We've all heard it before; the lack of financial literacy in our country is a huge problem. When it comes to budgeting, abusing credit cards, leasing cars, credit scores, etc.; Americans sorely need education.
My grandmother once told me that "money is not the root of all evil; not having enough money is the root of all evil". Those Depression era folks were so careful with money because they lived through such a horrible economic period. I think everyone I know sees that prior generations were more careful with their money. Their level of education is nowhere close to ours, but to them, the school of hard knocks was all the financial education they needed.
Fast forward to today; we are an incredibly sophisticated society. We have easy access to credit, seamless money transfers, app based banking, and even crypto. But people are still getting themselves into financial trouble.
Just a second! I am not beating on people who have had and/or are undergoing economic hardships. There are all kinds of nasty surprises in life and even the best laid plans (of mice and men - to get my literary reference in this) often go awry. Simply put, we just don't have as much control over our own lives as much as we think. That's why we have the insurance industry, right? But I digress. It's easy to understand that if everyone had a higher level of financial know how, so many people would be better off. That would be good for the whole of our society.
My point is that financial literacy is not taught in high school or college. Economics 401 is taught in college, but nothing about how your credit score could affect your mortgage rate for 30 years. That's just one of a gazillion examples that you and I could come up with. People have different levels of financial awareness, but they don't know what they don't know, and they have self-defeating money habits that eventually catch up with them.
I found someone who is on a mission to break the cycle. When I first met her, I was like "you have to be on my podcast!!!" She started a not for profit foundation called Equity First Foundation. Its mission is to educate the public about the significance of sound financial habits and strategies, offering periodic free presentations on these important subjects. They teach classes in local high schools, churches, synagogues, and many other kinds of organizations. It helps families and individuals too.
We had an in depth conversation about personal finance; credit cards, economic hardships, bankruptcy, etc.; her knowledge is vast. She has the energy of the Sun and the work ethic of an army. She was a way better guest on my live stream podcast than I could have possibly expected. Please watch the highlight reel below. To learn more about her foundation, click here:
Equity First Foundation
I live stream "Be The Boss of Your Money" podcast every Wednesday at 12:30 PM EST to LinkedIn and Facebook.
