Economic Freedom-Economic Responsibility

Responsibility comes with freedom. This is especially true when it concerns economics. Our children are growing up in a media-driven consumer-oriented environment, are we teaching them this part of the equation? As they are entering their first jobs do they really know about money management and how critical this knowledge will be for the rest of their lives? Read Robert Freer’s article below on this subject and learn about a project he is supporting that can help impart this knowledge to our next generation.

By Robert E. Freer, Jr., President of The Free Enterprise Foundation

Given the media-driven consumer-oriented society that prevails in America today, it is crucial for all Americans to understand the personal and societal effects of their every day spending. Economic Freedom depends on Economic Responsibility. As our society is transformed to one emphasizing personal responsibility, saving for the long term is crucial. We are inundated on a daily basis with images, jingles, and slogans telling us to spend our money on one item or service as opposed to another or at one place or another. The temptation to buy on impulse is a constant threat to personal economic responsibility. For children particularly, it is crucial that they be taught the values and responsibilities that will enable them to thrive in our self reliant society.

Many young people today are entering their first jobs with virtually no awareness of the need for a lifetime savings plan, the importance of neither spending wisely nor a clue how to do either with any confidence they are doing it right. The opportunity to establish good habits of money management- stewardship, if you will is critical at this time in their lives. Without it, many give in to the temptation to blow their first paychecks on the newest sneakers or stereo equipment instead of putting even a small portion away for a rainy day or the family college fund. Assuring the right outcome to this economic fork in the road should be a societal mandate of paramount importance. The young people of this nation are its future. With worries over the job market and Social Security, the time is ripe for instilling in pre-teens and teenagers the importance of responsibility for their own economic success. Parents should teach their children how to spend wisely by encouraging them to buy what they need rather than what they want. Teachers should also reinforce good economic behavior by their students. We should also see that basic information is supplemented as they progress through their teen years so by the time they hit twenty, the variety of investment opportunities available is at least generally understood...

In one particularly effective example of how to do this, parents, teachers, and young people joined together in Franklin County, Colorado to hold an event with the United Way and the National Endowment for Financial Education, Young Americans Education Foundation, and various local community groups to educate young people on personal finance, entrepreneurship, and career planning. The groups focused on educators and students during an economic education expo by staging a hands-on learning curriculum, animated financial concepts, business training, a high school financial planning seminar, and other events. The expo was held in response to local public outcry to give young people tools necessary, while they are in school, to make good, responsible financial decisions throughout their adult lives.

Events such as these succeed on two levels: they instill the ethics of personal financial responsibility in young people, and they build a sense of community in a city or town. Through a whole community banding together, adolescents will get the message that personal economic responsibility is crucial to their security and happiness both for the future and in the short term. If such an event is not possible for individual parents and teachers, these adults should still work to instill the values of responsibility, frugality, and saving and investing into young people. Without these values, teens and pre-teens are at risk in our dynamic economy of not having the skills and personal habits to succeed. The future of America depends on responsible individuals who spend and invest wisely. Charleston is not so large that we wouldn’t directly benefit by creating our own program, and we are fortunate to have two fine business schools here to help lead the way. The Citadel, Its mentor association and the College of Charleston are excellent institutions dedicated to the welfare of our area. I hope that both working with The Business Journal, The Department of Education and The Free Enterprise Foundation will undertake this effort as a joint project. I would suggest we look at developing a pilot project this year that will lead the way to tackling this important educational gap.

Copyright © 2007 by Robert E. Freer, Jr. All rights reserved

About the author: Robert E. Freer, Jr. is President of The Free Enterprise Foundation. He is a Visiting Professor, at The Citadel and elected in 2005 to be their first John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence. A regular contributor to the Mercury, He can be reached by E-mail at The Citadel . Copies of his earlier columns can be found The Free Enterprise Foundation.

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