Where Can We Learn About Money?

My first experience with this concept came from real estate guru Robert Kiyosaki through his book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” Kiyosaki’s book compelled me to want to learn more about business. The overriding theory that I walked away from his work with was the idea that money runs our life but we are never fully educated about it. When people actually think about that concept it makes sense. Scholars may study history at Brown or Medicine at John’s Hopkins, but they still may get sucked into that adjustable rate mortgage that helped trigger the subprime crisis that we have on our hands today. As Kiyosaki uses the phrase in his book, “People are taught to work for money, not have their money work for them.”

Coming in to study business my freshman year I assumed that because we were business students, we could not fall into the trap of working for money. As the preliminary weeks grew on I quickly familiarized myself with the notion that despite what business schools try to do, many only turn over the next batch of businessmen that fall prey to the cycle. Of course there is nothing wrong with choosing this lifestyle; many people prefer the security of a weekly pay check and two weeks’ vacation each year. The point I am getting at has nothing to do with the right or wrong path to tread, but rather the recognition that despite how hard you work as an accountant at a big firm, someone else is always going to be reaping the benefits. Maybe you say to yourself, I’ll work my butt off this year so I can get that promotion and then I can take it easy. Maybe you do get it and then you’re working twice as hard trying to impress the new boss, all the while there is still someone collecting dividends on your hard work. My outlook has always been look to the end of the line, JP Morgan was a banker, what is the difference between him and everyone that now works for JP Morgan & Chase. Finally, graduating from a good school does not mean that you cannot fall into the cycle.

In his essay, “Against School” John Taylor Gatto explores the concept of the educational system as a whole and whether it serves its purpose. Gatto talks about the founding father’s lack of schooling and how we still follow what they have created today, he also talks about how the school system creates a structure that we are taught to follow, but his most compelling argument may be in the history of the American school system.

The American school system is based upon that of the Prussians many years ago. This system was designed to deny leadership roles and to create a manageable population that could maintain peace. As we can clearly see in the history of our school system, not much has changed. This further backs the theories about my peers falling into the trap of a job because they feel like they need its structure. That leads me once again to my question, where can I go to learn about money?

If our educational system fails to show us what we need to learn then the load is left on our shoulders. There are volumes written about business, and writers like Kiyosaki make some valid points about not only our educational system (or lack there of) but also ways to build wealth in our economy.

Bottom Line: Get out and supplement your education with voluntary learning because you can’t rely on formal schooling to get you through life.

I hope I at least raised some interesting points for you,

Thanks for reading,

Matt