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Ya know, not everything is Trump's fault. Unless he was President almost 40 years ago when we were cautioned about going out and immediately buying an Ensign car right after we got commissioned.
We in the Army called it "A gold bar and a new car"
How about this, start teaching finances in middle school or high school?
My son is a senior and he had (had) no clue about interest and how it worked, when I sat him down and explained "credit" and "%" and that some credit could be as high as 25% interest....when I Worked the math....he just looked at me and said and people don't know this.
He has also has a bank account (Checking and Savings) since he was 12.....
When I was in the service on the east coast, there was an athletic club scam going on. Said club would entice you to sign a contract and then sell your contract to someone else. You ended up paying the next buyer even though the club was often closed for "improvements". I got wrapped into that but managed to escape when they violated some trade law of the state.
A year or two later, when the service had me as the dirty little jobs officer, taught be to be a financial counselor, I learned the same people were setting up their scam outside, I think, Ft. Benning.
As a counselor, there, other places, I tried to teach troops that surviving off fast food was a looser. Learn to cook or at least have a commons refrigerator for those on COMRATS and you can make out like a bandit....which, by the way, was a major motivator to teaching me to know how to cook.
I tried to teach some sailors how to avoid these pitfalls but only to learn that they were crooks as well.......so it goes both ways.
I would watch, as a child, soldiers at Ft. Hood walking back with possessions from the pawn shops on Fort Hood Street on pay day.....or walking with them to there some time other than pay day.
I don't know if it is "easy" or not but it is a problem that does back decades.
I would watch, as a child, soldiers at Ft. Hood walking back with possessions from the pawn shops on Fort Hood Street on pay day.....or walking with them to there some time other than pay day.
I don't know if it is "easy" or not but it is a problem that does back decades.
When I was a teen in Lawton OK (outside of Ft Sill), I thought it was perfectly normal to have a pawnshop for every 500 city residents. And perfectly normal for every pawnshop to have a liquor store right beside it.
How about this, start teaching finances in middle school or high school?
My son is a senior and he had (had) no clue about interest and how it worked, when I sat him down and explained "credit" and "%" and that some credit could be as high as 25% interest....when I Worked the math....he just looked at me and said and people don't know this.
He has also has a bank account (Checking and Savings) since he was 12.....
I'm currently in college as a retired old fart and one of the classes I'm taking is a basic math course where they teach fun things like compound interest and annuities. You should have seen the outrage and shock when I showed the youngsters in class what they would pay on a 250k mortgage over 30 years and just how much of it was interest. After that, I showed them how the formulas are set up so the bank gets the interest payed off before the principal - the righteous indignation was absolutely priceless!
In 2015, the military had to ban allotments for personal property because car dealerships were literally ripping off military members and telling them they had to set up allotments with their car payments. This ensured the car lender got paid before the member even got paid
Quote:
WASHINGTON — Starting Jan. 1, active-duty troops can no longer use paycheck allotments when purchasing vehicles, furniture, electronics and other personal property.
The policy change announced Friday is a response to abusive practices on the part of some retailers and lenders, Department of Defense officials said, and is designed to keep troops from getting in over their heads financially.
How about this, start teaching finances in middle school or high school?
Not good enough, most high school students don't give a damn about personal finance if they weren't already taught it. It's only after living on their own in college or starting their career, paying their own bills, do they understand the importance.
So each parent must teach their kid personal finance from a very age to emphasize it's importance (Jewish culture is excellent in this regard). Don't blame public schools, they fail everyone equally.
The only thing public schools are consistent in is failing to educate America's children.
Not good enough, most high school students don't give a damn about personal finance if they weren't already taught it. It's only after living on their own in college or starting their career, paying their own bills, do they understand the importance.
So each parent must teach their kid personal finance from a very age to emphasize it's importance (Jewish culture is excellent in this regard). Don't blame public schools, they fail everyone equally.
The only thing public schools are consistent in is failing to educate America's children.
Yes, schools are not that great, but it's also up the parent to ensure the child has some interest in school and take in what they can. I also agree that parents must teach other things that the school does not, did you know they no longer teach Cursive writing in school?
If public schools fail everyone equally, then why can I not blame them? Do I blame the parent?
Yes, schools are not that great, but it's also up the parent to ensure the child has some interest in school and take in what they can. I also agree that parents must teach other things that the school does not, did you know they no longer teach Cursive writing in school?
If public schools fail everyone equally, then why can I not blame them? Do I blame the parent?
Part of that training is also, "Pay attention to your elders and mentors."
The fact is that no matter what facts we teach young people, they still need to learn "the ways of the world." The financial predators out there do chicanery for a living, and they're very, very good at it. A lot of times, it's like playing the shell game--no matter how sharp your eyes are, the best way not to lose is not to play.
That's why as I mentioned earlier, during the 80s Bolling AFB required everyone to run auto contracts by Legal first, regardless of rank. New people coming into an area aren't necessarily familiar with local and state laws and what loopholes have been opened through local chicanery.
There were two rules I'd try to impress upon all young troops arriving at their first operational assignments: Don't get married and don't buy a car. If they avoid doing those two things, they will avoid nearly every kind of trouble young troops get into.
When I was a teen in Lawton OK (outside of Ft Sill), I thought it was perfectly normal to have a pawnshop for every 500 city residents. And perfectly normal for every pawnshop to have a liquor store right beside it.
There are still a few outside the Sheridan Road gate. (Pawn shops, not liquor stores.) However, most have been replaced by tattoo shops; until 1 Nov 2006 one could not get inked in the state, and once the law changed the floodgates opened.
For those of us who were around in the 80s and 90s: Remember the Devon stores? "Credit for all personnel, E-1 and above!" They built one right outside the gate at England AFB when I was there; England was unusual because there was no Gate Town right outside. The only business that was outside the gate was that Devon, and another lieutenant and I went in out of curiosity. The sales staff were quite surprised to see an officer in there, since the place catered to dorm-dwelling first-term enlisted. Boom boxes, car stereos, small TVs, CD players (at the time a new technology and VERY expensive), all for low, LOW, LOW prices, and we'll finance for you for 3 years at 24.9% APR. The wing commander had considered putting the place off-limits but instead had mandatory training for all junior enlisted, which was E-1 through E-4 Senior Airmen (there was an E-4 Buck Sergeant at the time) in the base theater. The low prices were not all that low, not compared to AAFES or Wal-Mart, but neither of those places would allow payments over time.
The lure of getting what you want NOW is very difficult for a young kid to resist, especially if the young troop never had more than a few bucks in the wallet.
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