What’s up gang! I want to introduce you to one of my real estate investing partners, Chief Petty Officer US Navy, Tim Kelly. Tim is in the process of writing his book titled Get Your Financial Foundation Established Why Don’t Ya, and is passionate about educating others on the subject of personal finance. Lately Tim has released his own YouTube channel to discuss the matter, but today, he’s giving us a sneak peek into his book…
<Enter Tim>
As most of us know, there are way too many problems our country is facing today, especially those who possess fierce political or religious view, but I won’t bore you—or myself— to death with that nonsense.
However, the one REAL issue we’re going to discuss here in this short book is the incredible lack of financial education, not only in our school system but throughout our society in general.
We’ll discuss how you can further understand it, and most of all, the simple steps and actions you can take to combat this serious deficit and control your finances!
We’ll touch on the negative impact the financial education deprivation has made and continues to make, on American families and what you can do to acquire the knowledge you deserve to create a life of abundance and prosperity for your family for generations to come.
Simple secret #1: It all starts with establishing your financial foundation!
For some, I believe most, this will be easy and you may end up kicking yourself for not consuming this information sooner. For others, this may not be so easy, perhaps difficult.
Regardless, here is my promise to you… the stuff in this book is simple. I will make this stuff so simple to understand, you will wonder if it is all it will take to finally wrap your head around your personal finances. The “difficult” element about it will not be to grasp these simple concepts, but to decide to take action, execute the simple steps and do them!
First, a few disclaimers:
- If you want the government or a corporation to take care of you and your family financially and you will never change your mind about that… this book is not for you. (If this describes you, it’s understandable! Most of us are actually programmed to do so by our school system, society, and media… one of my goals here is to help you realize they will NOT take care of you.)
- If you are committed to never taking responsibility for your own financial future thinking your spouse or your family will forever support you… this book is not for you. (Of course, I encourage you to read further if you’re even remotely on the fence about either of these disclaimers.)
Is anyone else baffled there is no basic financial curriculum established for America’s school aged kids to complete?
Not even the most basic knowledge and tools necessary to become financially educated and stable early in life are taught to our future world leaders.
Why can’t our school system, perhaps, teach our newest generation how to build a successful business if they wanted to, even fresh out of high school?
Why should “everyone” go to school, get a degree, get a good job, and work for someone else until they are 59 1/2 and then collect and rely on whatever we “hoped” would be there to fund our retirements?
Alternatively, if we didn’t follow suit… we were considered a failure or bound to be unsuccessful. Does anyone still believe this?
Anyone ever tell you to not follow the masses if you want true success?
“Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession—their ignorance.”
– Hendrick Willem Van Loon
“If you want to be wrong then follow the masses.”
– Socrates
Our country is so far beyond this point of the old fashioned, way-too-out-of-date mindset, but many are stuck believing there is no other way to live your life.
There may be many different types of answers to these questions but here’s the bottom line: no one, during the 12 years of school before college, or even while going to a typical university—surprisingly, even if you’re studying finance—would be willing to sit you down and show you the basics of how to manage your personal finances.
A discussion as simple as, “money flows in, here is what you are supposed to do with it, step by step, in order to be a financial success.” Is it because no one in our education system actually knows? I believe this to be partially true.
I’m not saying we should be taught a lesson on how to build a massive amount of wealth but we all have the right to know the most basic pieces of finance:
- the real definition of an asset
- what is a liability
- how compound interest works
- why not to borrow money to buy the things you don’t actually need
- the basics of credit
- home buying (and why you probably shouldn’t)
- car buying
- the importance of paying close attention to your cash flow, be it positive or negative
- or even to simply prevent bankruptcy or how to avoid a similar situation
These are very simple, uncomplicated terms to wrap one’s head around, yet, it is so rare the average american can delve into what any of it means and/or its importance. Or can they?
That is just a taste of the items we will cover in he book.
Unless your parents or guardians were successful business owners and/or had a financial education, or who even emphasized the importance of taking the time to learn or who took the time to sit you down and educate you, these teachings simply never happened.
Many parents did, many parents wish they would have, many never realized, or emphasized the importance… but most never had a financial education so they couldn’t.
“Financial illiteracy is not an issue unique to any one population. It affects everyone: men and women, young and old, across all racial and socioeconomic lines. No longer can we stand by and ignore this problem. The economic future of the United States depends on it.”
– President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
“The number one problem in today’s generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy.”
– Alan Greenspan
You can evaluate yourself and your own financial IQ through a series of tests:
It’s almost like we were blessed with the knowledge to balance our busy lives and stay on top of our money enough to obtain financial freedom one day.
Financial freedom? What is that? What is your idea or definition of it? We will cover this much more in depth a bit later.
That may be part of the problem… everyone assumes a financial education is unimportant or it is just so simple that everyone should know all about it, like it’s common-freaking-sense, and if you do not, you are a failure.
Did you speak openly about money with your parents at the dinner table? If so, was it a positive or negative discussion? Do you think it’s important to have these conversations? Perhaps the lack of open conversations in regards to money management is another cause for our culture’s lack of financial education.
Why would anyone think it’s not important to crack the code of personal finance before you start earning your own money?
The earlier the better! Kids absorb knowledge and behavior so much more than we believe they do! Why not instill the best possible money habits at an early age?
To me, these facts and questions are mind-numbing. No matter what people have said to you in the past about money…
“money isn’t everything,” or “money is the root of all evil,” or “only greedy people are rich.”
…have you ever heard that come from someone who has achieved financial freedom, or who has accumulated massive wealth?
Maybe… but the majority of those who went on to achieve financial freedom understand money isn’t bad, they laid down their financial foundation and they increased their financial intelligence enough to a accomplish a very achievable goal!
Bottom line, the amount of money that comes in and that you ultimately decide to keep, will surely dictate the quality of your lifestyle.
I assure you, no one will argue that.
If you can provide a better quality of life for your family, your parents, your grandkids or say… yourself, would you sacrifice learning a little bit about how to expand your means and resources and live a better life?
What is he first thought that comes to mind when you hear the term “rich,” and the stereotype rich people have? For many, it’s not good, it’s derogatory, negative or gives them a generally uncomfortable feeling.
This is A LOT to do with what’s called your “financial blueprint,” as T Harv Eker would say. Your financial blueprint is how you were financially raised, what was ingrained in your mind about money, and how your family treated and reacted to money. Was there a lot of money? Was there barely any money to get by? Did lack of money cause pain and struggle in your family? For lots of people, it did and continues to do so and it takes a minor commitment and some basic education to change that and establish your financial foundation!
Ultimately, who doesn’t want a better lifestyle? Here’s a secret, the reason why you hear the rich are getting richer is because the “rich” have a financial education. They have taken the time and energy to pursue a basic financial education and then they took action to commit to living a life of abundance, but first, they established a financial foundation!
What does it mean to be financially free?
“Having the freedom to work because you enjoy or want to work, not for monetary purposes” – Tim Kelly
Ways to connect with Tim:
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Thanks for the good posting this information.I have read your article briefly.
Is this author illiterate? This book sounds like it’s written by toddler.
Beverly – thank you for your feedback. You pose an interesting question as I don’t know how Tim decided on the title of his book, but feel free to reach out to him @ tim@kellyhg.com .