Parents, it is time to finally come to terms with the state of the world as it is today. No longer can we act as if things are as they were. We were raised with the mantra of work hard, get a good education, get a high-paying job, start a family, buy a house, and your life will be amazing. While some of the things are true, to some extent, trying to accomplish all of them will leave you working until you are 70 years old. I want to break these ideas down, one by one, before we move on to why financial education is important.
Work Hard. Working for earned income is one of the biggest things that is hurting the poor and middle class. Working for someone else is not bad in and of itself. However, it should be used as a stepping stone towards our own endeavors. Let me give you an example. You have a son that wants to be a video editor. He goes to college and gets a job at CNN, as a video editor. As soon as he starts to work he should know exactly why he is at CNN. He is there to learn how to be a great video editor and maybe how to navigate the corporate environment. He should already have a plan to become a consultant with YouTubers, or start a video editing academy, etc… This is why our children need assets so that they can go learn a trade and have the resources to start a business afterward. We are leaving our children in the workforce for 40-50 years.
Get a high-paying. The problem with a high paying job is that most of us don’t have the financial education to use it effectively. If we get out of college making $200,000 a year, we should be able to be financially independent in 10 years or less. But what happens is that we spend the first 10 years getting into consumer debt, the next 10 years getting out of consumer debt, the following 10 years saving and investing, and the last 10 years saving and investing for our children. Financial education is the missing link to getting our children back home, from the workforce.
Start a family. We graduated from school, got a high-paying job, and we are working hard. Now we need to find a mate. In America, our mate needs to be as motivated and successful as we are. We can’t find someone simple and down to earth (sarcasm). Dating is a chore and it extremely hard to do. Getting married and having kids is even more difficult. When we do get married we have no idea what marriage looks like because we were always focused on our careers. We have kids but we are so far away from our parents that we have zero support. In the end, there are two parents working hard, trying to manage children all by themselves. The stress is ridiculous and only the strong survive. We can’t blame anyone for the divorce rate. It takes a tribe to raise a family. Our kids still need emotional and financial support throughout their lives. Grandparents are more important now than have ever been. However, the grandparents are still in the workforce. They were not financially educated.
Buy a house. On top of the stress of finding a mate and raising children, let’s throw in buying an expensive house. That will surely make things better. Not. Now everything that we have stressed over is locked in for 30 years at a 3% interest rate. As a consumer nation, we have to ensure our house is over-sized, fully up to date, and nicely furnished. These extras will add even more years to our work life. Right now, we as parents are in our prime earning years (40-50 for males, 45-55 for females). This is the time to buy multiple rental homes because one day they can be passed on to our children, either to live in or rent out. The most important thing is that they will have options. If we can buy a house now in 2021, it will be better than our children buying the same house in 2041.
Your life will be amazing. We all think that our kids are going to be the ones to set the trends and breakout from the others. Currently, the best and brightest are working for money, enslaved to a corporation that doesn’t care about them, locked into a crapload of debt, and trying to find happiness. The best of them can deal with the disappointment, but a lot of our children are turning to drugs, alcohol, divorce, or even suicide. We can help them provide a better life for themselves. First, we have to get educated and then we need to pass all that goodness to them.
Why is financial education important?
Financial education is what separates the rich from the middle class and the poor. We need to understand what an asset is, how to create them or buy them, and how to use the money they produce to buy more of them. Understand that this is not working for money. When we work for our earned income jobs, our creativity is stifled. We are all creative entrepreneurs by nature. We all have passions; passions that can be monetized. If we have assets given to us by family members, we don’t need to make millions of dollars to be successful and live a comfortable life.
As parents, we have to stop bragging about our kid’s worldly successes. I know that it is awesome to have a doctor, lawyer, Marine, firefighter, policeman, Master’s degree, professor, etc… in the family. It is wonderful to be able to brag and say that we were good parents. My favorite saying is “At what cost?” At what cost are we leaving our kids out there, alone and unafraid, in a world that doesn’t care about them? All that matters is family. If we have a daughter making $200,000 in New York as a doctor, it is okay for her to come back home and make $80,000. If we have assets to help her out here, then let’s do that. Let’s ensure she knows that we can work together on starting a medical practice for her. We can assist her with her kids and schooling. Why do we feel that our kids need to make it 100% on their own? The rich don’t feel this way.
Call to action. Now is the time for us to take financial education seriously. Now is the time for us to learn about business and entrepreneurship. If we don’t learn, our kids are less likely to learn. We need to buy assets and delete liabilities. We need to understand terms like return on investment, net operating income, and capital expenditures. If we don’t, well it’s time. Our children need us. NOW.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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