Early Intervention is Everything

….according to Jean Chatzky’s Practical Money Series.  I completely agree with her synopsis.  Even President Barack Obama has indicated that Financial Literacy and Financial Education should be at the top of our list as a country.  We are currently in this economic crisis due to greed, complex financial instruments, and a lack of general personal finance for the average American.  All Americans, young and old, from cradle to grave, are in need of general financial literacy education.  We’re talking about the basics here.  Budgeting, saving, spending, investing, buying a house, buying a car, sending your children to college, etc.  All ages of Americans are in need of this education, however, a perfect place to start is with our students of today.  K through 12.  That is why I have began to speak with various individuals in my community about promoting financial literacy throughout the public high school system.  I hope to increase my own knowledge and become and educator and promoter of financial literacy to all Americans, but specifically students in the North Carolina public and private school systems.

According to Jean, “A 2006 Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy found the average high school senior answered only 52 percent of the questions correctly on a basic financial knowledge test — a failing grade by any measure.”

Also, “What’s the solution? Early intervention and involvement at all levels – at home, school, work, church, etc. Parents need to take the first active role by having conversations with their children – early and often – about managing their money responsibly. Parents are a solid foundation for learning, but the problem can’t just be left to them.”

Another great place to get involved with promoting financial literacy is at your local church.  I hope in the near future to begin a financial literacy program at my church, St. Francis of Assisi in Raleigh, NC.

Start with the basics.  Learn how to complete an effective budget for your family.  A simple tool to use for this can be MS Excel.  The key to working with a budget is actually tracking the budget-to-actual comparison on a weekly or monthly basis.  Most families are good at making a budget, however, most are not successful at sticking to the budget, comparing the actual amount spent in each category, and talking as a family about the results on a consistent basis.  A nice free tool that you can use online for tracking your expenses can be found at http://www.mint.com/.

MF

As a side note, a free download of “Funny The Way It Is” from the Dave Matthwes Band new album, “Big Whisky & The Groogux King” – http://www.rcarecords.com/dmbfreedownload/