April is Financial Literacy Month but we should be teaching our young people this important life skill year-round
By Christyle Russell, Economic Literacy Colorado board member
It’s that time of life that I’ve dreaded and anticipated for 18 years: my daughter is about to graduate and go to college. As we tour college campuses and have lengthy conversations about which schools have the best curriculum, dorms, food options, and facilities, I wonder if I have fully prepared my daughter for what life outside of our home looks like and if she’s ready to make life-changing decisions on her own. Especially because my life-changing decision happened in my sophomore year of college.
When I went to North Carolina Wesleyan College, I immediately decided to major in Psychology because my mom had, and it was an option I was exposed to. I love the topic and I use a lot of my knowledge of psychological concepts in my work today. Paradoxically, it was the random elective I took that blew my mind: a stock market class. And after that, I signed up for an economics class and the rest is history. I knew what I was destined to do. If only I had been exposed to this sooner!
I went on to get an MBA in Finance and International Business, a career in finance, and became a passionate advocate for expanding opportunities for various communities especially women, and people of color, to access financial literacy and achieve multi-generational wealth.
I have worked in financial services for over 3 decades and am now writing a book focused on women and financial independence. The overarching theme I have found from close to 300 interviews I’ve had with a diverse group of passionate, career driven women is lack of exposure. While men are exposed to financial concepts, habits, and strategies casually, women largely are not. Women spend a large part of their focus on maintaining "relevancy" and increasing "revenue" for their own companies or the organizations they work for, caring for children and elderly parents, while faced with a perpetual equity pay gap and a glass ceiling.
For those who are natural savers they still wrestle with knowing if they will have enough to slow down, stop working, and live the life they have envisioned.
The top concerns I hear from women are:
"Is my money working as hard for me as I am for it?" (i.e., Is it invested properly?)
"Will I have enough to enjoy the life I've planned?" (i.e., Will my money last to and through retirement?)
"Will a serious illness or accident deplete my retirement savings if I can't work?" (i.e., Will I be a burden to others? )
My life’s work and passion are to expose others to financial strategies and concepts regardless of where their financial journey has taken them. My anticipation is that all the exposure I’ve given to others will change the trajectory of their financial agility. I remain especially grateful to organizations that have allowed me to be an ambassador for financial literacy to our youth including Economic Literacy Colorado (Stock Market Experience & Invest In Girls), Young Americans Center for Financial Education (Girls Can), and the South Suburban Chapter Jack and Jill of America, Inc (Teen Financial Literacy Modules). Organizations like these give me hope that my daughter and the generations to come will exceed our expectations when it comes to financial literacy.
