What age did you learn about Personal Finance and Government?
(re-post)
I’m interested in Law, Politics, and Government, but I’m not able to understand some of it because I have a very weak understanding of personal finance. What age–or grade–did you start learning about it? As of now, I’ve been doing independent research on Law, Politics, and Government, for about two or three months, and it’s very hard to learn about it when you don’t have someone teaching it to you. How old were you when you started learning about these things?
(I’m fourteen)
I started learning basic personal finance in third or fourth grade, just like Ariaread, but in public school. We had to "write checks" for little goodies (jolly ranchers, party favor type toys) each month, balance check books, etc. I didn’t get aggressive about personal finance until college. I was reading some books about investing strategies, budgeting, etc. I would suggest: Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and Rich Dad Poor Dad. They’re somewhat contradictory to one another, but they’re crucial for dropping your preconceived notions of money, wealth, and "getting ahead."
Government has been in my life a long, long time. I would talk to my parents a little about politics from the time I was little. My parents voted for George H. W. Bush in 1992, and I asked them why. I was only six or seven at the time. Since then, I’ve listened to and participated in conversations about politics pretty regularly. In high school, I did Lincoln Douglass debate and learned a lot of political theory from researching for my arguments. Read the Federalist Papers, John Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government, Jean Jacque Rousseau’s Social Contract, Aristotle’s Politics and Ethics, and Machiavelli’s The Prince and Discourses on Livy. They’re hard to read, but full of insight and wisdom that have served as pivotal ideas throughout human history. Feel free to read Sun Tzu’s Art of War, while you’re at it.
It’s better to learn these things yourself, through reading and carefully considering what you read. Take nothing at face value, but always question. Is this really true? How do I know? This process develops wisdom as well as knowledge, and both are sorely lacking in society these days.
Best of luck, and don’t get discouraged. Simply asking this question is a huge step in the right direction. Good luck, and God speed.
Catholic School Educated and the nuns started teaching us about checking, savings and budgeting in third grade. They integrated the lessons into math. Decimals became money, fractions were budgeting and we even had to search for an apartment in the classified ads. Rent back then was 125 and average income for a HS graduate was $80. Served me well throughout life
References :
Don’t do what I did. Interesting things were movies,
movie stars. games and whatever. Didn’t take an
interest in the news or financing for my future until
I was 55. Had to scramble like crazy to find out what
was happening in the real world. Then had to save and
invest every spare cent to make it up financially.
Good luck young one.
References :
I started learning basic personal finance in third or fourth grade, just like Ariaread, but in public school. We had to "write checks" for little goodies (jolly ranchers, party favor type toys) each month, balance check books, etc. I didn’t get aggressive about personal finance until college. I was reading some books about investing strategies, budgeting, etc. I would suggest: Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and Rich Dad Poor Dad. They’re somewhat contradictory to one another, but they’re crucial for dropping your preconceived notions of money, wealth, and "getting ahead."
Government has been in my life a long, long time. I would talk to my parents a little about politics from the time I was little. My parents voted for George H. W. Bush in 1992, and I asked them why. I was only six or seven at the time. Since then, I’ve listened to and participated in conversations about politics pretty regularly. In high school, I did Lincoln Douglass debate and learned a lot of political theory from researching for my arguments. Read the Federalist Papers, John Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government, Jean Jacque Rousseau’s Social Contract, Aristotle’s Politics and Ethics, and Machiavelli’s The Prince and Discourses on Livy. They’re hard to read, but full of insight and wisdom that have served as pivotal ideas throughout human history. Feel free to read Sun Tzu’s Art of War, while you’re at it.
It’s better to learn these things yourself, through reading and carefully considering what you read. Take nothing at face value, but always question. Is this really true? How do I know? This process develops wisdom as well as knowledge, and both are sorely lacking in society these days.
Best of luck, and don’t get discouraged. Simply asking this question is a huge step in the right direction. Good luck, and God speed.
References :