Reason# 10: Helping young people track spending
April 28, 2009
Today I decided I love the recession because it’s prompted young Americans to take a crucial look at what they buy.
The first google image result for "crap i buy."
I think that this is an obvious observation, but it’s the creation and increasing popularity of web sites like Mint.com, a site that allows you to visualize your annual spending, that solidifies it.
Yesterday on NPR, I heard a wonderful interview with AAron Patzer, a semi-recent Princeton graduate whom developed Mint and offered it free-of-charge to help young people manage their finances and invest in their futures. He said that young people, especially, don’t understand how to negotiate saving money, because many times they are simply never told how to. Mint allows you to enter amounts for all the money you spend, and each month offers you a pie graph to help you see how much you spent eating out, drinking beer, or buying dog food.
When I was in high school, no one ever taught me about savings. I made money, I spent it. Had I had a free system like Mint to show me how much I was spending on cigarettes and late night queso, I would have learned money management skills that could save me from debts or turning to credit cards’ false and beautiful promises, like so many young folks do.
Offering educational softwear that teaches young people essential but basic skills was a solution created from one “problem:” the recession. I think that money management should have been being taught all along. And Look! Mint’s Blog is full of dummed-down economic information I can understand!
Teach young people what they should have known all along?
I love the recession!
