
Also alarming to this proud father of a 6 month old daughter is that according to Lusardi, women and girls are more ignorant than men and boys in every survey [they] have looked at.
So how can we make sure that their children or grandchildren are not ignorant about money?
It starts at home. As parents and grand parents, we need to lead by example. We set the tone by making conscious decisions to delay gratification for future benefits and live within our means. Our kids and grand kids will see and should participate in making good financial decisions that will plant the seeds of financial growth in their young minds early on. The challenge is that according to Greene and Lusardi, many of these parents don’t know how to lead by example. As investors, we probably all know someone who has no idea of how to manage their finances. I would suggest to you, the same thing my dad did for me:  share with them something (about personal finances) that you’ve enjoyed.
In 2000, my dad and I listened to the audio book The Millionaire Next Door. This book peaked my curiosity about why some people have money, while others did not. From there I set a goal to be debt free (except my mortgage) and live below my means every year. So far, it’s worked.
As we head into Father’s Day weekend, share with someone a nugget of personal finance that you are excited about. If you are having trouble thinking of some, I’ve listed a few below:
- Wharton, Dartmouth and the Rand Corporation have established the new Financial Literacy Center, which will develop “educational materials and programs that help foster saving and retirement strategies over the life cycle.”
- The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) has Consumer Webinar Series and a Your Money Bus which travels the country offering free advice.
- The Federal Reserve has Money Smart Week in April.
- The Financial Planning Association promotes Financial Planning week every October.
- Of course there’s also blogs like this one, Get Rich Slowly, Five Cent Nickel, and Free Money Finance and many more located in my blogroll.
- The Millionaire Next Door and many other books on finances can be found in my Libaray.
- There is FREE Financial Planning software available in the FREE Stuff section of this site that is a good reality check for someone who may never think about their finances