Financial Literacy

I'm currently re-reading a book called 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' by Robert T. Kiyosaki.  It is a New York Times Best Seller and one of the reasons I attempt to have some financial literacy in my everyday life.  Kioyaski successfully displays that "while traditional schooling is extremely important, we all need to understand money and how it works."

I attended Frederick Douglass Academy from the 7th to 12th grade.  While there I received one of the best, if not the best public school education offered in New York City.  We, the students, received a vigorous and challenging curriculum that prepared us for gaining future success.  I even had the opportunity to study Japanese as a foreign language (Ohayoo Gozaimasu).  That's good morning since I didn't say it before starting this post.  Getting back to the topic, there is one thing I noticed about my education, and that of some of my peers.  We were all taught to get good grades, go to college, and continue to excel so that we can be successful in our high paying jobs.  We were missing a key ingredient to overall success; financial literacy.

One of my favorite quotes in this book is "I don't work for money, my money works for me".  Growing up I would have never been expected to understand this.  Talks of money were very limited in my house. Because we grew up poor, most conversations were about getting food on the table or paying that next bill.  In addition, none of us were that savvy in the financial realm anyway.  So without being able to get that knowledge at home, one would expect that the next place to go is school.  That wasn't the case for me.  FDA had an "economics" class but it was not on the level of the classes my college peers took at their respective high schools.  Some people took courses in investing 101, finance, accounting, and business management.  At an early age, they were exposed to the markets, and gained the knowledge to potentially make informed and effective decisions with their personal finances.  I also noticed that some of my peers were given this same information at the dinner table in their homes.  Personally, I think this information is more important than any traditional education.  An individual with wealth is nothing if he can't manage it properly.  It will probably be gone in no time.

I won't continue to bore you but I will end on this note.  Do yourselves a favor and become financially savvy.  Everyone NEEDS to learn how to make their money work for them, rather than live paycheck to paycheck, and risk retiring without anything substantial.  I am in no way some financial expert but I have been taking some of the necessary steps to become one.  I do not want to see my kids and younger family members struggle as unemployment rates increase, taxes rise, and every expense you can think of continues to grow.  The least we can do is provide our youth with this information, at school and in the home.

By the way, read Rich Dad Poor Dad when you get a chance.  It's a quick read and might be inspiring to you.  And if you want some beginners investings tutorials, you can check out Investopedia.