I'm really excited about an opportunity next week that will send me to Long Island to teach a personal finance class to some high school-aged young ladies.  Many personal finance experts have tried to bring attention to the sorry fact that our educational system simply does not prepare our children to manage their own finances. 


                                                                  


(It's not just money skills that are lacking.  My dad wants Garbage 101 to be mandatory as it will teach the art of properly throwing out the trash. )

The other day, I had the privilege of talking to 10 AmeriCorps members for three hours about the ins and outs of personal finance.  Everything from credit to managing debt to budgeting was discussed.  The 10 young adults were not the typical sample of people in their early 20s, though.  They were all college-educated, many of them from top-notch schools.  They all held a passion for helping low-income populations with their finances and had presumably majored in related fields such as Economics, Sociology or something similar.  (Economics and Sociology happened to be my two majors, in fact.)

Yet, when I went over a few topics and asked for a show of hands, it became apparent that I was the first person to present certain kinds of information to them.  For example, the differences between Term and Whole Life insurance.  (If some of you want to know, please send in a comment and I'll write an entry about both.)  None of them knew what they were although, truth be told, if you would've asked me to explain the differences between the two a couple of years ago, I could not have answered the question either.  Yes, I'm college educated.   Yes, I majored in Sociology and Economics.  Yes, I am the most experienced Certified Consumer Credit Counselor in all of New York City.  But until I started watching Suze Orman in action and began reading her books, I could not have answered that question.

Now, knowledge of the insurance industry is not necessarily vital to my job, but it sure helps.  The funny thing, too, is that it's not even that complicated to grasp.  I explained to them those differences in about 5 minutes. 

Why is knowing about Term and Whole-Life insurance a big deal?  Because many life insurance agents will rip you off if you don't.  Many clients of mine are paying a hundred dollars or more per month for life insurance-- money they cannot afford to pay-- and the coverage won't even really provide for their loved ones should they pass away.  However, if they educated themselves, they could switch to a Term Life plan that costs half or even a third of their bill per month and provides triple the coverage. 

My hope is that I inspired those 10 young adults to learn more and pass along their newfound knowledge as I have.

Speaking of Suze Orman, I had the pleasure of meeting her yesterday at a Road to Personal Wealth conference.


                              
                                                                                                                                Chris and Suze/Deb Steinberg


In the 30 seconds I had while she signed my book and my wife took our picture, I thanked her for motivating clients to come see me.  She always refers people to the National Foundation for Consumer Credit when they're struggling with their debt.  (If your zip code happens to be near my office, you may end up meeting me!)  I handed Suze my card and said that I'd love to take her out to lunch.  I meant it.  I hope she takes me up on my offer. 

Later, I also handed my card to 2 young ladies were were each searching for someone to meet with to discuss their financial struggles. 

I hope that there are 3 e-mails waiting for me when I return to the office on Monday.

-- Chris Dlugozima



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