Comments on: Should Economic Stimulus Money Include Free Financial Advisors for the General Public?

By: Pinyo

Pinyo — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:16:46 +0000

I don’t know if financial advisors for the general public is feasible, but I like the idea of teaching personal finance classes in high school. Also, it would be great if the could make financial products less confusing.

By: outlaw

outlaw — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:08:53 +0000

The best way to teach everyone is by starting out in the public school system. I think the federal government needs to make personal finance a prerequisite to graduate high school.

By: Shadox

Shadox — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:06:46 +0000

It’s not a bad idea to educate people about personal finance, but shouldn’t the school system be responsible for this?

By: thomas

thomas — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:03:58 +0000

adding this to the “stimulus” package makes as much sense as anything else in there.

Agreed that more people need to be educated on personal finance.

By: GE Miller

GE Miller — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:27:05 +0000

I think there are more inexpensive, efficient, and scalable ways to educate the public. The adviser/client relationship isn’t always geared towards education. How about everyone who receives economic stimulus benefits must pass a financial literacy test that is based on a book sent out to every taxpayer?

By: Bill Muhlenfeld

Bill Muhlenfeld — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:10:19 +0000

On the surface the idea sounds good, though I think it is probably too late for a lot of people. I would rather see
financial courses offered at the high school and college level and, yes, they should be mandatory.

By: the weakonomist

the weakonomist — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:36:10 +0000

NAPFA should back this bill. That is the National Association of Personal Finance Advisors. They are a fee only org. You can’t work on commission and be in their org.

Like the others though, no one would actually use it.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:20:24 +0000

First, $15 Billion doesn’t just sound like a lot, it really is a lot.

Second, the assumption that people who borrowed too much to buy too much house must have been lacking for professional advice and financial literacy flies in the face of reality. Five years ago just about every established expert was saying that houses were a sure thing.

David Bach’s The Automatic Millionaire (2004) says “you aren’t really in the game of building wealth until you own some real estate” and goes on to list names, phone numbers, and websites of outfits that can help you buy a house with little or no money down.

And Suze Orman, in her The Laws of Money, (2004) had a section enititled “Home Buying: One of the Best Known Investments.”

The point is, there was and is no shortage of personal financial advice and coaching out there. It’s just not very good.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:34:49 +0000

While I think it’s good to educate people on personal finance, I think this should be tackled nationwide at a younger age when people are required to go to school such as their freshman years of high school. This stuff should show up right next to math and reading on those annual standardized exams. I don’t recall getting much of a financial education in high school, and I did go to a fairly decent public school. Somewhat randomly, I took Shiller’s finance class in college and do think that he has a lot of good ideas and is one of the people with better advice.

By: N-GIRL

N-GIRL — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:55:16 +0000

I would agree with Travis on the previous comment. It would be a great math class to be taught to all students in school. I am lucky where I work that our 401k advisor has really steered me right, even in difficult times.

It would be great to have free financial advice offered with a Saturday or night class. Or a reasonable fee could be used as a donation to a charity on a special event instead. It would help those who are having trouble in this economic turmoil. Besides, it’s always good to learn something new about $$.