This letter to the editor is in response to a great article in our Santa Barbara Newspress, entitled, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The letter is for Santa Barbara county but anyone who wants to join along, I’m happy to do the same in your community as well!

Regarding the article “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” in the May 29 Santa Barbara Newspress, I want to pose that it’s really a matter of who NEEDS to be a millionaire. Our children’s financial success in life will depend on them learning not just basic financial skills such as budgeting and balancing a bank account but also learning how to save their money and invest it in assets that produce passive income so they can work because they want to and not because they have to. This is called Financial Freedom and my goal is to teach kids how to create it early in life, so they have more time to do a lot of good in the world if they choose.

I first want to give a huge ‘thank you’ to Angel Pacheco, the Newspress reporter who did such a great job of describing our Camp Millionaire program where we teach kids and teens the ‘value of a buck’.

And now I want to talk to anyone who has anything to do with kids, ‘Stop’. Stop with all the talk about how the economy is terrible and how we should all be terrified of losing our jobs. Permit me to explain…

We have to stop with the job thing. I mean stop indoctrinating our youth with the belief that they have to get good grades in school so they can go to college and get good grades, so they can get a secure job and be miserably tied to it till “retirement do they part.” It’s not the one and only option.

Lurking everywhere in our culture is the insidious idea that we have to get a job, we have to get through the work week (TGIF comes to mind), we have to make it to retirement and then, hopefully, we can afford to do what we want with the rest of our lives. Something’s terribly wrong with this picture and I’m personally committed to helping kids change the channel on this preconceived notion of “life as an adult!”

In my Camp Millionaire programs, I invite kids to start thinking differently. I want them to question what their educations are preparing them for and to choose to design their lives instead of living into the generally accepted, preordained destination of employee.

We need to shift the paradigm. Instead of, “Where do I get a job?” how about, “What job/business can I create where I can best use my natural talents and abilities?”

It is my belief that most school systems don’t question the idea of “what makes a happy, successful adult.” There are too many rules, regulations, tests and standards when there is no standard child. For the most part, based on our current paradigm, we’ve created good little employees who get in line, follow the crowd, and blame the world for their inability to live life to the fullest. We must shift education to create more leaders.

Money is a root, yes, but not the root of evil. It’s more often the root cause of human misery and stress. It is, however, necessary in today’s world.

So if money is so critical to life’s success and happiness, why don’t we teach it in the classroom? How about teaching kids to read using books about success, happiness, building businesses, buying and selling real estate, trading stocks, ethics, parenting, relationships, communications, sex, health, and the like?

How about teaching kids to write by having them write stories they can market and turn into cash flow? Why don’t we have them write business plans, stories of success, legislation they believe in and professional letters of every kind?

Why not teach kids math with something that’s totally relevant and of interest to them… money? We can teach them how to create budgets and cash flow statements, as well as practical accounting, financing and investing principles and we can do this all before they leave home.

I’ve spent the past three weeks teaching two classes of 56 students for Lola Paredes, the Career Connections teacher at Dos Pueblos High School. My program may well be one the most valuable lessons her students will ever receive in terms of their ultimate success as adults. And I don’t mean just monetary success. I mean in terms of creating happy, healthy families and being a contribution to the world. I’ve planted a seed that has every potential of growing into a financially responsible adult.

I want Santa Barbara to become the most financially literate county in the U.S. If you want to help me accomplish this goal, help me get it into every school, teach it to every employee in every company, and educate our city and county personnel.

I’m offering any Santa Barbara teacher, nonprofit, city or county employee the opportunity to attend our unique Train-the-Trainer workshop for only $100 (normally $1000). The program runs July 7-11. If we all do our part, we can turn this so-called economic “crisis” into an economic revolution, with Santa Barbara leading the way.