Financial Literacy
Happy Wednesday!
Several weeks ago, one of my readers named Rich replied to one of my weekly emails with this comment:
Would like to hear your thoughts on how parents should work with their children and young adults so they become more financially astute.
While Elizabeth and I don't have any children (besides Winnie, of course), I know many of you have kids, grandkids, and even some great grandkids.
So I wanted to share a resource that might prove useful for some of you...
It's nice to see more and more states passing legislation requiring financial literacy classes in high school, but I believe financial literacy starts much earlier in each of our lives.
And parent and grandparents have a wonderful opportunity - and responsibility - to impart money lessons that children and grandchildren can carry throughout their lives.
Talk about the power of compounding...
For more on some ways to talk about money with the young folks in your life, I point you to this recent Humble Dollar article:
Let me know what you think, and please reply with any of your own ideas or personal money lessons you learned early in your life.
Also, what's one thing about money you know now that you wish you'd known in your 20s?
Links & Things
A few years ago, I shared the idea of "bike shedding" with you. 🚲
Also known as the law of triviality, it describes our tendency to devote a disproportionate amount of time to trivial or menial things, while failing to address more important matters.
I often encounter this in my work with folks like you.
Many people seem more interested in focusing on how they can get another 0.05% interest on their $23,000 savings account balance (which amounts to an additional $11.50 over a full year, by the way) than tackling more important decisions like whether their estate plan is up to date or if they have a holistic retirement plan in place.
I could give many more examples of bike shedding when it comes to money matters.
And I'm not above this bike shedding behavior either... I think we all do it from time to time in different parts of our lives.
For more on bike shedding along with some examples and explanation, check out this Decision Lab article:
And before we wrap up this week's email, I want to leave you with an idea that caught my eye recently:
Bad news: time flies
Good news: you're the pilot ✈️
Thank you, as always, for reading.
And if you have any questions or an idea for a future newsletter, blog post, or YouTube video, I'd love your input.
Just hit reply - I read (and appreciate) every email you send.
Until next Wednesday,
Russ