Do you financially mentor?

[FinanceDude]

It sounds like someone is about to get a PMed with details on an exciting opportunity with Primerica Financial.

(just kidding)

I know, but that is how Primerica "ropes in" their victims, telling them they can "grow a business along with family and friends"...........

 

[sweetana3]

My husband is always being asked for assistance in a general kind of way about budgeting, finances, etc. He has shared a generic version of his Life Book and spreadsheets to younger employees who sought him out.

No way would I push frugality and savings on people who are not interested or are more into a material lifestyle.

He usually talks to them over a lunch at work and answers questions. No specific questions like which stock to buy, but more general how to do it type questions.

He is always amazed at the ones who have not started the 401K to even get the matching funds.

 

[Eyerishgold]

I'm 28 and am going to FI RE in 17 years. I've been advising my younger brother on what he should be doing to prepare himself to be FI in the future. He's 22 and he's already begun saving for retirement by putting away 15% in his 401k which is a HUGE step for someone his age.

Aside from him, I would hesitate to give out unsolicited financial advice. You never know how it'll be received.

 

[LOL!]

An update for me: I was mentioned in an article of a national financial newspaper. Since then, friends and family who saw the article have asked "round-about" advice. I give them my point of view and point them to books and web sites that they can read. From a couple of them, I have received "thank-you's" a little while later.

 

[Bigritchie]

I can't help it, I'm the financial advice equivalent of the crazy cat lady down the street. I can't stop babbling about it. I've even given "4 pillars" as a wedding present (along with a Home Depot Gift Card - I'm not that bad). At first I was discuraged by the lack of response, but I think a lot of people have made little changes due to me. Getting out of or not buying crazy annuities, consolidating debt, increasing 401k contributions a % or two, finally enrolling in the pension at work, that type of thing.

The hundred that do not listen do not matter.

The one that does makes it worthwhile. One day they will look back and realize that funny money saver person changed their life and their children

 

[FinanceDude]

I mentor every day. Folks on here would be AMAZED to see how little the average American knows.......

Money matters are NOT taught in the educational system, and I wish that would change........

 

[travelover]

..........Money matters are NOT taught in the educational system, and I wish that would change........

I totally agree. Why teach kid logarithms but not compound interest? Even a one day class would make a lifetime of difference.

 

[Gumby]

I bet they don't even teach logarithms anymore.

 

[Nords]

I've even given "4 pillars" as a wedding present (along with a Home Depot Gift Card - I'm not that bad).

I give copies of "Work Less, Live More" as military retirement gifts. But we go surfing too.

I bet they don't even teach logarithms anymore.

Our kid learned about them at Kumon. The instructors, bless their hearts, had no idea of a practical application. I finally had to drag out Grandpa's slide rule to talk about pH and decibels and power conversion and stock-market charts. I'm pretty sure she'll never ask me again...

The high school's started a new required (pass/fail) class called "Career & Life Planning", a semester squeezed into other required topics like health education. It talked about vocational programs (especially the construction trades, a big shortage on Oahu), job searches, interviewing, budgeting, checkbook balancing, and investing. Our kid had a wonderful time.

I came along for the field trip to the local business college and ended up swapping a lot of e-mail with the teachers. The young man is heavily enamored of multi-level marketing (Quixtar) and the woman in her mid-20s is working on her master's degree while raising four kids. (Guys, have you registered at E-R.org yet?) The good news is that they have a keen appreciation for the importance of teaching the financial fundamentals, and they're young enough that the kids can see their own futures in their examples.

The bad news... well, there isn't any. (The one teacher will figure out Quixtar soon enough.) The president of the business school does a Hawaiian-pidgin imitation of Sherman Helmsley that simultaneously had everyone laughing to tears and scared the kids straight.