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In this issue: Making financial literacy fun, avoiding distraction brokers and finding a rainbow. “Working to help parents raise money-smart kids.” 3 Ideas to Share & Save Hello, friends! With so many kids simmering in schools before September, Labor Day no longer feels like the ceremonial end of summer. So this edition will wrap up the season in a neat, tidy (rain)bow. And since I’m helping my daughter start up her sophomore year this weekend, there will be no newsletter next Monday. I’ll be back the following week with more ideas the share and save. — 1 — Fun Financial Literacy? Nan Morrison heads the prestigious Council for Economic Education (CEE), whose mission reads: “To equip K-12 students with the tools and knowledge of personal finance and economics so that they can make better decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities.”
So Nan knows a bit about meaningful money conversations. She offered some interesting insights in this interview, and I’d like to highlight three of her thoughts:
Nan explained why these money-fun nights can make a difference: “It always happens. A parent comes up to me and says, ‘I was afraid to talk to my kid about money. It’s so clear they’re interested in it. The activities were really helpful. I’m really glad that we’re doing this, and I’m really going to encourage the principal to make this an everyday part of the classroom.'”
— 2 — Distraction Brokers: I’ve learned it takes roughly double the time to finish this newsletter if I am simultaneously paying attention to email or other work tasks. These distractions also make it less likely I’ll have any useful insights to share with you. So I try to tune out everything when I’m writing. As my personal experience demonstrates, multitasking simply doesn’t work. We often engage in what I like to call craptasking — doing multiple things at once, but doing a worse job on each. And because I believe the adage is true that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well, I decided to focus more to craptask less. But learning how to focus is difficult for kids living in a world screaming with trivial diversions. Many so-called “influencers” are simply distraction brokers making a living by convincing children meaningless stuff matters. This is one reason I was glad to share my recent podcast conversation with Erin McNeill because her mission is to help our kids navigate these wasteful waters with media literacy. But the implications of distraction go much, much deeper. There are major cultural effects: “When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.”
—Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
Postman wrote those words when we had only the television to distract us. Unfortunately, they echo even louder in our current social media environment. — 3 — Weekly Wisdom: Let me leave you on a more positive note. “People think that you’ve made it when you’ve gotten to the end of the rainbow and got the pot of gold. But they’re wrong. The reward is in crossing the rainbow.”
—Steve Jobs
Jobs noted that when he finally reached that pot of gold, he turned his focus to finding another rainbow. Because the rainbow, not the pot of gold, is the point. As always, enjoy the journey! 🌈 John, P.S. Please consult with a financial or investment professional before making any decisions that might affect your financial well-being.
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