Discussion

I was raised in CA. I went to a private Christian school until 8th grade. We were taught that "the love of money is the root of all evil." I believe it can be if one is being greedy and selfish as opposed to giving to giving some to ones church or charity. However, other than that I wasn't taught about finances until I took a course in Accounting in high school. I was taught how to keep a checkbook and even how to complete a basic tax return. Nothing was taught about investing or becoming your own boss, just getting a job.

I grew up in a little town called Scituate Massachusetts in the 1980's and 1990's and we recieved very little Financial education. At the very most we were lectured but not taught on We learned nothing about assets and liabilities, certainly nothing about financial statements and less about how to invest or the principles of money and money management. I never heard the term cash flow until I was an adult and even then did not understand what it meant or how it worked until I witnessed first hand the negative affects of a lack of passive income and the positive affects of passive income from cash flow assets. Now I am a teacher and it really upsets me that the curriculum does not allow us time to adequately teach financial education to our students. As I have been expanding my own financial education I've been doing my best to pass it on to my students. Just the other day we did a lesson on the Louisiana Purchase and I started by showing the students available farmland and property for sale in Florida for close to 15 million dollars (The price of the Purchase) we then determined the price per acre and the students realized that the U.S. bought the 640 million acres (approx)for around 4 cents an acre and had to buy it site unseen. I illustrated the importance of taking action, of making an investment, we talked about speculating vs. investing etc. etc. It really opened an opportunity for financial education but the curriculum is not structured to support it and I work it an affluent private school.

Robert Hi...I am 53 years old and I grew up in Chicago IL. We were not taught about financial education. And the little I do know I get from your website. I think the education that is being taught is a minimum barely, scatching the surface. Not in depth to where as your child would come home excited to tell you how he or she can create wealth for the rest of our lives.

Going to grade school and college in the state of Michigan, very little was taught about money. The same thing that mostly everyone will tell you, balancing a checkbook. In college there were some classes that focused on compound interest as well as accounting classes that dealt with understanding debits/credits on a balance sheet.

Most of my financial education has come from Rich Dad! Thank you!!!

J. Rush

I went to public school, and later on got a mathematics degree in the 70's in Eastern Canada, Ontario to be specific. Nowhere along the way did anyone tell me about how to manage my money until someone mentioned Robert Kiyosaki to me about 4 years ago. Wow, did I ever not know what was going on! Rich Dad, Poor Dad; Cashflow 101/102; and Darren Weeks in Alberta have started me on my path to financial enlightenment.

I grew up in Taiwan. I came to US in '97. Even though my father is a retired teacher of businss and held a degree in finance and taxation. I did not receive any formal financial education from school or my father. (Isn't that sad?)

All the financial knowledge I got was from Robert's books and seminars. I learned more and faster than when I was at school.

I went to school in small town in Delaware a mid-east cost state. I was in the lower half of half of my class maybe even the lower half of that half. I barely graduated high school in 1985 with basic academic skills… finical education?

As I think back the only things I remember are being how to count money in elementary school and how to write a check and keep the check book ledger, they may have taught how to balance it but I don’t remember. The funny thing is that was English and writing class.

The seeds of financial education were planted in me at about the age of twelve. My parents were pursuing some business ventures for their first time and as I look back I guess you’d say they were trying to increase their financial IQ and better life… the American Dream. They were listening to a tape while we were all on a family road trip to meet with a family member that was a successful entrepreneur. I don’t remember who was on that tape only the context was about owning your own business… like a rag to riches story. Also this one thing the guy said I do remember clear as day “If your wife has a job you aint cutting it” from that day forward I knew I wanted to be a entrepreneur, but of course I did not know that is what it was called at the time let alone even how to spill it… still can’t.

So that is where my desire for financial education came from. But any real knowledge I have gained has come from trial and error, self education by listening to audios reading books and in about 1994 I was introduced to the Rich Dad Poor Dad book and now been getting most of my education from the Rich Dad Company.

Hello.

I got my academic education from the Philippines. Granted that I learned from a private school, all I could remember were math lessons that dealt with mark-ups and interest. These skills were very useful if you are planning to be an employee in a bank or a retail store. In high school and college, I dealt with more algebra, calculus and trigonometry which I felt I would never use (I never did except some basic algebra) in my personal finance. Some friends of mine who took accounting and finance were no better money managers than I. They were training to be employees. I can only imagine what kind of financial education taught in public schools.

I learned how to save by doing. I figured out that if I save my allowance for the week, I could buy my doodads (I know… my mistake) without asking money from my parents.

The main problem is that parents who are not financially educated could not see that the schools are dropping the ball on financial education. Instead of demanding more financial education in the curriculum, they worry more on the standardized tests and other stuffs while credit card companies are “hooking” their kids to credit debt.

In addition, people think that as soon as they graduate, their education is over. No one bothers to read more books on personal finance and develop asset building skills to help them get out of the rat race.

My husband and I are Baby Boomers. He was born in 1946 andd grew up in a small town. NO financial education AT ALL. I was born in 1953 and grew up a Navy brat. So went to lots of different schools. NO financial education AT ALL.

The only "training" I ever got was from my mother - who managed the finances in our family - taught me how to balance my check book when I got my first job. Period. End of story.

I was born and educated in comunist Romania - no education about money at all, since I trained to become a doctor... Now I work in Canada. Medical training here included some minimal financial training, mostly regarding tax deductions that doctors can make. They included a warning about possible bancrupcy, eventhough physicians earn a lot of money. Their advice was: make sure you spend less than you make! No advice about investing or making your money work for you!