Last night, Leslie and I attended the Financial Beginnings Annual event and enjoyed an evening with many who feel the same way we do about the need to get kids money smart. Financial Beginnings is a non-profit organization founded by Melody Thompson here in Portland that provides curriculum and volunteers to go into the classroom to teach kids personal finance.
We were happy to donate a share of Berkshire Hathaway stock and an “I’m A Shareholder KIT” that went to a lucky winner. We sat at a table with three teachers – all energetic, all believers, and all going the extra mile to figure out a way school their kids about finances. You see in Oregon, like many other states, personal finance is not a part of the required curriculum. It’s my blog so I get to say “That’s just plain dumb!”
One of my favorite speakers was State Senator Rick Metsger a Democrat who sounded like a Republican when he pointed out that we could avoid much of the financial protection legislation we have if people just had some basic personal finance knowledge to avoid getting in trouble in the first place.