroll in a retirement plan and to start contributing so early, instead of throwing that money away on meaningless stuff.
I mean think about this; many people don’t even start thinking about their retirement planning until they reach their 50’s! But by the time this young man will be in his 50’s, he might already be retired altogether!
So if you have children, here’s one of the best things you can do for them: start talking to them about money, and the importance of planning for their retirement EARLY. Or even simpler yet, at least talk to them about budgeting – it can be as simple as suggesting that they keep a log in a notebook of how they spend their money, and where. A $1.50 for a soda here, a $12 movie ticket there, a $1 pack of chewing gum – you get the picture. But as simple as it sounds, if you just get your kids to be more in touch with their financial decisions, as simple as those decisions might be at this point in their life, what you’ll do is help them build good HABITS. And these habits will stick with them as they grow up into responsible adults. (Oh, and if you’re thinking “Oh, I don’t really want to worry about it for now…,” just ask yourself how much money you’ll save in the future if they grow up to be financially responsible and won’t come to borrow money from you when they grow up! I hope a giant light bulb is going off in your head right now!)