Financially Stupid
December 01, 2002, 10:57 AM

"Work hard in school so you can get a great job with a six-figure paycheck." Growing up, I would hear advice like this that was supposed to motivate me, and it did. As a result, I am irritated at the sight of a B. After school, I'm in my room swimming in homework until bedtime. I fill my head with history, biology, algebra, chemistry, geometry and more. I'll chase my tail for the school year just to experience the euphoria of another A. Perfection is my quest; failure is not an option.

But I can't help noticing something is terribly wrong. My adult counterparts work like machines to get that next big promotion. Many believe a promotion will solve their financial problems, but in reality it only gets them deeper in debt. Even though they have a lot of intelligence, they are financially stupid.

It is obvious to me our school system is antiquated. We live in the information age, yet are bound by obsolete ideals. Society forbids that we not know James K. Polk was the eleventh president, but it's okay if we don't know how to balance a check book. In Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki writes, "The main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money, but never learn to have money work for them."

Whether you like it or not, the hardest way to make money is to work for somebody else. I believe our school system is biased toward this employee state-of-mind. Too many courses we will never need are offered, and real world courses are rare.

The outcome is yet another financially stupid generation. Too many people believe the easiest way to find money is to climb the corporate ladder. In reality, it's the hardest way. Employees work the hardest and receive the worst tax advantages. They go to work every day and make someone else rich, while the government takes half of what they earn. If you look at our history, the richest of the rich got that way by building businesses, but where was that lecture in any school's curriculum?

Society demands a vocabulary for accounting, business, computers and the stock market; most schools do not provide it. I know adults who don't know what a 401(K) is. Schools need to shake their industrialist mentality and get in tune with today's occupational needs. More financial literacy classes must be offered. Students are being cheated of opportunities by not learning their options.

I am not implying that what school systems teach is bad, only that it's insufficient. There is a whole other world out there be-sides English, science, math and history, and if you're not prepared for it, your hard-earned money will vanish. Everyone needs to know how to manage their funds, but millions do not. Get educated so you can retire young and enjoy life! ?

Later Days,
Blaze

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