Young adults need to seek wealth literacy not financial literacy

Today there is much talk about how young adults are financially illiterate as if financial literacy were adequate to build wealth. Millions of people have read one of the best financial literacy books out there “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” yet there is a loss of translation somewhere between the sound principles of financial literacy and their utility in building wealth. Somewhere, there still is a bridge to building wealth that books such as “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” have failed to cross. This bridge is one of not financial literacy, but one of wealth literacy. If I were a university President, I would ensure that my business program offered the following courses:

(1) How to Leverage Money

(2) The Four Pillars of Wealth

(3) How to Invest Money

(4) Gold and Precious Metals

(5) How to Leverage Time

(6) Debunking Widespread Investment Myths; and

(7) Networking

There would be several more lessons that I would provide after this basic curriculum was completed, including:

(1) The Connection Between Politics and Investing; and

(2) Leveraging Technology to Build Wealth

With an adequate foundation of knowledge in all these courses, a young adult would be prepared to build wealth without so much trial and error, struggle, or outright failure. Instead, no level of traditional institutions of education teach such courses and instead remain mired in curriculums skewed towards theory and not applicability such as statistics, economics 101, marketing and finance. If you think about it, even at the Master level, none of these traditional business or financial literacy courses will really teach any student how to build wealth. This is precisely the reason why young adults must seek an entirely different foundation in order to understand how to truly build wealth.

Various surveys that I have stumbled across that assess the financial literacy of young adults are inadequately structured because they focus too much on traditional concepts such as stocks, options, real estate, and so on versus granting an assessment on whether young adults are knowledgeable about any concepts necessary to build wealth. Being “financially” literate versus being “wealth” literate are two entirely different concepts. I believe that one can be financially literate while not being wealth literate.

The difference between financial literacy courses and wealth literacy courses is this. Financial literacy courses focus on topics such as budgeting, basic understanding of investing concepts, funding retirement accounts and so on – concepts that young adults rarely consider but still not concepts that will help them build wealth. Financial literacy courses teach young adults what they need to do to build wealth but grants them none of the tools they will actually need to successfully build wealth. Furthermore, they never inform them on actionable steps to build wealth other than common sense such as learn how to invest, max out your 401 (k) contributions and so on.

For example, if one was a basketball player, the comparable level of a financial literacy course would be to tell a power forward that he needs a good array of post-up moves close to the basket, a sweet outside shot to make opponents respect his range, a quick first step to create off the dribble and a solid defensive game so that opponents can not exploit him for being a one-dimensional player. But after telling the power forward that, there would be no further explanation but a wish of “good luck” and a pat on the back. A wealth literacy course would actually teach the athlete specifically what he would need to do to achieve success in each area of his game that would make him a premier athlete.

Telling young adults what they need to do will have little impact on improving their quality of life or making a successful transition from young adults into financially independent adults. Providing a toolkit for how to do so is far more important. To this end, seeking courses that teach wealth literacy instead of financial literacy to young adults is much more important.

The use of books and computers in home schooling

Learning is never-ending for even as adults, people continually learn new facts and things every single day. In today's modern day and age, new techniques and additions are making both teaching and learning challenging as well as interesting. For parents, who are home schooling their children, it is of utmost importance that the student's particular needs, interests and abilities should be taken into consideration before deciding on what method or technique of teaching is to be used.

The utilization of books in a home school set-up makes the learning process personal. Books can be read whenever, wherever and reading them aloud can definitely help improve the child's diction. Reading helps improve pronunciation as well as makes sentence grammar and structure easy to understand.

Children learn best under discussion because questions and clarifications can be answered in a discussion. Parent teachers can conduct reading sessions with their child after which they can conduct discussion sessions. Books may not be considered as interactive resources but the subject matter contained in the books can always be discussed during lessons. Analysis and discussion can increase the child's insight on various subjects.

Reading can be done casually as for instance on subjects like literature and drama where plays can be enacted enabling learning to be fun and less stressful at the same time. Books can definitely increase a child's knowledge with numerous factual information that one can obtain from it.

The use of computers have helped improved and transform education and could be one of the best things that has helped take learning into the next level. One of the modern methods of teaching is the computer based home schooling setup. The only downside to any online or computer based home school setup is the lack of any personal attention. There are certain students who perform better when under the supervision of a parent or a tutor.

The internet is an information highway for information on practically any subject and topic plus data is regularly updated. The internet is one of the effective home schooling tools as both the parent teachers and the students can choose from a wide variety of available learning materials based on their particular requirements. In addition to the typical resource materials, there are numerous audio as well as video materials that one can easily access on the net.

Games are an important part of childhood but computers must as well be utilized for learning. Computer games are not bad for your children especially if these are integrated with knowledge oriented features that makes learning both fun and interactive.

When computers and the internet entered the world of education, it has truly experienced a profound revolution. The information found on books may remain static but as the case of the internet the available information is all the time updated. Plus, it can be seen that the younger generation are very much drawn to electronic gadgets and are learning the medium at a pretty fast pace. The use of computers in addition to books as a learning resource boosts learning as well.

It doesn't matter if you opt for books, the computer or both for your child's home schooling education. What's more important is that these materials are effectively used.

Using audio books to get children to read more

Would you liket to get your kids to read more? Audio books are proving to be a useful and enjoyable way for children to learn in a natural and entertaining manner. They show more attention and focus that is otherwise difficult to come by in the classroom.

Teachers and parents alike are using audiobooks to catch the interest of the "mp3 generation".

Though some teachers have trouble accepting the fact that learing can be fun, a growing number say that such an approach can make learning more interesting for today's youngsters who have never known a world without the internet, cell phones, text messaging, and playstations. In fact they say it can have kids learning in spite of themselves.

The audio format attracts youngsters because it's considered a cool reading alternative, especially now that they can download a book direct to their MP3 players.

Audio books are providing a rich learning environment that can be used in innovative and engaging ways, supporting learning and appealing to the digital characteristics of today's generation.

And when you think about it, the spoken word is how people have communicated and learned for centuries. It only makes sense therefore that when a new technology comes along that resonates with the today's kids they tend to get hooked.

"It makes "reading" more interesting," are some of the comments from young students. "You don't have to listen to the teacher talk all the time. You don't have to look at a book all day."

The audio industry over the last decade has experienced tremendous growth, even as formats have moved from cassettes to CDs and now digital downloads.

"The rule of thumb over the years has been that the audio industry is about 10% of what the book industry is in size," according to Jae Taylor of audiodigitalbooks. com.

In fact, according to Mr. Taylor, “audiobooks have withstood the economic downturns of the retail book market better than books themselves."

While children's audio books remain a small segment of the overall audio book market, sales have been increasing over the years, following a general industry trend," Mr. Taylor says.

Audiobooks are particularly helpful in studying for exams or in situations where you need to take in a lot of information. They also make things like learning foreign languages much easier.

In fact, the Commission on Reading report, entitled "Becoming a Nation of Readers" states, "The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children,' "

Studies show that audiobooks help children increase their vocabulary and develop greater reading fluency because they can listen to books that they might otherwise show no interest in.

Fairy tales for preschoolers

PreSchool Children love Fairy Tales. I can think of no better way to pass an afternoon than listening to someone narrate one of the classic childrens stories of all time.

My favorite, Beatrix Potters first charming tale of Peter Rabbit. Children around the world love to hear about the adventures of this lovable little rabbit as he sneaks to the forbidden garden of Mr McGregor.

How about the silly antics of Winnie The Pooh by A. A. Milne. Every child adores a romp through the Hundred Acre Woods.

Reading takes children into the wonderful world of fantasy. Fairy Tales help to spark imagination and curiosity. Fairy Tales usually have a moral that makes sense to preschoolers. Children love fairy tales because they are usually silly and bring to life animals and toys. And best of all, reading to young children encourages them to learn to read on their own. Kids get excited about books and continue to read on their own long after the fairy tale years.

Children of any age can benefit from books, and it's always best to make time for reading. Audiobooks make it easy for parents and teachers to fit in extra reading time. A professionally narrated book is like a full scale play. The narrators bring the story to life while the children sit captivated until the very end.

Reading to children helps build vocabulary skills, become better readers and certainly reading to children will help to develop listening skills.

Just 20 minutes of reading to kids every day will make a fundamental difference in so many ways. Check with your local library, they usually have a story time program for preschoolers that meet regularly. Kids love to be part of a special group and this will add further encouragement. Build a strong foundation for your children now and see the benefits for a lifetime.