The Employee Benefit Research Institute, as published in their 2009 Retirement Confidence Survey, noted that “ignorance is still a major factor”, while pointing out that only 44 percent of workers report they and/or their spouse have tried to calculate how much money they will need to have saved by the time they retire. The report also showed that an equal proportion (44 percent) simply guess at how much they will need for a comfortable retirement.
Is everyone simply skipping the same classes in school or the same workshops or resources offered by their employers? Or do those who wish to be educated and better prepared represent the vastly under served?
It turns out there are 3 more R’s you didn’t hear about in school: Reaching Retirement Readiness.
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” – Mark Twain.
Schools are around for a good reason, and for years parents have extolled the benefits of a good education, which leads to a career which can lead to financial health and prosperity.
Encourage your child to study calculus and maybe become an engineer. Or study medicine and be a doctor. Or have him or her study both and be a doctor that is really good with calculus. Or maybe your son or daughter wants to be in front of the TV camera every morning or evening and tell us whether a bright pleasant day or an ugly storm is on the radar. If so, they can study economics.
But without the education surrounding what to do with that paycheck, the value of years of study and preparation for the real world are incomplete.
“I hear babies crying. I watch them grow. They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know.”
Written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, and sung by the late, great Louis Armstrong, these words remind us of the opportunities that children have to learn more, and to live in even better surroundings than prior generations. Sure, there are a lot of grim numbers out there, but let’s shake the presumption that we will leave the next generation worse off. In fact, we may be able to leave them better off.
While we often hear warnings about what kind of world and what size tab we may leave the citizens and taxpayers of tomorrow, we can take a look at what we have control over today. You can argue that the positive effects of our own behavior as citizens can be vastly offset by a government that has overspent, or a broken and costly healthcare system. But what if there were years of momentum behind enhancing and broadening financial education in schools, as well as continuing education in other life skills, like parenting, leadership, and career building? We could have significant impact, especially since the next generation of adults who vote others into office, and also those whom we elect, will have been through the same educational system which instilled the values of prudent monetary skills and decision making.
And I think to myself – “what a wonderful world”.
