One-third
of high schoolers have credit cards; about 40 percent of college students
graduate with $25,000 in credit card debt, and the average graduate school
student is nearly $46,000 in debt. Yet a youngster is lucky if he receives
didactic training, much less hands-on experience, in financial responsibility
during elementary, middle, and high school. Perhaps because they do not know
how to teach finances to children, most schools simply skip over this critical
aspect of transitioning from child to adult.
Unless
their parents teach these children to be financially responsible, too many
young adults will simply enter the world unable to take control of their
financial situation, instead turning to their parents or, worse yet, the social
welfare system. Others will accrue massive debt, become buried in liabilities,
and face a lifetime of catch-up.
And
though the word responsibility implies
much, much more than simply financial responsibility, a parent can begin to
mold an overall responsible child through the tenets of financial
responsibility. To teach financial responsibility, a parent must focus on
goal-setting, frugality, emotional maturity, and respect, all virtues that
beget overall strength of character.
This
sets the stage for Michael Wylie’s personal story of how his parents taught him
to be a responsible person, in part by focusing on financial responsibility.
“We wanted to teach our children that money was merely a currency,
and that it needed to be exchanged for happiness,” said Paul Wylie, Michael
Wylie’s father. “We wanted to emphasize the importance of being frugal with a
purpose—to save for the things that are important in life. To do that, they had
to identify their dreams and learn about goal-setting. They had to be
emotionally intelligent and disciplined so they could accomplish these goals.
And they had to be responsible with their time, their energy, and their money.”
[JB1]
When
Michael Wylie was seven, his
father—who owned Metrocities Mortgage—refused Michael’s request for an
allowance, instead offering an interest-free loan to start a business. Together
with his brother, Michael Wylie embarked on a venture called Coin-Operated Kids
to install and service vending machines in Metrocities’ offices. For nine
years, he and his brother poured over balance sheets, learned about budgets,
and allocated money to their favorite charities in the name of social
responsibility. Their mother, Dolores, sacrificed hours of her personal time to
shuttle the boys between CostCo, where they loaded up on snacks, and the
Metrocities Mortgage offices, where they took inventory, stocked the machines,
and withdrew their earnings. She taught the children about philanthropy, helped
them set academic, athletic, and financial goals, and engaged them in the
goal-setting process.
When
Michael Wylie was sixteen, he sold
his business interest in Coin-Operated Kids to his brother and opened AbwayTechnology™,
later filing for a business name, trademark, and California reseller’s
certificate. Abway expanded to sell over $300,000 in laptops, servers, toner,
software, and accessories in one year alone. Today, twenty-five-year-old
Michael Wylie runs Abway Technology and ServNet LLC while publishing books,
teaching at Universities and donating his time to charitable activities.
How
and why did Michael Wylie and his brothers learn financial and personal
responsibility at such young ages while others continue to struggle well into
their thirties, forties, and fifties? The book Michael Wylie is currently writing[JB2]explores this, leveraging Michael Wylie’s personal experience, his
parents’ wisdom, and stories from other parents and their children. Drawing from the eight tenets of financial
responsibility each chapter provides inspiration for parents of all
socioeconomic backgrounds to begin teaching their children valuable lessons
about character and overall responsibility through:
Tenet #1: Financial Literacy
Tenet #2: Fiscal Conservativeness
Tenet #3: Goal-setting
Tenet #4: Emotional Intelligence
Tenet #5: Self-regulation, Natural Consequences, and the Invisible
Hand
Tenet #6: Love of Learning
Tenet #7: Respect
Tenet #8: Social Responsibility
To keep up-to-date on Michael Wylie’s
progress with the book, follow him on Twitter @TheMikeWylie or visit his
website: www.TheMikeWylie.com.
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