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Root cause: Incessant advertising coupled with lack of financial education. Public schools need to teach financial literacy in junior and high schools. Maybe t
by hwstar 11y ago
Root cause: Incessant advertising coupled with lack of financial education.
Public schools need to teach financial literacy in junior and high schools. Maybe there should be an entire semester devoted to it. If I were to design such a course, it would cover the following:
1. Saving and compound interest.
2. Credit. Personal loans, auto loans, mortgages, student loans.
3. Financial products to avoid. Title loans, payday loans, Bail bondsmen.
4. Why asset accumulation is good, and materialism is bad.
5. Investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETF's. Investment fees.
6. Financial obligations during marriage and divorce. Filial support, child support, alimony. Wills and trusts.
7. Planning for retirement, IRA's, 401K's. Saving money for your kids education.
8. Health insurance. Employer plans, the ACA, Co-pays, co-insurance, maximum out of pocket expenses. Why it's bad in some states to go on medicaid, and why you should get an ACA policy instead.
9. What you need to do to buy a house.
10. Starting your own business. Fictitious business names,
incorporation. Protecting your personal assets if the business is sued. Employment law. Employment at-will, discrimination, whistle-blowing. Unemployment compensation,
workers compensation, disability insurance.
11. Landlord and Tenant law.
12. What you need to do if you are arrested.
When people graduate from high school and turn 18, there's a whole legion of shysters ready to prey on them.
- prostoalex 11y agoDon't forget the tax rates. Americans are eager to slap a tax increase on anything income-related (Prop 30) while eschewing tax increases on anything property-related (Prop 13), in effect building a rentier state, where decreasing number of working individuals http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 is responsible for a growing list of expenses.
- hwstar 11y agoI'm all for a split property tax roll (personal/commercial). Prop 13 needs to stay as it is for non-commercial properties. If you don't see why, you will. When you are retired, you will come round to my side of the argument.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- prostoalex 11y agoBut you're approaching this in the context of current income tax rates. How would the equation change if there was no income tax, just the property tax, and you could plan your retirement around those numbers?
- hwstar 11y agoMy situation would be probably worse under a property tax only regime. The problem with property tax is that is levied whether you have income or not, and not everyone is directly liable for it. Right now, I'm living off of post-tax savings and investments, so my income taxes are really low (as in almost zero). My property tax however is a significant fraction of the taxes I do pay as I have a main residence and an income property. The current tax code is set up in such a way that if you have no income from wages, and only non-wage income, you can pay no taxes on capital gains up to about $70K per year See http://www.gocurrycracker.com/never-pay-taxes-again/ http://www.gocurrycracker.com/never-pay-taxes-again/
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoThe problem you mention about property tax, is actually the original purpose behind property tax. So-called 'absentee landlords' were leaving land fallow for generations, impoverishing the nation. Property tax was instituted to make sure land was constantly in use, or the landlord lost it (and somebody more productive got it).
- hwstar 11y agoSo the pesky US constitution got in the way of a "fallow land tax"? It seems to me if land is being left fallow, then that's something which ought to be discouraged. If land is in service, then the property taxes should be nominal.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoI really wish Khan Academy would put something together for these.
- fgandiya 11y agoThey already do. They partnered with The Bank of America to provide some courses on financial literacy here.https://www.bettermoneyhabits.com/khan-academy-partnership.html https://www.bettermoneyhabits.com/khan-academy-partnership.h...