Financial Literacy
Most recent grads are financially illiterate. There. I said it. In my experience, I find this to be especially true for those in engineering and the sciences. I was a liberal arts guy, so I had two personal finance classes and two business finance classes. A lot of my friends are engineers, and they are totally in the dark when it comes to money matters. I find this a bit funny since they are the ones making all the money, but I digress.
I did a quick survey of available online resources for upping your financial IQ.
- If you are still in college, read what this guy has to say. I’d subscribe to his RSS feed immediately.
- If you believe the government is capable of being helpful, then try this one. It covers all the topics in textbook-like fashion.
- The American Institute of Certified Public Accounts publishes this one, but it also reads like a textbook. This one is especially good for recent college grads.
- This one from Kiplinger is done in the easy-to-read Q&A style.
Winner for the ugly prize: http://www.jumpstart.org/ (what, is this website from 1997?)
A book I don’t recommend: Real Life 101: A Guide To Stuff That Actually Matters. I read this at the tail-end of my senior year in college. This is 5th grade level reading material. Don’t bother with it. I’m sure any of the above links will be orders of magnitude more helpful.
When you are ready to take your skills to the next level, start reading the “Your Money Matters” section of the Wall Street Journal.
Welcome! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe via email. Thanks for visiting!
Tags: Finance
Subscriber in a reader
October 3rd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
The financial decisions you make when you’re your just starting out in a career are arguably the most important–after all, your money will have the most time to grow. It’s a shame that most schools do such a poor job teaching these skills. Hopefully the internet makes it easier for people to find the info they need.