Financial ignorance is no excuse to be bad with money
Dominic DeCono
Commodities are hard to come by and hard to keep.
In this case, it is money.
Some of the biggest problems occurring in the United States currently are the amount of debt people are getting themselves into.
Student-loan debt and credit-card debt are both over a trillion dollars, and seem to have no end in sight.
Many students are guilty of spending much of their paycheck within hours of getting it and often have nothing left over to save.
This comes as a symptom of an even larger problem; the increasing number of people in the general public who are not cautious of their money.
This especially includes students. Ron Henderson, an investment advisor for Prudent Financial, said part of the reason people in the country are so reckless with their money comes from a lack of guidance.
“People often develop bad spending habits when they are young and many never condition themselves to save what they earn rather than spend it on useless junk they don’t need,” Henderson said.
Henderson also believes there is not enough emphasis on teaching students to be wise with their money.
“Obviously there are economic courses to help students in some ways but there isn’t nearly enough teaching of things to do and more importantly what you shouldn’t do with your money at the most basic level,” Henderson said.
Fran Gossmin, a financial consultant at Desert Schools Federal Credit Union, says students are too often victims to financial trouble dealing with loans and credit cards because they never have a set plan.
“When I talk to students about getting credit cards, I find it alarming how so many of them don’t have enough understanding about how they work. You can’t take a risk in life and have no plan or you will lose,” she said.
Gossmin also believes there is more blame to be shared about money than just schools.
“Students can’t just sit around and ask for handouts, they need to go out and find out what’s going on too,” she said.
In order to graduate high school and in order to obtain most degrees in college, an economics course of some kind must be taken.
Jesus Hernandez, a business major at MCC, believes schools are not preparing students enough to face the challenges of the fiscal world.
“I have so many friends who spend most of their check after they get it and to me that is not a good thing. I think if schools were more up front about telling kids what not to do with money things would be better,” Hernandez said.
According to Hernandez, there should be a basic money management class required to graduate high school or get a degree.
“If people learned how to save money and learn how to not get ripped off, I am betting the economy would be a bit better.” Hernandez said.
With the economy still showing signs of struggle for younger Americans, poor money management skills may drag down a student’s chances of making real headway going forward.
