Comments on: What They Don't Teach You In School

By: Stacey

Stacey — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:03:11 +0000

@amayala, the best way to pay down debt is a method I learned was about five years ago, it’s called the Snowball Effect.

Basically it works best when you are paying off more that one credit card at a time but I’m sure you can find a way to apply it to your situation, too.

The idea is to write down all of your income, your monthly expenses find the diference between them. That difference will be everything you use to pay down debts per month. (There much room for fun in this plan, but will get you debt free a lot faster.)

Lay out all of your debt statements for the month and pick out the largest amount statement owning from the bunch. Set it aside. With the rest you are going to pay all of your monthly minimums so you don’t default on any of those payments. Add up all of those payments and subtract if from your monthly difference.

What’s left of your money will then go toward the statement you set aside. Do this every month till that card is paid off. The next month, you next highest debt amount will become the one you roll your difference per month over to now that you got rid of the other highest bill per month. And as you pay off each card, you will have more and more leftover difference money per month to apply to your cards starting with your biggest debt on your books.

If you follow this snowballing your payments over from paid off card dbtss to outstanding card debts, you will be debt-free before you know it. The nice bonus of this plan is you will get used to spending less per month and when you are debt free, those monthly payments then can be immediately dedicated to a savings plan, thus putting you closer to where you should be financially speaking in life, or even ahead of where your peers are financially speaking.

It’s a very simple and easy plan to follow if don’t give into temptation and fall off the wagon too often. There will be months, like Christmas, where it will be harder to follow this snowballing effect, and that’s ok. The following months you will be able to get back on track and only feel marginally behind of where you want to be. Any extra income throughout the year like tax refunds and raises or company bonuses, can be applied to make up for times like Chrismas so it won’t take as long to get to you target date for being debt free.

This plan worked for me. It will work for you if you are serious about paying your debt off as fast as possible, and this is the only way short of borrowing money from family.

By: Kristina Mausser

Kristina Mausser — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:11:31 +0000

I was very fortunate to spend my formative years (Kindergarten to Grade 6) at a private, all-girls school where play, problem-solving, and individual creativity were encouraged. I was allowed to read books that were grades above my own, organize impromptu class activities if I wanted, and was never made to feel “Less Than” because of my gender. So, while I was never taught all of the answers we need in life, I was “taught” to become self-reliant, to seek answers for myself, and to live by my own rules.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:36:20 +0000

I’m 39, and in my day, Home Ec and Man & Society and English Writing and the librarian only went so far at my high school. They taught what they could in the time the could based on what was approved and funded. The rest, the kids had to learn outside of school. Basically, things were moving too fast technology wise and the money was being diverted to computer classes no one really needed for another five years anyway, so we suffered.

By: Steve Olson

Steve Olson — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:38:45 +0000

Thank so much for the link up.

the education system is not set up to be conducive to learning. As counter-intuitive as that may sound, it’s absolutely the truth as I see it.

A very astute observation which is entirely accurate. There many truths about reality which are counter-intuitive. Have you read John Taylor Gatto? Did you know that literacy rates have fallen dramatically since the introduction of compulsory public education? Did you know the rates are still falling?

You can read John Taylor Gatto’s book here for free. It is fantastic.

By: Jeff Parks

Jeff Parks — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:33:14 +0000

Another video I came across late last year that has been floating around Facebook – but it talks directly to the issues you’ve outlined in your article, Sue:

http://www.iaconsultants.ca/index.php/2007/10/13/a-vision-of-students-today/

Cheers,
Jeff

By: Jeff Parks

Jeff Parks — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:26:21 +0000

Brilliant post, Sue!

I’d add taxes to your list and how do credit cards work?

I know I had no idea about interest payments on credit cards, I was just given one. (Thankfully I had family members educate me early on about the dangers of such a debt load.)

As we’re seeing the United States with banks foreclosing on houses due mostly to the unquenchable thirst of material goods, this has become a global problem that has most financial experts forecasting a recession. (Some would argue they are already in one.)

I think Ken Robinson has it right http://www.iaconsultants.ca/index.php/2007/10/29/sir-ken-robinson-do-schools-kill-creativity/ Kids starting school today will be retiring in 2065. We can’t predict what is going to happen three years from now, yet we claim to know how to be educating them for this unknown future.

I don’t question the heart, desire, and passion of those teaching our future leaders, artists, and politicians – what I do question is the value of what is being taught, as you have outlined. Did you know that the school bell ringing dates back to the Industrial revolution to get kids used to shift change for factory work!?

We are living in the Information Age. Knowledge is shared by the global community. Kids 10 years old have access to knowledge about any topic they wish – most of which I didn’t experience or learn about until I was in University. This is creating a larger social issue in that they don’t have the life experiences and cognitive maturity to apply this knowledge in a logical or emotionally intelligent manner.

By: amayala

amayala — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:22:07 +0000

What I wish schools would teach is money man agement and how to avoid getting into debt. By the time I finished college and was two years into working, I had racked up about $4000 in credit card debt that was not going away. I wish that someone had taught me alternatives, such as using a debit card instead. I know that our Christian school actually uses a system called “Crown Financial” that gives seminars that are Christian-based on how to manage money, including saving, debt, investing, etc. But I really wish that my parents had been a little more hands-on about what I did with my money and schooling. Even now, five years out of college, I’m still paying around $20,000 in college loans!