Financial Literacy means much more than balancing a checkbook. It also means generating future wealth!
In the U.S., April is officially Financial Literacy Month. Throughout the country, educators are charged with providing students with the basics of money management, saving, investing, and the wise use of credit. Washington State is one of several states that have made such training mandatory.
This is a good thing, but there’s one element missing from many curricula: how we spend our money—and especially why!
Knowing how to successfully secure a home mortgage is indeed valuable, but most students won’t have that opportunity for years after graduation. Such knowledge is likely to be forgotten. But spending is something we do every single day. Learning how and why we do it—and its long-term impact on our wealth—is priceless.
Bainbridge Island resident, lecturer, and author Paul Heys is providing a new way for educators to supplement their existing financial literacy curriculum. With help from the Merriman Financial Education Foundation and others, Paul is providing free copies of his new book, Spending Your Way to Wealth, to qualified teachers and school libraries.
Scheduled for release this Spring, the book is a concise, highly-readable guide to the psychology of spending, investing, and wealth. With a better understanding of normal, unconscious biases and preconceptions, readers will be better able to alter their spending decisions. Doing so will help them allocate more towards things that appreciate in value, and thereby secure greater future wealth and satisfaction.
AN EDUCATOR’S OPINION
Mike Florian, former Principal and Teacher in the Bainbridge Island School District, praises Paul Heys’ work, Spending Your Way to Wealth, and its importance in preparing students for their financial future:
“I have known Paul Heys for almost 20 years. He was a guest speaker for some of my high school math students for several years when I was in the classroom. His presentations were always on target for a high school audience and his Investorship strategies filled a void in our high school curriculum.”
“I strongly recommend Paul’s book for consideration by any high school or college educator.”
“Paul’s new book, Spending Your Way to Wealth, is a compilation of easy to apply investment strategies infused with a fresh look at our spending behaviors which often prevent us from investing wisely. It is appropriate for any level of reader from high school and beyond. It is the kind of book I wish I had read in my late teens and early twenties to provide a solid foundation in investment strategies over time.
“I strongly recommend Paul’s book for consideration by any high school or college educator. It will provide your students and yourself with engaging material to present and discuss as you prepare students for their financial future.”