So I had an interesting evening last week. I’ve been doing a series of community keynotes in the state of Minnesota on behalf of the Minnesota Alliance With Youth. In each community I’ve been speaking with community leaders about the critical importance of organizational and adult wellness as it pertains to the wellness of youth. If WE’RE not doing well, THEY’RE not doing well.
But last week I went to Marshall, MN and was placed into content far outside my comfort zone: their evening conference was for teens and about financial literacy.
Hmm… financial literacy. Search has a new site called BankIt which is a collaborative effort between Search and CapitolOne around financial literacy. So it’s not that we don’t know something about the topic. It’s just that I don’t know much.
So I needed to think creatively. The conference was called “Money Wise,” so I decided to take my lead from that and talk about the difference between “literacy” and “wisdom.“By definition, “literacy” means “a knowledge or competency in a particular area.” So there was little doubt that the young people and their parents were going to leave the event more literate in finances because of the panel of experts the hosts had assembled. But does that mean they’d leave any wiser?
For example, I asked the audience to raise their hands if they know smoking is bad for our health. Everyone’s hand went up. Then I asked if they knew someone who smoked. Everyone’s hand went up. So there was no lack of literacy in the dangers of smoking. But there was a lack of wisdom.
I attempted to create a clear distinction: literacy means very little unless we have the wisdom to do something with the knowledge we have.
I also took two main points of financial literacy and used them metaphorically for our own life experience:
1. Don’t spend more than you have.
2. Don’t buy what you want until you have what you need.
These aren’t just sound financial strategies, these are germane to how we live our lives. I was hopeful that the young people had a chance to reflect on how they use their time, talents, relationships, and goals in these broader principles.
Truth be told, the speech was probably the most fun I’ve had speaking in recent memory. Something about being forced to stretch outside of one’s comfort zone and to think creatively is really compelling. Probably another good life lesson.
By the way, a local reporter in Marshall wrote a brief piece about the evening: http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/516746.html?na...
Nice post
Food and health are basic part of life therefore we have to careful about these whenever man is in trouble in health and it may cause due to food therefore we choose that things which our stomic accept it
It is our right to serve the family in gathering till at end because separation from them is like separation from the whole world so it is better for him to live with them in gathering and fulfill their needs
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Wisdom is something that comes with experience that is somewhat hard to contradict and hard to define as well. Literacy on the other hand is quite easy to judge. You can take an exam to gauge it.
It is really easy to know about the different aspects of our lives — we can just google it or what have you. The question usually lies on the ethics behind it. Did you do it for your own benefit or for the benefit of the group? the questions are endless. I wish I was able to hear your speech. I’m pretty sure it made a difference to the audience since I know this article did something with mine.
Regarding financial literacy, I think one word of wisdom would be to live below your means. Don’t over spend and to think and plan before spending.Do not overspend. A lot of Americans tend to invest on wrong items like an expensive car.
The main difference of literacy and wisdom is evident. Literacy is like knowledge which can be obtained by just reading a book. You can also become literate and aware through the use of media sites and internet. But wisdom is different because it combines knowledge and experience. Just like the example stated. Most of us are aware that smoking is dangerous to our health but we haven’t tried it yet. The people who tried to smoke, got sick, and recovered from illness due to smoking, can truly share a real time experience about smoking and thus a smoker wisdom.
Thinking outside the box is always an enriching experience. Putting yourself outside of your comfort zone probably also put you on a similar level to the youths, only that you have the wisdom!
Good points Nathane, your points on financial literacy are spot on.
M
Playing pool in space
(on pool tables..)
Fantastic blog post, I’ll definitely keep tabs on your future posts.
Cheers Nathane
Italy Vacations
Great read, thanks!
Excellent post, I’ll keep tabs on the blog Nathane.
Many thanks,
Carol
Offices in Oxford
I think that nowadays literacy is a bit differnt in minds of people. The essay sale would be huge on thios topic.
Good tips Nathane, enjoyed the post :)
I’ll apply these ideas to my Toy Cars website
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