Update Your Fin. Ed.

Model financial education early and often.

I’m so happy to read that more educators are understanding the need for ongoing financial education. Children are learning about money from the time they are born. They are seeing you make it, and spend it, they are hearing you talk about it, they are forming opinions how about it should be spent. This article states it beautifully

And just like inoculations that require booster shots, financial education isn’t a one-time learning. We need to demand that it be taught in high schools and colleges. And we as parents need to have the “money talk” with our kids early and often.

I couldn’t agree more. I speak at elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges for that reason. You’d be surprised how many thoughts young people have about money. We have to start early and we have to talk about financial education consistently. More than that, we have to model the behaviors that we want to instill in young people.

PEACE

Teens Want It

According a study conducted by Charles Schwab, “nearly 9 in 10 say they want to learn how to make their money grow (89 percent). Two-thirds (65 percent) believe learning about money management is ‘interesting,’ and 60 percent say that learning about money management is one of their top priorities.” Do you know what that means? Young people want to learn about spending plans, acquiring appreciating assets, and creating emergency funds.

Order 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money on Amazon. Click the photo for more information.

The key to guiding students is making all the tried and true information about personal finance apply to every day life. It’s not that there are any new ideas about money management under the sun. Oh, there are folks that will try to tell you there are. Those folks are liars. The same old strategies work the best:

Don’t spend more than you earn.
Put your money into appreciating assets.
Invest for retirement as early as you can.
Etc.
Etc.

The challenge is getting these stogy old ideas to the younger generations in a fresh way. You’ve told your students/children/relatives to set goals for themselves, right? Have you every put it in the context of rapper 50 Cent’s career? You’ve talked to them about creating a budget, but you explained the merits of spending plans? Sometimes it’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it. You think they’re not listening, but they are. You think they don’t see your behaviors, but they do. Teens want to know more about financial literacy. Meet them half way.

Who Controls Your Retirement Account?

I was reading about how the rules that govern your 401k and IRA are created in Financial Advisor and it kinda scared me. I think that we should all be saving for retirement. The part that scares me is when there are laws enacted to make sure we do:

While at Brookings, Iwry began developing the auto-IRA, which would require employers without retirement plans but with more than 10 employees to withhold a portion of each employee’s pay—similar to a payroll-tax withholding—and deposit it into an IRA. Employees could opt out.

Be an adult
You probably realize that I’m all for small government and personal responsibility. People should be educated about how and why to save for retirement and then left alone to make their own choice. If they end up eating cat food because they haven’t saved a penny… that’s not my fault. The reason that many law makers want to make laws that force people to save is because they think we’re not smart enough to comprehend the importance of saving and investing for our own well being. If we don’t start making different choices we’ll either end up a) being forced into programs that we don’t understand. Obviously if we understood them, we wouldn’t need to be forced. We’d run to our financial institutions and set up our automatic retirement contributions as soon as we earned our first check from the mall or b) we’ll opt-out of those forced plans and become part of the social welfare system set up for people that couldn’t handle being an adult and making adult decisions.

Make good choices

What is more, the lower-income workers are more likely to withdraw money before 59 1/2 for emergencies and living expenses, and then owe a 10% tax penalty on the withdrawal. “They might wind up with less after taxes than if they had never contributed at all,” says Ms. Ferguson.

That means that workers that don’t earn that much in the first place are putting a few dollars aside and then pulling them out before they should, triggering extra penalties. I understand that sometimes things happen that we can’t control, however we can control our responses. Do you have an emergency account set up to deal with life’s emergencies? Do you have your retirement contributions going to your 401k or IRA account automatically so you can pay yourself first?

One day you’ll be old.
One day you’ll be old. You can choose to prepare for that eventuality and feel the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with that or you can choose to do nothing and hope that you can get by on whatever money you get from social security every month. Are you willing to make decisions that will set you up for a comfortable retirement? Will you make small sacrifices now to have future gains?

Whatever you’re life ends up being, it’s that way due to your choices.

Choose wisely.

Cruise Control: Destination Financial Freedom

Speaker and author Shay Olivarria offers her first cruise Feb. 2011. Prices start at $98 per night. Only $50 reserves your spot.

Download the press release here

Download the cruise booklet w/ registration form

February 11 – 17, 2011 I may be cruising the Caribbean with you on Carnival Cruise Line. I’m thrilled to offer my first cruise & learn, Cruise Control: Destination Financial Freedom, this spring. We’ll leave from Miami, Fl on Saturday, February 11th heading to Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We’ll have a fun day at sea on Sunday when the lecture series will begin. Monday we dock in Ocho Rios and Tuesday we dock in Grand Cayman. Wednesday we’ll have another fun day at sea and another lecture. We’ll pull back into Miami on Thursday. You’ll be a little more than and a little more wise.

Prices start at only $98 a night and a $50 deposit holds your spot. Natalie Neat over at Sand 2 Sea Cruising will be handling all the details. Give her a call at (949) 544-1991 if you have any questions.

All attendees will get a 5 night cruise, a copy of Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook, the lecture series, a souvenir book, a swag bag, and all taxes and fees. Register now.

My work deals with translating financial education jargon into simple terms that we can all use in our everyday lives and coaching you toward feeling confident enough to make choices. Many people know they want to have more money or manage their money better, but they aren’t sure where to begin or whom to speak with. Many people have fears about authority figures or emotional baggage around money. Basically, I make learning money management fun!

Mail registration form and make $50 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot.

See you in February!

Be well.

View the press release here

Shay on Black Authors Network Financial Wellness and Awareness Discussion

In case you missed me on Black Authors Network’s Financial Wellness and Awareness Discussion, here it is. My portion begins at the 1.5 hour mark. I was featured for about 45 minutes.

There were two other authors, Ash Cash and Jennifer Mathews, featured on the show as well. I believe all our books can be found online at Amazon.com.

I’ll also be featured in Black Pearls Magazine in March.

Want to hear more radio shows featuring Shay? Visit Bigger Than Your Block and catch me on the Terryl Ebony Show, the Hollis Chapman Show, and the Cheap Cheetah Show (twice!).