When it comes to money, you have a choice. You can become a master of or a slave to your money. In Frugal Isn’t Cheap, Clare Levison highlights the importance of the choices you make each and every day. Will you choose to live beyond your means and mortgage your future with high amounts of debt? Or will you live within your means and become the master of your money and therefore the master of your destiny?
Personal finance does not need to be complicated and learning how to secure your financial wealth doesn’t need to be boring. Through her real-life stories about money, Clare shares her journey of becoming a financial literacy expert with humor and compassion, and even through a few tears. The best way to learn anything is through real-life experience. By sharing the learning opportunities she had along the way, Clare strives to spare you from having to repeat the mistakes of so many others in your own financial life.
Being financially savvy has never been more important. Young people are graduating from college with large school loans and, unable to immediately find jobs, often begin their careers already enslaved by debt. According to both the Center for American Progress and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, student debt now exceeds $1 trillion ($864 billion in federal loans and $150 billion in private loans). This problem is intensified when these young people enter the work force and are not able to find jobs. According to a 2012 investigation by the Associated Press, more than 50 percent of recent graduates are still unemployed or under-employed.
The need for financial education was made clear to me when my oldest son went off to college years ago. He came home for the holidays already $2,500 in credit card debt! It was quite obvious that he had truly enjoyed his first semester of college until the bills were due. I was very angry at him, but I was even angrier with myself. I had taught my son about money, but apparently I hadn’t taught him successfully about the perils of credit card debt. He was often with me when I used my credit cards, but not when I paid them off each month. We refused to bail him out financially, and he started his own seven-year journey to get out of debt and repair his credit rating. Like Clare, he often shares his story so that others can learn from his mistakes and learning opportunities. My experience with my son created the tremendous passion that I still have for highlighting the need for financial literacy.
Ensuring that the current generations of teens and young adults have a financial education is essential to the financial stability of our families and our country. The gift of a financial education is the gift of a lifetime and will allow young people to not just survive, but to thrive in the economy they will face as adults.
Whether it is Clare’s stories or the lessons you have learned from your own money mistakes, the message is quite simple: Spend less than you earn. By following this simple mantra, you will become a master of your money and create a financial foundation of security for you and your family while discovering today’s new money reality. Being frugal can be the new “cool.”
Seize the opportunity today to become smart with your money and become financially independent while still having fun and enjoying life. Will you be a master of your money or a slave to it? It truly is your choice.
All the best,
Sharon Lechter, CPA, CGMA
Coauthor of Rich Dad Poor Dad and Think and Grow Rich—Three Feet from Gold, annotator of Outwitting the Devil with the Napoleon Hill Foundation, author of Save Wisely, Spend Happily, founder and CEO of Pay Your Family First, creator of the award-winning Thrive Time for Teens board game, member of the first President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, and member of the AICPA’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission