Comments on: The 7 Personal Finance Teachings that could Save our Nation

By: Nikki

Nikki — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:04:02 +0000

This is a great article. As I was reading through the numbers, I couldn’t help but think, “Hey, my mom taught me (at least a little) about that”. I may have heard a sentence or two about a few in school, but not as much as I know this country needs. Thanks for bringing this out. I’ll be forwarding the post to my family and friends.

By: Yolanda M. Taylor

Yolanda M. Taylor — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:52:32 +0000

AWESOME article!!! The information within is exactly what I think about daily. I cant express myself more profoundly than GE Miller (another commenter-author). He states that most Americans’ problems stem from either physical, financial, and mental disablilities. Personal Finance ought to be a graduation requirement. I am glad to see that young people are realizing the importance of personal finance as this will aid in our country’s economic recovery. Also, I agree that one parent should be at home to raise the child(ren) until the child(ren) are mentally grounded in good social and spiritual skills which in turns makes a more CONFIDENT person.

By: apartment rent noida

apartment rent noida — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:33:37 +0000

Great article. I agree that personal finance lessons should be given to students in schools.Moreover what i feel is that these are some of the basic things that every person should be aware of.

By: Misty Green

Misty Green — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:53:59 +0000

I AM a teacher and a teacher of those practical arts classes that another poster spoke of. They are right when they say that classes like mine are being pushed aside for higher level math and science courses. And to what end? I don’t know really. I do know that what I teach are the things that EVERYONE needs.. be it budgeting, healthy food prepartion, parenting and child development (which I think should be a required course for graduation). I understand that many on here feel that personal finance should be just that, personal and taught by family. It is not strictly someone’s opinion though. There are tried and true methods for having money to do the things you want to do, while still saving for the future. Not to get into the politics of it, when the government acts as big brother and subsidizes the basic necessities of life for so many people, we remove the motivation for improving one’s lot in life. Why learn about budgeting so that I can afford the kind of home/car/lifestyle I want when I can get the govt. to pay for some of those things for me? I hope this makes sense to someone out there. I am writing a research proposal on whether or not using personal finance or budgeting simulations to middle school students changes attitudes and perceptions about $$ management. It is not so much that people don’t know about budgeting, its just that people don’t really want to act on it. Immedediate gratification vs. long term…make sense. Most people understand at a very basic level that they can’t spend more than they make, that they need to save for the future, but most people don’t want to do it. Given a choice between chocolate or fruit to eat next week, they will choose fruit, but when given a choice for today, they will choose chocolate. They would rather have that new house and plasma TV and luxury auto today than have to wait until they can really afford it.

By: G.E. Miller

G.E. Miller — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:27:03 +0000

@ Katie – I don’t want to absolve parents from the responsibility of raising their children – but hasn’t our capitalistic society with it’s shrinking middle class created an environment that begets our public schools from teaching our children essential life skills? Let’s face it, how many stay-at-home parents are there anymore? It’s more and more difficult to raise a family on one income. For those who can afford it, they’ve probably are sending their kids along to private schools. You can put all the responsibility in the hands of parents, but how many parents out there are smart enough, responsible enough, and have enough time to do it right?? This system has failed miserably. One may argue that these parents shouldn’t have kids then. I wouldn’t disagree with that point. I don’t plan on having kids until I know that either me or my wife can stay at home and raise them the right way.

By: Katie

Katie — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:43:43 +0000

I think for most schools, practical classes about the real world have been brushed aside for increasing numbers of high-level math and science classes, as well as other college prep courses. My mother has been in education for over 20 years, and in the past two decades, standards have increased to the point where already in the students’ 6-hour schedule, recesses have been shortened, naptime has been cut out for kindergarteners, and students have less free time to devote to anything other than very specific, state-required studies. In high schools, most vocational, personal finance, and home economics programs have been cut because there are too many requirements students must satisfy elsewhere.

I think Kelly’s statement does beg the question: what *are* parents required to teach their children these days? Schools are responsible for all the maths, sciences, histories, languages, arts. We are increasingly expecting schools to not only teach, but enforce best practices for health, personal hygiene, values, social skills, good mental health, personal finance, etc. Where is the time for this between the hours of 8 and 3? And how much of this alleviates parents of their own responsibilities to their children?

I think we have to stop expecting schools to raise our children for us.

By: stephanie

stephanie — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 06:55:01 +0000

I agree with many others that finance should be the responsibility of the parents.

That being said, I work in res life at a residential high school, and I make sure to include bulletin boards or other programs about personal finance, including some basic terminology, balancing a checkbook, how interest works, etc. – when these students are on their own in college, I know that many of them will have no clue what to expect financially. I’ve also bought a few personal finance books for the common areas of the hall, hoping students will look through them.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:27:50 +0000

Execllent article. I remember in high school taking one of those “life skills” classes and the only financial skill I remember learning is how to balance a checkbook. I was taught as a child the idea of frugality. Probably not by choice but I learned a great lesson, none-the-less.

I think the seven you mention are dead-on and would greatly benefit this country. I agree with the idea that people just don’t (or don’t want to) know about their money. I know a lot of people that hate to think about money – the whole “if you don’t think about it, it can’t bother you” mentality. If we teach financial responsibility, this way of thinking would be eliminated.

By: Michigan Girl

Michigan Girl — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:57:30 +0000

To Kelly – you teach “healthy eating” and the the school has a pop and candy machine around every corner.

By: Georgie

Georgie — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:32:42 +0000

I wonder if they’re not taught because since so many parents ARE clueless (in all three of the areas mentioned in the comments) we would be in essence giving students/children tools with which to criticize their parents. It’s like the non-QWERTY keyboards that are faster or why we don’t switch to kilometers and celsius like the rest of the world – the functioning adults now don’t want to be the ones that are behind, so we continue to leave our kids behind. Argh. I am lucky because my parents never had any debt beyond a mortgage, and ever since my mom passed away my dad has been a debt-free renter, so he hasn’t even been super affected by the decline in the housing market. They weren’t great savers, either, but then again I think my dad (like many his age, early sixties) wouldn’t retire for anything. I don’t think he would know what to do with himself.