People Aren't Stupid, They're Just Financially Uneducated.

I recently wrote an article entitled, "I'm as Mad as Hell About the Economy and I'm Not Going to Take This Anymore." I am mad at what has happened to our economy, but it has happened and looking back isn't going to fix it. We need to look forward at what we can do to get out of the hole.

Actually, we might have to look back in order to go forward. Yes, there were mistakes made, but a lot of those mistakes could have been avoided. We like to blame the banks or the government, but really we all are to blame.

I guess I've thought this before, but I have come to the realization that people aren't really stupid, they are just not educated financially.

We go to school for at least twelve years(at least we're supposed too) and take the same subjects over and over, year after year, day after day. The same old curriculum: math, science, history, and English. All of which are subjects we need to know. Granted you usually have some electives, but I think a finance class should be a required class in order to graduate. Even our early college years require those core requirements. Throw in a financial management class as a requirement too.

How did you learn to balance your check? Even after being in banking for twenty years I am still amazed at how many people don't know how to balance their check book. When you bought your home, how did you know the best loan to apply for? Did you do what the loan officer thought you should do? After all he is the professional, but were you able to make an educated decision?

The goal of The Debt Free Advocate is to educate people on finance. Everything from credit related issues, such as: credit scores, debt, taking out loans for buying a home to saving and investing.

One of our most searched topics on this blog is, "How Did This Economic Crisis Start?" We have explored exactly what happened before, but we never really looked at the lack of education aspect.

The biggest part of our economic meltdown was the mortgage situation. So we are going to make mortgage credit education our main focus over the next few weeks. Spread the word to those you know buying a home for the first time and send them our way. We'll leave the light on for them.