Why Not Write a “Real”Book?

I get asked this from time to time, “Shay, why not write a real book?” I think people appreciate the books I’ve written:Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook, 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money, All My Mistakes, and now the 2nd edition of 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money but they think the books are too small. When on thinks of a book, they think of “smart” people talking about subjects or creating characters that the average person couldn’t have put together. The more challenging the book, the better the book is.

Well, that’s not my cup of tea. There are so many really good in-depth books already covering advanced personal finance topics. What wasn’t there until I wrote 10 Things, was an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand book that explained the basics of personal finance for people that are just getting started. When I began learning about personal finance, I had to read with the book on one thigh and a dictionary on the other thigh! Lol I couldn’t understand HALF of the words and concepts that the books were throwing around. Young people and the uninitiated deserve to have a book too.

 

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, NBC Latino and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com.

Uber Takes Advantage of Drivers

Half of all Uber drivers last about six months before they quit.

Since they need more drivers, they have come up with a scheme to get drivers with bad credit a loan for a new car through Xchange Leasing. The Houston Chronicle explains:

If you’ve got a license and are willing to drive, Uber will hook you up with a new car, no matter how bad your credit. To make sure you make your payments, though, Uber will automatically deduct them weekly from what you earn as a driver. If you don’t drive enough, or you fail to make your lease payment, Xchange has folks to take the car back.

Goldman Sachs just put up a million dollars to expand the program.

Here’s what this looks like to me:

#1 You can’t get approved by another lender so you know that the terms will be bad. Can we say “sub-prime” lending?

#2 Uber, or XChange, sets the rates for the loan and then Uber turns around and sets the rates that drivers drive for. You’re telling the drivers what they’ll pay to lease the car AND controlling how much money they earn.

#3 The lease payment comes out of the Uber driver’s pay that week, before the driver gets the money.

#4 If the driver doesn’t drive enough to make the payments, then the car is repossessed.

This does not sound like a good deal for Uber drivers that don’t already have a car loan.

 

 

 

My Work is So Important Because Teachers Think It Isn’t

“Many of the teachers that were surveyed didn’t think that financial education was an important concept,” said Brian Cullinan, the market managing partner for the auditing firm Pricewaterhouse Cooper in Southern California, which sponsored the survey.

I just read this quote from Despite new law, California lags in personal finance education and it turned my stomach. The reason I work so hard to reach people and teach them about personal finance is because most of them weren’t educated in that field in high school, undergrad or grad school. Apparently, they weren’t educated in it because teachers don’t think that it’s important. According to the article, fewer than 10% of teachers teach personal finance in California.

When you’re calling about speaking to a group of students, often the teacher will ignore your call or not prioritize your event. Now, I know why. This makes it even more important to educate your children about personal finance outside of school. Take ’em to a workshop. Register ’em for a webinar. Buy ’em a book. Talk with them about your successes and challenges. Do SOMETHING to make sure they don’t have to learn the hard way like most of us did.