Have you ever noticed that when you hear about one random topic all of a sudden the next 10 things you hear about relate to it?
As some of you might know, I'm an avid Oprah viewer and yesterdays episode was about American families who have gotten themselves in massive debt. The guest star was my favorite person, Suze Orman who is a financial guru and has had her own financial T.V. show for years.
I also (along with most people I know) am a huge fan of the show The Office, and last night a good portion of the episode was about getting into debt... weird huh?
So my focus on this post is on avoiding financial ruin.
I went to High School in New York State in a small village (not city) and the only aspect of finance we were taught about was one day when a teacher told us that if we invest our money in a mutual fund we could one day be millionaires. -- Not exactly the most useful information, but it caught my interest nonetheless.
Considering many people who I went to school with weren't going to be supported by their parents much longer after graduating and also weren't going to be going to college it would've been very helpful to have more information on personal finance.
Despite new bankruptcy reform laws the number of households filing is growing. How many of these people are bankrupt due to life's circumstances (sickness, death, job loss) and how many are due to mismanagement of money?
If my passion for personal finance lasts over the years, my goal is to go to high schools and maybe middle schools and teach responsible personal finance practices.
How many of you feel that you would've been better financially if it had been taught to you in High School? Or maybe earlier?
Friday, October 19, 2007
I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY
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2 comments:
When I was in Elementary school they tried to teach us how to save money and not miss it! Every week we'd bring a quarter to school and receive a stamp in exchange. eventually the book filled up and you cashed it in wow, what a lesson in savings that was! you could'nt wait to fill the book, get the stamp and cash out!I'm grown up now,(sort of) and still have money issues probably because of that lousy lesson about saving. I could blame the school or just take the responsibility myself. Either way we all need to respect money more and not let it run or ruin our lives.
I agree. Just like jean said, i think most elementary schools have those little games to try and teach kids to be aware of their money spending habits, but I think there should be something more mandatory in high school. I know in my high school, senior year we were given "economic games" where we were given a role of someone- either someone rich with children, single mother of 3, father, etc, and had to plan out the expenses for a full year. WHile this was our high school's attempt at showing how many things we have to pay for and make us more concerned, I think a class like "personal finance" or something along those lines would help.
While there is no way to convince everyone since money spending is a personal responsibility, it may not be such a bad idea for high schools to start implementing...
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