by Elisabeth Donati | Apr 21, 2011 | Financial Literacy, Uncategorized
It seems, these days, that companies and nonprofit organizations are more focused on taking curriculums and lessons online…including the much needed financial literacy curriculums we’re all convinced need to be incorporated into every school program. Maybe it makes sense to provide some education virtually these days. But financial education will always be more effective when it’s taught in real life situations first and simulation-type situations second.
The Problem with Virtual Financial Education
I can see a group of corporate financial people sitting around a conference room having this conversation…
“So, Bob, what do you think we ought to do to to help solve the financial illiteracy problem these days?”
“I don’t know, Jill, it seems like all the kids are online these days. We should probably build an online game or something. What do you think, Ted?”
“Sounds good to me. I mean…we have to spend our donation money somehow. Heck, maybe the kids will learn something and the parents will to be so impressed with what we’re doing that they’ll think of US when it comes to buying their financial products.”
“Ted, I love it. When do we get started?” asks Jill, while Bob and the rest (who sit back and sip their coffee) have no clue how to actually teach kids and teens about real money and real investing.
At least that’s how I envision it. And why do I envision it this way? Because this morning I got yet another email announcing another online financial “world” from a big financial institution and well, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
AND, because after nine long years of teaching kids and teens about money (and adults I might add), I know a thing or two about what it takes to drive the lessons home with the kids and it’s NOT another online financial education program. It’s real world experience with real world money first…then simulated world experience with play money second.
Like almost everything in life, learning how to use and invest money takes lots of practice. It takes making great decisions and making some really dumb ones, too. It takes learning about the emotions behind our spending and our general use of the money. It takes a ton of education in terms of how to invest in assets that produce cash flow and, more than anything else, it takes years of developing the right financial thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about money along with the right financial habits. This is…if you ever want kids to grow up to be financial savvy adults.
I had a meeting with the local Santa Barbara County Education Curriculum Person (don’t know her official title) and she asked me, “What grade should financial education be taught in?”
“Every grade!” (I may have raised my voice!)
It gets back to the practice thing. We can’t throw financial education into a 10th grade math class for 9 weeks and expect these kids to be able to take the information and develop any life long habits from that experience. No, nine weeks later, when they’re learning the next thing they’re going to be tested on for the umpteenth time, they won’t remember that you need to “Save Early and Save Often” or “Spend Less Money Than You Make And Invest The Difference”.
Why? For the same reason they wouldn’t remember how to write if they didn’t keep taking writing or math if they didn’t keep taking math.
But the REAL challenge with financial education programs is best stated with an analogy: it’s like teaching a kid how to hit a golf ball without providing the ball, the golf club, the golf course or the rules to the game. There is just no way you can learn without going out there and hitting 1000’s of balls down that fairway.
So what type of financial education DOES work?
Two types of financial education work well, and they work best when used together:
1) Practical education where the kids get to experience money in the real world.
This could be an allowance as well as (in addition to) encouraging your kids to make their own money (I didn’t say get a job…I said MAKE their own money and they do this by creating little businesses) in order to practice with their money and your money.
Note: They’ll often spend their money a lot more carefully than yours!
In The Ultimate Allowance, I show parents how to systematically take the money they already spend ON their children and run it THROUGH their children instead so the kids get the chance to practice with money. They get to make mistakes with it, make great decisions with it, learn to invest it…just learn all about it. And why does this allowance method work? Because kids are put in charge, i.e., made responsible, for all the things they need and want and they have to figure it out themselves (with the parent’s guidance of course).
2) Simulation-type education where kids get to experience the world of money and investing using play money, play paychecks, play expenses, play events, etc.
This type of financial education curriculum is great for introducing financial lessons and concepts to kids in an environment where they get to learn and practice what adults have to do BUT they get to do it in a space that is safe and full of opportunities to ‘learn by doing’ without the pain attached.
This is what The Money Game is all about. The Money Game provides a safe, fun, interactive, simulation-type environment full of lessons that are conceptual but easy to understand. We like to say “the room is the board, the players are the pieces and the lessons last a lifetime”.
Jr. Achievement in Los Angeles has a great program also, called Finance Park. Kids arrive in large groups, are given a fictitious job with a salary and family already intact. They have to learn how to maneuver the world of money in a fast-paced simulation with store fronts and desks and bank accounts and more. The only challenge with Jr. Achievement’s program is that you have to get the kids there…the program isn’t portable.
So what can you do?
Well, by all means, if you’re set on letting your kids be on the computer, get them the financial education games that are available online. (As a side note, though, please read “The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains” so you know what’s happening physiologically to all of us when we use the computer too much in the wrong way.)
Next, make sure your kids and students get to learn about money and investing in a way that really works (like The Money Game). I call this method of education “sticky” because the information gets locked into their cells and they have a better chance at remembering the information so they can start using it now and into their futures.
Check out local programs that offer financial camps and entrepreneurial camps. Even though our Camp Millionaire isn’t offered everywhere, there are plenty of community colleges, extension programs and other organizations offering money camps around the US. Google financial camps, money camps, personal finance camps and summer money programs to find out what’s in your area.
Encourage your child’s teachers, principal, and anyone else who will listen, to implement an activity-based, experiential, simulation-type financial curriculum that will give your child a fighting chance of learning about money before they move out on their own.
And here’s an idea…learn how to teach The Money Game to your own kids and their friends and neighbors and you’ll be the newest cool mom or dad or aunt or uncle or grandpa or grandma on the block. Kids of all ages love playing The Money Game and if you have a few lessons you want to toss in of your own? By all means, toss them in.
You do NOT want to have to experience your 20-year old moving home because he has made a financial mess out of his life early on. This is just a painful situation for everyone involved and is avoidable…but we have to take the necessary steps to teach our kids while they’re young.
And then, if you have kids and you’re reading this, do them the honor of giving them tens of thousands of dollars of practice before they move out. The Ultimate Allowance shows you how to do it. And here are three chapters to get you started!
I hope this helps you teach the children in your world how to grow up financially responsible and savvy. Keep me posted and please, add your comment to the end of this article.
Enjoy…
To subscribe to this blog, just click here. Once or twice a week, you’ll receive my musings about financial education for kids and teens (and us big kids, too)! Please know that sometimes my ideas will invite you to think differently about money:-).
by Elisabeth Donati | Apr 7, 2011 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized
The key? Stop thinking you have a means at all!
When it comes to learning to be financially secure (as if there really is such a thing), we constantly read that we must learn to live within our means. Talk about a scarcity mindset.
I just returned from a one-day financial literacy conference for teachers and I heard this saying many times in just the few hours I was there.
Now I’m not talking about Making More Money Than You Spend at any given point in time. That makes total sense. Or even Spending Less Money Than You Make. That, too, makes sense. I’m talking about the idea that each individual person has a ‘means’ that they must live within. It’s a different connotation altogether.
The first two are habits that just speak to not spending money you don’t have. The latter causes any number of emotional responses that are tied to putting each person in a financial box and making them stay there. Yuk.
What if, instead, we learn to focus on expanding the amount of money and resources we have access to as opposed to being focused on a constant state of limitation?
As I heard this phrase over and over again, espoused by the employees of the nonprofit organizations who were allowed to present their programs, I began to ponder these words deeply. The more I pondered, the more constricted I felt and the more constricted I felt, the more I realized the problem inherent in this seemingly wise financial advice. And the more I realized I needed to explore it with you.
Restriction vs. Expansion
This feeling of constriction or perhaps restriction, is the same feeling I believe many adults experience when they think about creating a budget; IF they don’t understand the powerful tool that it really is to make their dreams come true, that is.
I started wondering if the people who advise others to live within their means do so because they think THEY have to live within THEIR means so it’s the only thing they know. The answer is probably, Yes, they do.
Let’s explore the beliefs underneath this advice and see how this belief can play out in your life if you grow up believing that’s what you have to do with your money in order to be financially secure.
Abundance vs. Scarcity – The beliefs that make the difference
It’s hard to explore the world of money these days without being exposed to some extent to the idea that it’s our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about money that dictate our wealth potential. This is one of the important financial principles we teach in our Camp Millionaire programs.
Personal Attitude and Wealth potential
(To learn all 26 Creative Wealth Principles)
It’s my experience (almost 53 years of it!) as well as working with hundreds of adults over the years, that as we mature, a good percentage of us ‘big kids’ begin to see how the nature of our thoughts is reflected in our lives. In other words, what we think about, we bring about. I’m not sure who coined those words, but they are brilliantly simple in terms of explaining how our thoughts affect our lives.
Dreaming Makes The World Go ‘Round
I’m a big believer in teaching kids to dream beyond their wildest imaginations and to set goals that inspire them and motivate them toward greatness. I’ve had many parents over the years come up to me and ask, “What do you say to a child when they come to you with a goal you know is impossible?” I simply ask the well-intentioned parent, “How to you know it’s impossible and how would YOU feel if someone told you your dream was impossible?” Most parents get my drift.
I say let them dream. And then give them the tools to make those dreams come true, whether financial goals, sports goals, music goals, career goals, or any other goal they might have. The point is not that the dream always comes true. The point is to dream, to expand. To grow and learn and evolve and experience.
If you’re constantly taught that you have a means and by George, you better live within it or else, there’s not a lot of room in there to dream big. And it’s dreaming BIG that provides the ideas that change the world and the people in it.
Right now, we have a lot going on in the world that’s going to require some pretty big dreams to change.
- We have wars we don’t understand who started or why.
- We have federal spending that is out of control and money spent on things most of us disapprove of.
- We have technology that allows most of the people who use it to bury their heads below awareness level.
- We have several generations of kids and adults whose brains are being changed, literally, by computer abuse.
- We have a national school system that everyone I talk to knows is messed up and needs a complete overhaul.
And yet, at the same time…
- We have videos on Youtube like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_uRIMUBnvw
- We have the ability to spread information virally about government spending, wars and the horrendous problems that are going on because of the computer technology that allows us to be connected in a whole new way.
- We have people who are studying the effects of computer use on our brains, eyes, bodies, etc. and that information will eventually get out and become mainstream so we can change the way we use the technology and control the ways our children use it.
- We have individuals who are doing their best to change individual schools within the larger system to enable teachers to teach again and children to learn again.
- Everyday, we have people’s dreams coming true and those dreams are changing lives and the earth, for the better.
Changing the world one dream at a time.
The Point
The point is that certain financial sayings and principles tend to create thoughts, beliefs and attitudes in us and our children that keep us stuck in cycles of scarcity, restriction and dependency.
It’s only through stopping to notice those sayings and principles at a deeper level that we begin to see the problems inherent in them so we have the opportunity to change the way we teach financial principles to our kids (and adults).
The next time someone says you have to ‘live within your means,” notice how you feel. Then instead, say to yourself, “I make more money than I spend.” and see how THAT feels.
I bet you’ll notice a discernible shift in your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about that principle and about the money in your life.
What do you do then? Start dreaming of course!
by Elisabeth Donati | Mar 31, 2011 | Financial Literacy, Financial Literacy Principles, Uncategorized
Today’s blog was written for you by one of our very first Camp Millionaire Coaches, Patricia Davis. Enjoy…
As I travel the country teaching financial seminars, I often am reminded of my Mother, Mimi, who was the very first person who taught me the rules of the game of money and how to play it to win. In my recently published book, Mimi, Money and Me: 101 Realities About Money Daddy Never Taught Me But Mama Always Knew, I have chronicled many of her teachings about money and life, along with some of the mistakes, myths and misunderstandings I have heard from students in my classes.
A few months ago, I was asked by the director of a local non-profit to conduct a day long financial seminar for a group of highly motivated teens ages 14 to 17. While they were indeed good students and much more interested in understanding the rules of the game of money than are many teens, still there was a lot they just didn’t know about money—things nobody had ever taught them.
One of the day’s highlights took place when we spent several hours playing Creative Wealth International’s “The Money Game.” I combined the rules of The Money Game with several of Mimi’s teachings discussed in my book to add a healthy dose of “grandmotherly” advice and warnings. The game’s lessons about budgeting, living within one’s means, and saving all were taken to heart and fairly easily understood. As we went through the various rounds, it was Mimi’s strict rules (the ones I grew up with) that caused them pause.
At one point, during the discussion about the jars and always putting money away for tomorrow, one young lady asked, “Why should I save? I might die!” I replied, “You just might live! Plus, you have to be able to take care of yourself as well as your own needs and wants.”
Since they each had been given a copy of my book in advance, they had read many of the “Mimi-isms” I have strategically placed at the beginning of each of the book’s seven chapters. Three of them, along with a true story, helped me make the case for having the responsibility to look after oneself. “Every tub has got to stand on its own bottom;” “Learn to paddle your own canoe;” and “God bless the child that’s got his own” are all sayings I heard as far back as I can remember. As we grew older, Mimi still held fast to her beliefs about money and responsibility. The short exchange below makes the point.
One evening after work, I stopped by her house for a brief visit. (By then, she lived alone—my father had passed and all five children were grown and out on their own.) She asked where I was going when I left her house and I replied that I needed to go to the grocery store before going home. Then, the conversation went like this:
Get Your OWN Chicken!
Mimi: “What are you going to the store for?”
Patricia: ”I need a chicken. Mother, do you have any chickens in your freezer?”
Mimi: “Of course I do. I always have chickens. I have nine of them.”
Patricia: “May I have one?”
Mimi: “No, but you can borrow one if you tell me when I will get my chicken back?”
Patricia: “Mother, you said you have nine. Why should I have to pay you back?”
Mimi: “Patricia, I don’t know anybody the Safeway gives chickens to; not even poor people. Now, if you don’t want to give me my chicken back, it won’t hurt my feelings one bit. Go get your own chicken!!!”
She was probably 75 years old and financially set, but she still clung to her belief that every living soul has to learn to stand on his or her own two feet. “Go get your own chicken” was simply her metaphor for life. Keeping your money straight and being able to provide for yourself were, to her, the most important life lessons any of us can learn. Nobody is responsible for taking care of you but you. Those also are the lessons of The Money Game—learn the rules and play the game to win!
We thought Mimi was mean, strict and stingy. But, she told us she was teaching us lessons to last a lifetime. And, they have.
Mimi is no longer with us, but I hope with what I have written, her voice comes through loud and clear and that she lives on. She had strong feelings about the role of money in helping each of us become self reliant. I am grateful for her teachings and invite you to pick up a copy of the book so you can read some of them for yourself. I assure you that if you take them to heart and learn and follow the rules of the game of money, you will glide more smoothly down the road to financial freedom.
Check out testimonials to and snippets from Mimi, Money and Me on my website at www.yourmoneywiz.com. The book is simply written, easy to understand and will bring lots of smiles as you read some of the real-life stories. Last December, the Washington Post listed it as a favorite to give the gift of financial education.
A Little Bit About Patricia A. Davis – B.S., M.B.A, M.S.
Patricia Davis
Patricia Davis is a former corporate financial management executive who now conducts seminars nationwide on the topic of Financial Literacy and provides personal financial counseling to individuals (and couples) at all income levels with a special emphasis on underserved populations including students, teens, welfare-to-work participants, federal employees, and seniors.
Ms. Davis is the Managing Director of Davis Financial Services and the Executive Director of Money Matters, Inc., a 501 C(3) nonprofit corporation. Both provide financial literacy education and training, and financial counseling. She is also a licensed provider of Camp Millionaire, a fun-filled financial literacy education program for kids, teens and adults.
Ms. Davis graduated from Howard University with a B.S. in mathematics and statistics (cum
laude); holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University (Top 1%); earned a Master of Science degree in
Personal Financial Planning from Golden Gate University (Top Student Award); and graduated
from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Georgetown University (with distinction). In
2009, she was appointed one of two Maryland state representatives to the Taxpayer Advocacy
Panel, a citizens advocacy group of the Internal Revenue Service that focuses on improving
IRS responsiveness to taxpayer needs. In 2010, she received Golden Gate University’s Alumni
Community Service Award in acknowledgement of her work in providing financial literacy to
underserved populations. Also, she is a former White House Fellow, and has appeared on radio
and television discussing financial literacy.
Ms. Davis lived in California for almost 20 years and returned “home” to the Washington, DC area
several years ago. She has held high-level positions at some of the country’s premier companies
such as Bank of America and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, both in California; MCI
in Washington, DC; and Allfirst Bank, headquartered in Baltimore.
She is the author of a new financial management primer dedicated to and inspired by her Mother, Mimi called Mimi, Money and Me: 101 Realities About Money Daddy Never Taught Me But Mama Always Knew.
Mrs. Davis is married, a marathoner, and travels extensively.
by Elisabeth Donati | Mar 17, 2011 | Latest News, Uncategorized
For years, I have listened to adults who say, “Kids just don’t have anything do to. They need youth-based centers where they can go and do things.”
Though I agree it’s great when kids and teens who need it have a safe place to go, I believe one of the main reasons we have so many problems with teens these days is because they don’t have enough things they HAVE to do.
And I do NOT mean homework. They have way too much of that!
What they don’t have to do is the stuff I had to do when I was young. I grew up on a small farm and, boy, did we have stuff we had to do!
We had to feed the horses and chickens and dogs, help mom weed the garden, clean out the stalls, help dad by fetching tools and digging holes, move irrigation pipes, help mom can, freeze, jam, jelly, preserve, pickle, and a whole lot more.
The difference between my experience, and every person I have ever talked to who grew up in a similar situation, is that we now know how to do things.
We can fix anything, mend anything, bake anything, freeze food, can food, kill food if needed. We can do plumbing and electrical and figure out what’s wrong with the tractor.
We know to use safety glasses and we know how to think about the stuff that can go wrong because my Mom always said, “Think before you do that so you can anticipate problems and accidents before they happen.” (Thanks Mom!)
We could use shop tools, pound nails, use a screw driver, measure things, make something level…and we drove trucks and tractors when our feet barely touched the pedals.
All this stuff we had to do led to an incredible amount of independence, security in terms of taking care of ourselves, and self-esteem because we knew we were so dang capable. And it wasn’t a conceited thing…we just felt good about what we could do.
Growing up on a farm
City Kids v. Country Kids
For the past many years, I have intimately watched how being raised in a city compares to being raised in the country.
My brother has two farm kids and my sister has two city kids. And I’d put money on my brother’s kids being the ones who grow up self-reliant and my sister’s kids becoming dependent on a system that continues to churn out, at best, semi-reliable employees and adults who think that others are responsible for their care.
My brother’s kids can hunt down dinner, skin it and have it fried up on the table in an hour if they had to. (Actually, they have…I was there:-).
My brother’s kids know how to plant and harvest enough vegetables to last until the next growing season. AND they love eating all those vegetables, too.
My sister’s kids have gotten to see much of this as they visit my brother several times a year on his huge farm in Eastern Oregon. At least they’ve seen and participated in that life, even if they haven’t had the benefit of learning from it for many years. But I will give my sister credit…she has taught her kids how to grow a few veggies and that’s a good thing.
So what’s my point? It’s just that the teens who get into what we call ‘trouble’, for the most part, are bored and they’re looking for meaning in an environment that rarely creates opportunities to develop the massive self-esteem and independence that having to do things affords.
What’s the answer? Make kids responsible for everything you can. Here are a couple of suggestions:
First, fire all but the head janitor at every school in America. Make the kids responsible for cleaning the school, inside and out. And I mean the whole school. Windows, floors, gum removal (I think that would stop), bathrooms, garbage, kitchen, mowing the lawns, sweeping the playgrounds.
Talk about teaching them to take care of their environment! Just imagine how a group of 10 year old students would handle the kid who threw his garbage on the ground instead of putting it in the trash!
Second, stop giving your kids money just to give them money. If you’ve read my Ultimate Allowance book, you know that I show you how to take the money you already spend ON them and run it THROUGH them while, at the same time, encouraging them to make their own money to buy the extra things they want. The system also includes a way for them to learn to save and invest at the same time.
By the time kids graduate from high school, they would be so good at making money we wouldn’t have to help them out nearly as much as we do now. And the ones who don’t go on to college? At least they know how to make a buck and know what to do with the bucks they make.
So I’ll end with this suggestion…
Ask yourself this question:
What am I doing for my child that he or she is capable of learning to do on his or her own?
Make a list of those things and start empowering your kids to do those things now. My philosophy when my son, Andrew, was growing up was that once he showed me he could do something once, I never did it for him again…even if he complained.
I find parents do things for their children because often it’s just easier to do the thing than have the child do the thing. I promise, that’s never the better choice for the child.
Now ask yourself this question:
What do I want my son or daughter to know how to do before they move out on their own?
Again, make a list and figure out how to teach them these things. If you can’t, find a friend, co-worker, or community organization/business who can.
Bottom line…if WE don’t make sure our children are prepared to do the things that life requires us to do, no one else will. And by giving them a whole lot more responsibility when they are young, we can be assured they can take care of themselves, and maybe even us, when they’re older.
by Elisabeth Donati | Mar 10, 2011 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized
Ted McLyman
Today’s Guest Blog is by Ted McLyman, the author of Money Makes Me Crazy. He has some great insight into why this green stuff we use seems so, well, hard to keep track of and just plain hard to keep in our pockets, let alone our bank accounts. I found it a delightful take on why us simple human beings struggle with money. I hope you enjoy it as well.
—————————————————————
I’ve been working with people and money for years. This is what I’ve learned:
Money makes us crazy!
I have too many choices. I am inundated with too much information. And life is moving at warp speed. I bet I’m just like you. So in deference to Stephen Covey, here are my Seven Habits of Highly Unsuccessful Spenders:
- I can do it, just watch me. We are overconfident that we can control our spending. We think we can control our behavior—this time. We accept the teaser credit card application because we think we won’t use it. We buy “six-months-same-as-cash” because we know we’ll have everything paid off in time. Bad things—life—only happens to the other guy.
- I know I’m right and I can prove it. We rationalize and confirm our spending decisions. No one likes to be wrong and losses/failure emotionally hurt—a lot. We ask “experts” we agree with to confirm our spending choices. We discount anyone who disagrees with us. Over time, we can rationalize just about any spending decision.
- I’m smart. We think the skills and abilities that have made us successful in one area will carry over to our spending decisions. I know a number of very smart and successful professionals who thought they could run a restaurant. They could not—regardless of how good their mom’s pizza recipe. We tend to confuse luck with being smart. Admit it, some of our buying choices worked because we were at the right place at the right time. Brains had nothing to do with it.
- This time is different. We want to believe that a bad spending choice in the past won’t happen again. It can and it may. We aren’t very good with figuring out risk and probability. If we were everyone would own life insurance and not more than 10% of their company’s stock. Remember, the group can be wrong—dot coms, housing, and so forth.
- It’s an investment. We as individuals have no control over the market price or rate of return of anything. We can ask a price for our Beanie Babies, gold plated coins, and collector’s edition presidential plates but the market will determine what it is worth. Just because the guy on television says it’s a great investment does not make it so.
- I have enough time to get my spending under control. We never have as much time as we think. Compounding is our friend—if we use it. We seldom get a “do over” with our money.
- I don’t have enough money. If we are really honest with ourselves, we have money. We simply don’t like to make the hard choices about our spending choices. Instant gratification is great. Our feeling brain loves it. However, have to choose between the car that cost more than my first house and being able to retire in the future.
Now, put down the remote and back away from the television. Spending money is hard work.
Take time now and ask yourself…
What is most important in life to you?
What will it cost to get it?
If I keep spending the way I have been, will I get it?
Don’t worry, you can do this kind of planning any time of the year.
About Ted McLayman:
Ted is a fully licensed financial advisor and author. Prior to forming his own company, Apexx Behavioral Solutions Group, he was a district manager with two major financial planning firms. Ted is a retired Lt. Col, USMC where he served in various command and staff positions to include: economics instructor, U.S Naval Academy; Aide to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Financial Management; and served a tour in Southwest Asia during Operation Desert Storm. Ted is an accomplished public speaker and trainer. He’s been married to his high school sweetheart for 35 years. They have two daughters and they make their home in Augusta, GA.
To purchase Money Makes Me Crazy
by Elisabeth Donati | Feb 24, 2011 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized
Today, Feb. 24, 2011, is the final article I will write from Tortola Island in the BVI (British Virgin Islands).
I have spent six lovely weeks working, playing and learning about lots of things.
Things I’ve learned about Tortola and the British Virgin Islands:
- The fascinating culture in the BVI…the good, the bad and the ugly. And yes, there is ugly but we don’t need to go into it here.
- Life on a small island (it’s 11 miles long and 3 miles wide) is very pleasant. I haven’t experienced Island Fever but I do miss quite a few things. Maybe if I were here longer, but I doubt it.
- The politics of the island, how it affects the locals’ attitudes and behaviors. All I can say is that politics is a four-letter word everywhere I go. Imagine that.
- How simple the tax system is (had to learn it to teach The Money Game at a private school here). You keep the first $10,000 you make. You pay 4% social security on every dollar you make and 8% income tax of every dollar over the $10,000. OMG…is that simple or what?
- How expensive food is when you have to ship most of it in and how limited the variety can be though I have found most of what I usually eat.
- How amazing the local fruit and veggies are when you find them. A banana by any other name is NOT a banana. And the arugula is to die for. It doesn’t taste like any other arugula I have ever tasted. There are papayas that grow like weeds, soursup fruits, coconut (and the water!), plantains, dasheen, yams, sweet potato, boiled green bananas (didn’t really like these).
- How much freer it feels to know there are fewer rules to follow.
- How badly I feel when I buy a drink in an aluminum can that must be tossed rather than recycled because nothing is recycled here.
- I don’t understand the disconnect in terms of the garbage that is everywhere and here’s what I mean…the locals wash their automobiles all the time. Everywhere I go someone is washing a car. But around them can be garbage bags of trash and they don’t stop to pick it up. If anyone can explain THAT to me, I’ll take my hat off to you.
- There are chickens running around the island everywhere but people go to the store to buy chicken, and eggs, to cook. Go figure.
- How small an island really is, i.e., everyone knows everyone. They literally slow down driving past people they know and yell, “Hey!” out the window. It’s a riot.
- That the best time to visit the Caribbean is during OUR winter! Weather is a boring 80 degrees most days. Thank goodness for the next thing.
- How much I love the Caribbean rain. The sky opens up and drops buckets but stops as quickly as it starts…usually. The best part? The RAINBOWS!!!
- How precious water is when you live on a island. Everyone is required to build a cistern under their home or apartment to catch the rain water for showers and cooking. It’s hard to imagine being surrounded by water yet being so dependent on rain water.
- How much our US economy affects the rest of the world and how quickly it affects it.
- Experiencing the allure of living on a boat in this beautiful blue water.
- Knowing that the beautiful blue water is not as clean as it really looks. The island has a huge solid waste problem and many of their septic tanks run over into the roads which all go…you guessed it…to the water. You learn quickly to swim where there aren’t houses nearby.
- That I prefer to swim my laps in a pool WITHOUT the watchful eye of a stingray lurking about!
- That there is nothing that feels better than a warm, soapy shower when you’re sticky from the day and salty from the ocean.
- How much I miss Santa Barbara Farmer’s Markets and Trader Joe’s!
- How everyone walks in the road here and everyone else drives around them and no one yells, screams, honks or gets pissy about it. Even the little kids going to and from school walk in the roads. It’s just not an issue.
- If you live on an island, you must have a HUMMER to get around. OK, that’s a little exaggeration but you get the picture.
- How easy it is to hitch a ride (caveat…IF you’re a white girl. I don’t think it’s that easy if you’re a local).
- How much I hate roosters but how powerful the mind is at training it to think of their cock-a-doodle-dooing as trains so that I can sleep through all the racket they make during the early (and I mean early) morning.
- How much the people who love me, miss me.
As you might expect, I’ve also learned that financial education is lacking in the BVI as much or more as it’s lacking everywhere else. Every adult I meet who asks me what I do either says, “That’s amazing. Great work.” or “Can you teach me because I don’t have a clue what to do with money?” Things don’t change just because you go to an island.
These are things I’ve learned to love:
- The rules we’re so used to (but shouldn’t be) in the US. You can still drive around drinking a beer in the afternoon here. And before you have a tizzy, you have to understand that they aren’t drunk…they are just drinking a beer in the car.
- The thing is, you can’t drive fast on the roads here because they are in terrible shape AND there are speed bumps everywhere so a beer in the afternoon doesn’t mean a thing.
- One of my favorite things, though, are the colorful homes. There is this ornate apartment building near where I’m staying that is dark pink and blue and it just makes my eyes happy. One day I’m going to paint a house this color just because I want to!
- Probably one of my most memorable experiences will be my day trip to Virgin Gorda. I went there on a boat with a friend and we found our way to Spring Bay. We got into the ocean and swam for an hour looking at red fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish (Oh, sorry…forgive me Dr. Seuss). You get the idea. If heaven looks like that, you won’t have to drag me when it’s time.
- I also discovered that I love Caribbean music. We went out dancing on Valentine’s Day to The Pub and there was a great international band that played a lot of Reggae. We had a blast. I’ve already downloaded an album by Morgan Heritage and I have to say I love it!
What I have learned about me:
I’ve learned that my heart and soul still have a lot to accomplish in the financial literacy industry.
I’ve learned that it’s good to go live somewhere new, learn new ways and new culture, try new foods, meet new people and make new friends in that new place.
I’ve relearned that people really are people all over the world.
I’ve remembered how easy it is for me to be happy and fit in where ever I am.
I’ve learned that more than anything else, people tell me how ‘gracious’ I am. And here’s what I have to say about that…
I owe that to my mother; the one who taught me my best lessons. Even though she didn’t teach me anything about money, what she DID teach me, in many ways, was far more valuable.
She taught me:
If you’re going to say something, say something nice.
Always leave a place, and the people in that place, in better shape than how you found it and them.
If you’re going up stairs, take something. If you’re going downstairs, take something.
Don’t wait around for someone to tell you what needs to be done. Look around you, pay attention and then do it because you see it needs doing.
It’s better to be supportive than judgmental.
Trust the ones you love to know what’s best for themselves. Even if they don’t, at least you’ll be around to help pick them up if they need it when they fall.
You can do anything you set your mind to do.
Just make sure you pay attention to your surroundings and don’t do anything stupid (thanks Mom).
Drive like everyone else is nuts. (I’ve added WALK like everyone driving is nuts…though the drivers really do seem to watch more closely for people walking on the road.)
Don’t believe everything you read, hear, or see.
And finally, no matter what you’re doing, you can only do your best.
Thinking back, I realize I brought all of this wisdom with me to Tortola six weeks ago.
And by using it, I am leaving wiser, with several beautiful friendships, some sweet business connections, and the experience of teaching The Money Game in another country.
But even more, I’ll return home with even more gratitude for the people I return to next Monday, the home I have the privilege to live in that I adore, the ocean called The Pacific that I get to walk alongside, the pool I get to swim in that is stingray-free, all of the food I could possibly want, and a little bit of a tan.
Next week, I’ll be back in my own home and office getting reacquainted with my other life.
Last weekend someone asked me when I had to go back to my REAL life. The question startled me. Why? Because I consider every day I get to live my real life.
Thanks for coming along on my Tortola Adventure. It was grand.
So, you good?
