Financial Education Information

[Boomer]

I am that TOTVer who every now and then feels compelled to pass along information on financial stuff. For about a month, I shared the link to NPR's radio show "Marketplace Money" so you could listen to it, too, if you want to. I also became quite fixated on the FDIC for awhile and passed along info on their seemingly ever changing role in all this. (The woman who runs the FDIC warned them, btw. They would not listen to her.)

Anyway, I have no credentials of any kind to give financial advice, although I admit that people ask me stuff sometimes. I am very careful about what I tell them and I usually just point them to information or answer in general terms. I do not claim to be an expert of any kind. I have won a few and lost a few, just like all the rest of us. I try to understand what I am doing, and then I take responsibility for my own actions.

OK. That was the disclaimer. Now for the confession.

A week or so ago, I took off on a little tangent (OK it was a rant, here on TOTV) about how I think financial ed needs to be a part of the curriculum, elementary through secondary, in schools. It needs to be right there with the 3 R's. For real. Not hit or miss like it is now.

I say this because I know that many parents do not understand things enough themselves to teach their kids about it or the kids won't listen or whatever. Financial irresponsibility is rampant, not only in government, but in those credit card junkies across the land and all that instant gratification stuff and.....ohhhhhh, I feel a rant coming on, and besides, you all know this, too.

So anyway, here is why I am talking about this stuff this morning...

I just found out that there is something called "The National Endowment for Financial Education." Who knew? They should have made Congress study this stuff. Anyway, there is a site associated with the NEFE called spendster.org and it is something that is really user-friendly and might be a good start or wake-up call for educating young people.

So anyway, passing these links forward might help you to help somebody else. It is time for the wearin' of the flannel here in Ohio and it's cold out there. So passing along these links is so much easier than going door to door, from school to school.

Here goes:

http://spendster.org/

and

http://www.nefe.org/

Boomer

[JohnN]

thank you , Boomer , and you're right, this is important for everyone

[Boomer]

Yep, John, it sure is important.

And you know what else?

Not only should it be in our schools, but financial education probably should be worked into television programming from Sesame Street through MTV. Too many kids have been thrown to the wolves in this one. Too many kids just don't learn anything about handling money. Too many parents don't have a clue and cannot begin to teach their kids about finances. This lack of knowledge is across the board in society. And we all pay.

Educating kids about money would certainly bring an amazing ROI. And that return on investment would happen pretty quickly it seems.

I like the sites I linked here. I did not know about the NEFE until just a few days ago.

(And, of course, you all realized immediately that what I am doing here is a shameless and thinly disguised bump of a thread I started. Hey! At least I am refraining from ranting. You know, I figure if just a couple of people pass those links to spendster.org and NEFE along, it might make a difference for somebody, somewhere. But I think I am starting to sound like a crusader. Or like I am trying to give everybody homework. -- Oh well.....I am seriously thinking about giving a pop quiz sometime soon.)

Boomer