Last week I read an article on CNN titled .  In this article, law professor Lauren Willis argues that financial education is a waste of time and money.  Here are my thoughts on this matter.

Her first argument that financial education doesn’t work because financial product companies “spend billions drowning out well-meaning messages to consumers from nonprofits or government agencies.”  This is certainly true. I am sure people are more likely to know lines from the  MasterCard “Priceless” commercials rather than their own credit card interest rate.  Also, she says that financial products change all the time so it is hard for educators to teach a subject that is constantly in flux.  That is also true, but some basics stay the same.

Next she argues that teaching the basics of finance is a waste of money because sending people to class gives them the illusion that they are educated in the ways of finances and they  don’t change their financial behavior.  I’m not sure if I agree with this because just listening to the basics of budgeting and getting out of debt can be really helpful.  It may be that people who are forced to take classes in personal finance do not change their behavior, but people who want to learn and change can certainly benefit.

Finally, she believes that the government should spend more money on regulating the financial industry rather than trying to educate consumers about the dangers of certain financial products.  I agree that there needs to be regulation on deceptive business practices, but an informed consumer is more able to use the wide variety of financial products to his or her advantage. People do not need to have the knowledge of a professional financial planner to understand some arithmetic  and figure out what is best for them.  Indeed, some financial companies make the math more complicated than it really is, but I think  the basics of budgeting and interest rates be understood by any  human being with average intelligence.

To close the interview the professor stated that parents should continue to teach their children about money and finances because families can educate their children better than the government could.  That may be true, but if the parents have no financial knowledge, then it would be the blind leading the blind.   Financial education has to start somewhere, and blankly stating that it is a waste of time and money does not help the fact that many people are clueless about how to manage their money.  I know a lot of people want to learn how to manage their money better, and those who seek the education voluntarily are more likely to benefit from it.

I read Laura Rowley’s Yahoo Finance column pretty regularly, and this week she and how many young adults with large student loans and small wages are basically debt slaves doomed to pay for their education for decades. I have also written a little bit about college finance before. In “” I wrote about how many middle class families do not qualify for financial aid or even scholarships at expensive private colleges and that drew many different responses. Some say that kids should pay for their own college expenses and others say that the financial aid system needs to be reformed. Either way, most people agree that there is a problem with having to take out huge loans to fund college. Here are some things I think parents and college bound teens should consider before signing on to a generation of debt.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy- I went to the University of California at Berkeley and all four years of tuition plus room and board cost less than one year at any private university. My parents paid for it, but if I could have paid off the entire amount with less than a year of income after I graduated. Recently an article in Forbes ranked UC Berkeley as . The study was done by PayScale.com and the schools were ranked on the median salary of alumni with 10 to 20 years of experience. I think if they gathered data on the amount of student loans some of the private school alumni are still paying, then they will probably find that Berkeley grads keep more of what they earn and pay less to the loansharks. There are plenty of great state college in this country, and I think they are the best bang for the buck.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy- If you could shave one semester,term, or even year off your college education then you would save quite a bit of money. It involves a lot of hard work and creative class scheduling, but it is worth it. I took classes that could fulfill multiple graduation requirements and also took classes in the summer session and I finished about a year early. I used the year to work at a couple internships and took one class in my last semester of senior year.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy – I know quite a few people that went to community colleges and then transferred to Berkeley or other schools during their junior year. Their final degree is still from the more expensive school and no one can tell that the first two years were spent in a cheaper school.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy – I know some people who worked for a year or two before college to save money for college. Many colleges allow you to defer enrollment for a year so you can have the opportunity to do something.  generic viagra online canadian pharmacy

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy – Right now I do not have kids yet, but I am putting $100 a month into a 529 education savings plan under my name.  I don’t think parents and children could save too early for a college education.  A 529 allows you to withdraw the savings for education and any gains on the investments are tax free.

Finally, I totally agree with the advice given in the Yahoo Finance article that you shouldn’t borrow a lot more than what you would earn after college.  However,  it is hard to look at the financial impacts of college loans when you are a young idealistic teenager who wants to do the things you love regardless of money.  There needs to be a balance between idealism and practicality, and perhaps more high school counselors should teach students about the effect of massive student loans.

Today I read a rather refreshing article called on the LA Times. Basically it tells the story of an ordained pastor named Dave Dixon who gave away pretty much all of his possessions and started to live on a boat and sing songs in a restaurant a few hours a week. His expenses are $565 per month, and he says that “time, not money, is the real commodity in life”. He says that his lifestyle is divinely inspired and “sees himself living out God’s message that faith and people, not possessions, are what is of true value.”

Interestingly enough, I wrote on Wise Bread and this article reflects the first proverb I wrote about, “generic viagra online canadian pharmacy Time is definitely more precious than money, and Dave Dixon has that figured out.  Additionally, I think it’s great to see that someone realizes that you really don’t need much to survive in this world.  My friend the Retirement Hobo said that in South East Asia he was able to eat well on $1 a day, and $10000 is a good retirement fund there.  He might be exaggerating a bit, but I really think that if we are able to let go of a lot of luxury that we have we can live well on very little money.

I think it is awesome that this pastor Dixon seems to trust God so much with his lifestyle.  Though, it’s funny that the author of the article describes Dave as “quixotic” multiple times in the article. Obviously, some people might think that Dave is a fool for trusting God with his health and not having health insurance, but  apparently God provided for him when he had a kidney stone.  He may seem like a stupid bum living on a rickety boat, but I know so many people with huge houses that they slave over and complain about.  Can these people with so many more possessions than Dave Dixon say that they are really truly free and happy?  Dave said in the article, “my possessions made me work harder and stole my time”, and I agree with that sentiment.  We all have an extremely ephemeral existence on this earth, and for us to devote so much time and effort to acquire things we can’t bring with us to the next life is quite pointless.

Now, would I sell everything  and go live on a boat?  Probably not because I don’t like boats very much, but I wouldn’t mind living in a faraway city in Asia where rent is less than $100 a month.  I could even have a little piece of land where I can plant some tomatoes, peas, and corn, and raise a few chickens and ducks.  These are all things I had when I was a kid in China, and really that’s all I need to be happy.  It is a dream lifestyle that is so far removed  from my current daily grind in a glass tower, and maybe one day I can convince the hubby to go there.

My husband loves kids. Recently his best man at our wedding had a baby girl and my husband loves to hold her and look at her adoringly. (I’m jealous!) He did this at church and a woman came up to me and said, “your husband is so cute! He is just fascinated by the baby! When are you having one?”

Obviously, the cheapest thing to do is to have no kids at all, but we both agreed that we would like to have at least one kid. Personally, I believe that having kids earlier in life saves money even though I have read advice that said people should wait to have kids. Here are my reasons as to why I think having kids sooner is financially beneficial to a couple.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy – When you are young or just starting out in your career your income is probably not at the peak. So when you have less money to spend, you will probably not spoil the kid as much as parents who have a lot of money. Additionally, if you have to give up some working days to take care of the kid, the amount you lose is small if you don’t earn all that much to begin with.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy – Expenses for food and education are increasing at a much higher rate than the base inflation and wage increases. For example, my college tuition doubled in the 4 years I attended, and food prices are rising at a very high clip lately. If we have a kid earlier, we would probably have to spend less on these things.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy – I have read a lot of stories about women who waited to have kids only to find that it is much harder to get pregnant. This results in fertility treatments that produce unwanted multiple births and other complications. It is also a lot easier for younger women to recover from pregnancy and child bearing so I rather get it over with while I am young. Fertility treatments are expensive, and so are unexpected multiple births.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy – This is related to physical health. While I am still pretty young I have the energy to take care of the kid and handle a job. From what I have seen, young parents seem to handle the sleepless nights a lot better. I think this abundance of energy we have when we are young is helpful in balancing a career and children. I think if you are less phased at work by your kids, then your potential for career advancement is better.

generic viagra online canadian pharmacy – My mother in law pretty much retired early when she was a little bit over 45 and both of her children were done with college. She had them fairly early on and now she travels all over the world with her husband. Knowing that your children are already adults at a young age really brings peace of mind during retirement. Additionally, you no longer have to financially support them so your retirement expenses are lowered.

Anyway, most people decide to have kids later in life to save more money and advance their careers, but I think if you really want kids and you can safely afford having a kid then earlier is better. My husband doesn’t think I am ready to be a mom mentally, but one of my coworkers said to me, “No one is ever ready to be a parent!” I think that is really true, and I think we will be just fine if we have a kid within the next couple years.

Every time I go visit my parents, my mom finds about twenty ways to call me fat and tell me to stop eating. Of course, she also did the same to my aunt during a dinner party so I don’t really feel singled out. Well, I guess in the past three years I did gain a few (25) pounds so now I am slightly overweight for my height. I am still a size 2, but a lot of the dresses I wore during college and high school do not fit anymore. The problem with the fat is that it all settled on my tummy and thighs and not on my boobs and butt. Anyway, the hubby recently gave me an incentive to lose some weight. Basically he said if I lose about 15 pounds, he will cut his to 1% of our income. Currently it is at 2% so a 1% cut is quite huge and could build up to thousands of dollars over the years.

On one hand I know that losing some weight would be great for my health and my family really cares about me, but on the other hand I really love to eat. In the long run being fit will probably save me money on health care but my lifestyle is so sedentary that I find no motivation or desire to exercise. Anyway, I am making an effort now to exercise more so I can still eat what I like to eat. I purchased on Friday and today I went to hike Mt. Tamalpais with the hubby and the parents. I only got to the West Point Inn before my left leg was filled with pain. Along the entire trail my parents made fun of me being the last one in the line as I plodded up the hills while huffing and puffing. My dad laughed at my slow march and then showed off his muscles to me and my hubby. He said, “you’re less than half my age and you can’t climb this? COME ON!” Then he loudly sang some Chinese song horribly out of tune and went about a mile ahead of me. On the way back I fell on my butt two times because the trail was steep and slippery. The hubby and I clung on each other for support and made it back to the car. As a reward, we had lunch at a restaurant in Sausalito called Spinnaker which had a wonderful view of the bay. That lunch probably undid all the calories I lost from the hike. Finally, when I got home I found a blister on my big toe that was as big as my little toe. Today’s harrowing experience showed me that I am definitely a lot less fit than my college years since in 2005 I hiked a much longer trail without that many problems.

Hopefully getting will help me organize my exercise routine. The hubby said he will do it with me and maybe that will motivate me a bit more. Though at work my coworker laughed at the idea of the WiiFit. He said, “you know you could just go outside and run instead of holding a little white remote and run in place!” I guess that is true, but I really wouldn’t jog outside when it’s completely dark. I am pretty i in losing about 10 lbs in 7 weeks with the WiiFit, but I don’t know how I would do and how long I keep up with the routine. However, the hubby’s incentive of cutting down his entertainment budget aligns the goal of losing weight with saving money, and perhaps that’s enough motivation for me to keep at it. We will see how this goes and I will report on whether or not this works.