I don’t think every single person can suddenly have his own business, get out of the employee structure and be free. Not everyone have the basic decision making skills to do that or have the time to make themselves be able to do that.
Teenagers reading your site might be deluded to think it is that easy to be financially successful. It’s not simply a decision to be this or that. It’s a very selective skill.
Centuries ago, the United States (as well as other nations) were nothing more than maritime traders and farmers. There was no reason to learn to read. The only thing to read might be the newspapers (which were still being “invented”) or the Bible. The only people who really needed that specialized skill would be pastors (to read the Bible of course), lawyers, and doctors. There was not much reason for children to learn to read. It was better that they help work on the farm during the summer. Then they could take over the farm or the ship from their parents.
Then came the Industrial Revolution, and everything changed. Soft land that was highly valued for farming fell out of favor for hard land that was highly valued for building factories. People didn’t need to manage their farm or ship or even worry knowing basic accounting or financial planning for the little operation. They needed to read to get a good job in the city. While most people were once self-employed, now most people were employees. This was the time for the rise of unions. Education changed where every kid was taught to be an employee and all the rules and traditions of school are designed to make you into an employee.
But the Industrial Revolution is long over. The Old Industrial Era is breaking up. The way of pensions are no more. Unions are shriveling up. Education, especially college education, is becoming more and more irrelevant. Good, hard-working people are being scammed out of their money from “financial planners” to “government stimulus” all because of their lack of financial knowledge.
A new Era is becoming. What it shall be named, I know not. Will it be called the Silicon Revolution or something else? If you look at how employees operate in the Silicon Industry, where they may or may not build their own business, where long years at a company are no longer looked at, where if one wants a raise you leave to get hired at another company- all of this is the future for all industries.
My big theory is that many governments have gone mad and are spending as much money as possible because they are responding to Anthony’s “Great Disruption”. They sense the upcoming change and do not like it. Let me give you an example of this. The Internet allows information to be unfiltered and to be uncontrolled. I assure you that governments and many big companies do not like this. As I type this, the United States government wants to nationalize the old newspapers and TV shows. That’s insane. There has been a massive sea change in the past few years, and it will only increase. The ways that you and I grew up with, the world we know, will be no more.
There are many types of education. Academic Education was the way of the Industrial Age. After all, if you suggested ‘academic education’ to a farmer, the farmer would think that is absurd. The farmer is, indeed, correct. Why does a farmer need an ‘academic education’? However, it is common even today to point to a grandfather or someone else and say, “He dropped out of school in second grade,” (which is what my grandfather did). We think we are geniuses because we finished high school and supergenius because we got a college degree.
But there is a type of Financial Education out there. People in the Industrial Age did not need Financial Education. All they needed to know was if they went to college, got a job, worked hard, they would be promoted and would have benefits. They would then retire with a pension. They, rightfully, scoffed at the need for a financial education. Why would they need to read a financial statement?
But things are changing and things are changing faster each and every day. The ways of the Industrial Revolution are breaking down. Whether one wants to or not, the “smart” people are going to be those who have a financial education. The academic education will not be as highly lauded. Academics, who were seen as the “Brainy People” during the Industrial Revolution, they will be seen as increasingly dumb and irrelevant.
It was illegal to teach reading and writing to slaves. Why? It was because the slave would realize he is a slave and do something to change his situation.
Financial education is not given out for that same reason. It is desired that you toil away your entire life being “ambitious” to move up the corporate ladder (which is nothing but your face in someone else’s butt). You are moving around so fast that you are never given the opportunity to stop and think about your place in the world. In your ambition to get the new raise and dream about more junk you can buy, you realize that you are heavily leveraged by the income tax. Note that there is no wealth tax. You are taxed trying to become wealthy. Wealthy people did not get where they are through the traditional income. They built assets and went about it another way. This is why, to them, job stands for Just Over Broke.
It is about financial education. With it, you have options. You can build a business if you want. Or you can remain an employee. If you remain an employee, you will understand more on what is going on at the other end. You will understand when and how you are being leveraged. Sometimes the employee is the optimum place for people. Shigeru Miyamoto is exactly where he needs to be as an employee.
Financial education helps you fight scams. In a real life example, my local government tried to tax me more for property taxes. I couldn’t figure out why my taxes were going up. But then I discovered that the increase in taxes was due to street lights and rain grills. But where I live, there are no street lights or rain grills. But that didn’t stop the powers that be from taxing me more. When I raised Holy Hell about it, they kept ignoring it until I actually went down to them with a photo showing the property has no freaking street lights so why was I being taxed for street lights? They changed it then. However, my neighbors who are not as financially astute are likely paying for the tax they do not have to pay. This “increase” was intentional as they will try to get as much money as they can. I have similar battles with credit card companies. “What the hell type of fee is this?” They give a BS answer. “Well, what is this fee?” Same BS repeated. This goes on for half an hour. Then, suddenly, they say, “Oh, we’re sorry. It was a mistake. The fee has been dropped.” The ‘fee’ was something they threw on and were hoping to BS you into paying for it. You deal with money for your entire life, and everyone is going to lie, cheat, and maneuver to get your money. It makes sense to learn as much about money as possible even just for defensive reasons.
The main issue in marriage is finances. Show me a happy marriage, and I will show you a couple who has their financial house in order. Knowing about finances also is the Ultimate Protection for men against predatory women (who can destroy your life). You will be able to tell apart the women who actually like you from those who are just after a meal ticket.
The most important word of financial freedom is freedom. It was also once considered verboten to teach slaves or young people how to learn to read. “You’re misleading them,” people would say. “They will expect a life of which they cannot have.” Leading people to freedom is never “misleading”.
With knowing more about finances, the person may want to just be what he was before. He may want to make a business or to start investing. He may, indeed, fail quite spectacularly. But with the way the world is changing, the biggest risk is to not learn more about finances.
The point about financial education is to give you opportunities. You now have the option of becoming an entrepreneur, of investing wisely, and doing other things. These are options you definitely would NOT have if you did not pursue financial education.
Misleading people would be to tell people to stay where they are and do exactly what their parents did… and their grand parents… and their great grandparents. Teenagers learning the ways of finance and business is one of the best times to do it. You are young and will be able to experiment. It becomes much harder when you become older.
Time is the only true wealth. You can always get back the money you lose. But you can never get back the time. You sacrifice your time for money. But then you end up giving your money to get back scraps of time. You sacrifice your health for money. But then you give back that money to get scraps of your health back. Financial freedom isn’t about finances as it is about freedom… freedom for you to be and do what you want of your limited time on this Earth.
It was misleading during the Industrial Revolution to tell farmers to stay where they were. It is equally as misleading to tell people not to learn about money and finances.