By
Alexander Carl on July 31, 2010
The Solvency Shark has often harped on the importance of being informed, whether through your own research or through financial education.
Now,
as reported in the New York Times, a Harvard economist discovered a correlation between the effectiveness of kindergarten teachers and the amount their students save for retirement.
Whoa. You bet. And strangely enough, this correlation wasn't found with teachers at other levels of education— say, middle school or college. This implies that getting a good head start makes a large difference over a lifetime.
The study looked at a group of Tennessee children over a period of about 30 years. The students who learned more in kindergarten were less likely to become single parents, and more likely to go to college than their demographic peers.
In addition, a student's improvement during kindergarten was reflected in how much
more money they earned later in life than those who didn't.
What's this all mean? The most useful conclusion is that
education is pretty important. We often attribute success to inner gumption, or great circumstances, or just sheer luck, but this study shows that
being knowledgeable and
knowing how to think pays off, literally.
But it doesn't stop in kindergarten. A great thing about being a human being is how you can keep learning throughout your lifetime, becoming wiser and more experienced.
Not all of us learned things “the first time around”, and everyone has made mistakes, especially financial mistakes. While it appears that a good early education could “destine” a person for a good life, not having one does not “doom” you.
The important thing is to keep learning. A
bankruptcy or a foreclosure means that you “failed”
only if you didn't learn anything from it. Where did you slip up? What will you do differently in the future? What do you need to know to make better decisions?
If you can answer those questions, the past doesn't matter too much— you're taking the initiative to educate yourself. That's a wonderful thing.
How do I do it? By visiting this website, you're already on your way! Look around and ask questions.