So today I’m not reporting on the news – at least not in a straightforward fashion. Instead, I’m doing something very rare and giving you my own point of view.

Student need training in finance.

And now, students everywhere are shuddering at the thought. But it is true, and it IS needed – and badly! I see it everyday. Parents and students have no idea what they’re getting themselves into when they start to look at financial aid.

Part of it is a confusing financial aid process, I grant you, but a large chunk of it is students and parents who don’t know what “compound interest” or “promissory note” mean! People these days don’t know basic finances. I had to teach my husband how to balance a checkbook – when he was in his mid-twenties!! That’s something he should have known how to do when he was young, so it’s second nature.

People! Not teaching the children the basics of finance impairs their future. They don’t understand how compound interest can turn the $500 they put in an IRA or 401K now into $200,000 forty years from now, without having to put any additional money in.

It also means all those kids signing on the dotted line for student loans have NO IDEA what they’re getting themselves into. It is imperative that we teach kids how to think for themselves, financially in order to prepare them for the future. Like it or not, the future involves loans and checkbooks.

Thank you for your time, I will now surrender my soapbox.