My Teaching Philosophy

I've studied lots of financial literacy education programs in my day. And by a lot, I mean A LOT. And with only a few exceptions, they tend to suffer from at least one of the following major problems.

First, they focus almost entirely on defining terms. While learning the names of products and the vocabulary is undoubtedly a part of financial literacy, that tends to be where most classes stop. Knowing the difference between a money market mutual fund and a high yield savings account is nice, but 1 ) it's something you can easily Google and 2) it doesn't help you decide how to use these products, or if you even need one!

Second, they tend to focus on investing. Most financial literacy textbooks I have read spend 50 pages on budgeting, psychology, insurance, etc and 200 pages on how to buy stocks. The reality is that investing is one of the SIMPLEST parts of your finances to run, if you know how to do it. You can learn everything you need to know about investing in about an hour. Not to mention the fact that until you are not likely to even start investing until you get budgeting, spending, insurance, and other parts of your finances in order.

Third, they tend to be pretty boring.

I'll settle for pity laughs

Maybe I'm not actually as funny with the memes and puns as I think I am, but I try! So many finance books and classes are so serious! No one knows everything and there's nothing sacred about money. So let's lighten up a little!

It's okay to laugh

Finally, even if they manage to avoid these others, almost all of them just give simple rules to follow. They don't attempt to teach understanding - just a few "tricks" to make money easy.

Ah rules of thumb.

Personal finance is littered with dogmatic rules, and every "guru" out there has their own. "Never use debt!" "Don't buy new cars!" "Buy real estate or you will die!".  The reality is that there are almost no actual rules that I have ever heard that don't have at least one exception. You won't get rules with me. The reality is that there are very few things that are truly "bad" or "good". There is only advantage and disadvantage. Pro and con. Cost and benefit. I'll teach you to identify and weigh the costs and benefits of every option in any situation.

You know what they say about assumptions, don't you? #Ifyouknowyouknow

I get why everyone does this. It's so much easier. It's easier for the teacher to just cram a few rules into your brain, and it's much more click-baity. It's also easier for learners, and people WANT things to be simple.

Reality is just not that way. Sorry.

I take the road less traveled and push everyone to achieve a higher level of learning called "comprehension". I want to give you a toolkit of math skills and conceptual understandings that allow you to tackle any problem or situation you might find yourself facing.

Because let's face it. Everyone faces different situations. We all have different problems. Different opportunities. Different preferences, styles, mentalities, families, cultures, and economic situations. And those variables SHOULD be considered when trying to get the most out of our money.

My thumb looks like... a thumb. How do you describe a thumb anyway?

So I teach you not only the "what" of finance, but also the "why" and "how".

WHY are we buying health insurance? WHAT makes a health insurance more or less effective at meeting our objectives? HOW do I find health insurance policies to compare?

WHY are we building a budget? What's the objective? WHAT makes you happy and HOW do get more of those things?

These are the types of questions I can teach you how to answer.

The idea that experience is the best teacher is widespread throughout our society and history. Historians have found this sentiment being expressed in writing as far back as 52 BC by Julius Caesar. 

There are some problems with learning by experience, however. Sometimes we learn the wrong lesson. For example, investment losses early in our investing experience often teaches us never to invest at all, which is the wrong lesson entirely (Malmandier and Nagel, 2011).

Another major problem is that learning from a financial mistake can often have dramatic consequences that can haunt a person for years. While we may learn not to repeat a mistake, the damage has already been done.

My goal is to give you the basic tools and resources to evaluate situations as they occur, make wise decisions, and avoid painful costly mistakes. That takes more time and effort than just absorbing whatever fad "tactic" is popular on TikTok this week, but it is SO MUCH more POWERFUL and REWARDING.

Join me and I promise I can detangle the mystifying world of finance for you. You will feel more comfortable and in control of your finances than you ever thought possible. It's not that hard.

Maybe not the galaxy, but certainly your finances!