LOVE OF MONEY

With each new group of young people I have the opportunity to work with, comes excitement as well as anticipation.  As a leader, banker, resource and mentor, I become like a child on the first day of school.  Will they have any knowledge of basic finance?  Have they even considered saving money? Have they been exposed to money matters or ever been given money or earned a dollar?  Some of this seems so basic, yet in my experience many children have no concept of basic financial education.

What has been the most surprising is that socioeconomics doesn’t necessarily play as much of a part as you might expect.  Some children in poverty and some from affluent homes understand that in order to succeed financially you need to work hard, don’t overspend and save money.  However, you also have children from both groups that have no concept of basic financial matters. This could be as a result of many factors. One might assume that the lack of money or parents choosing just not to expose their children to household finances is a factor. Regardless of the why, there is definitely a lack in financial education in most of our youth.


Although I firmly believe, “the root of all evil is the LOVE of money”, and that while the most important things in life are free…I am fully aware that it takes money to keep the lights on and food in your stomach. With that in mind, I can’t wait to meet the group of selected individuals who will help lead the way in the financial education of the next generation and I am so very thankful I get to be a part of it.