The number one problem facing every employee in this country is a lack of financial literacy. We are taught in school how to get a job so we can make money but we are never taught how to make it work for us. Consequently, most employees end up living paycheck to paycheck. If they lose their job or they experience some type of financial emergency the majority of them don't have the money to overcome that challenge. I've seen too many men in this situation lose their homes and had to lead their families to live in the streets.
I began focusing on this problem after hurricane Harvey flooded the city of Houston, TX in 2017. The hurricane and resulting flood revealed that too many men lacked the ability to provide for their families independently in an emergency. These men brought hardship on themselves and their families because they were not prepared financially to respond properly to a flood emergency. These guys failed to build a financial plan to ensure their families could survive a flood in a Gulf of Mexico area city that sits only 50 feet above sea level.
I watched too many men being interviewed on TV while sitting in shelters complaining that they didn’t have any money to take care of their families independently. A George Washington University survey asked middle-class men how quickly could they raise $2,000 to meet an unexpected need. Only 40% of them could raise the money within 30 days. It’s time for every man to increase their financial literacy and learn how to build wealth for their families.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” ~ Cassius
The one thing that keeps the average man living like an underling (struggling in debt or poverty) is financial illiteracy. Financial illiteracy is a disease that has crippled families for many generations. It seems counter intuitive that 50% of the people in America can be financially illiterate in a nation whose economic system runs on capitalism. Our living conditions, social status, transportation, access to justice, the food we eat, and so on depend on the commodity called capital or money. Yet, most people have no clue about what money really is, how it works, or how to turn it into wealth.
When you understand there is a correlation between a lack of education and incarceration it won’t be difficult to see that financial illiteracy can put your liberty in jeopardy. According to the FBI’s Bureau of Criminal Justice Statistics over 70% of men in prison are there for money related crimes such as: robbery, burglary, fraud, extortion, larceny, and so on. The average factory worker makes about $1,200 a week but is out of money before the end of the week.
People look shamefully at a person that can’t read but they never stop to think about how the world would view them if they knew they were illiterate financially. What if everyone knew you had no savings and no clue about how to manage money except for getting from paycheck to paycheck?
In order to cure the disease of financial illiteracy people must be taught: how to save, reduce their cost of living, borrow money effectively, and diversify intelligently so they can have some of their money working for them rather than constantly working for it. You can go to my website www.drwillenterprises.com and find resources to help you increase your financial literacy.
Remember, learning inspires vision that helps lead us to wealth and the price of knowledge is always lower than the cost of ignorance.
