Tool Crazy!

[John_K]

I recently put $1000 on my Goodyear credit card as they had a 12 mos same as cash deal (tires and brakes etc.) I was shocked when I got a bill and it said "pay the minimum payment each month and you will pay a total of $4100 in interest." No wonder places say they make more on financing than on the product.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk

Originally Posted by rooflessVW

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk

I have a pet peeve with our schools. I believe no one should get out of grade school without an understanding of a savings account, checking account and credit cards. No one should get out of high school without a basic understanding of personal finance, especially the time value of money. Most go out into the world unarmed in the world of finance; it leads to so many problems.

Why is it the government's problem? To me, that is the problem. Teach your children.

Well, what if the parents don't understand basic finance? What if the kid doesn't have parents? Call me crazy, but isn't education supposed to educate people? My point is that basic finance should be in the curriculum. I took Calculus in high school; I have used it exactly once in my working life and that was under discussion not actually used in any computer program I ever wrote.

When I was in high school I took a math class for people not going to university for math. Parts of it personal finance: calculating loans for cars, houses, annunities, etc. those are the only parts I can remember. That would have been in 2006. No one took that class because it could not be used to apply to university or college, so the only people who took it were burnouts who needed the credit to graduate. The personal finance we studied was covered in more advanced math classes, but only briefly at the very beginning before they introduced more advanced concepts. I know they covered it more in depth in the first two years of high school. Those planning to study stem subjects in university have bigger fish to fry than simple financial calculations.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk

I have a pet peeve with our schools. I believe no one should get out of grade school without an understanding of a savings account, checking account and credit cards. No one should get out of high school without a basic understanding of personal finance, especially the time value of money. Most go out into the world unarmed in the world of finance; it leads to so many problems.

This I could not agree with more, and have been saying it myself for years. ALL high schools, be they public or private, should have a required economics course that teaches common basic financial knowledge, that is required of most everyone to get through life. How to open and balance a checkbook. How to look for good interest rates on savings. In regard to risk vs. percentage of reward. How to buy and sell stocks and bonds. How to invest. How to shop for loans and home mortgages. They teach none of that. But many instead require 4 years of English. So that way you'll graduate knowing how to diagram a sentence. A big help in today's world. There is so much totally useless information kids are taught today. And even more useful information that is completely neglected on how to get through life financially, with the best options. And this is at least part of the reason why you have 18 year old kids working at car dealerships, signing their financial lives away. Over paying for shiny, overpriced objects to put into their heavily financed, bright red $5K tool boxes they "need" about as much as a case of the Flu. While you can't teach common sense in school, you can at least give some of these kids a good start, that won't end in financial disaster by the time they're 30.

 

[EA82]

They did teach students in highschool about Money management in economics class, I remember we had a lot of guest speakers preaching to save money and be careful with credit cards etc. I remember this even though it has been many years since I graduated high school because one of the speeches stuck with me. Most people probably didn't pay attention, parents sometimes lead by example when it comes to finances whether that's for good or bad

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk

I have a pet peeve with our schools. I believe no one should get out of grade school without an understanding of a savings account, checking account and credit cards. No one should get out of high school without a basic understanding of personal finance, especially the time value of money. Most go out into the world unarmed in the world of finance; it leads to so many problems.

Why is it the government's problem? To me, that is the problem. Teach your children.

I consider it a both or no saving some future adults. Some parents are lost and consider it normal to be making car payments, phone payments, insurance monthly payments, and carrying consumer debt around. My daughters 7th grade has a full course in personal finance that is mainly e-learning that Jeff Bezo's provides free to schools.

 

[Chris142]

When I was a teenager $1000 might as well have been $1 million. Neither was touchable.I certainly was not going to run up tens of thousands in tool bills. I did buy stuff from the tool trucks. Waited till it was on sale then paid it off weekly before I bought something else.

 

[NYEngineer]

Yeah... I have a TON of mostly Snap On tools in a big Snap On box. I started buying when I was fifteen or sixteen and bought regularly as I could afford it. I never bought an expensive car or anything when I was in my twenties. Most of my purchases were tools. I upgraded boxes when I got a deal and always felt like I came out ahead. Now, I have a job where I don't need my own tools on site although sometimes I have to bring something in to get something done. My stuff is all at home for my own use. When I need something now, I'm more likely to buy from HF or Craftsman or Eastwood or whoever sells the right tool for the job. My dad is funny. He still works with my brother fixing diesel generators. Many years ago, when I began working in the family business, my dad had a hand box that he did 99% of the work out of and a small chest that had a hodgepodge of stuff in it. He and his then partner were like MASH doctors. They got the job done but maybe a little rough. I came into the generator shop after doing a couple of years setting up offshore speed boats. I was taught attention to detail at that shop like nothing else. When I started really collecting a serious set of tools, my dad saw that the quality of my work was a step up from having nicer benders or cutters or whatever job I was doing. He started upping his game as well. Now, at 72, my dad has two huge boxes loaded with an insane amount of tools. His newest thing is all the 18 volt Milwaukee Fuel stuff. I went to his house to help him do something and it was like the Home Depot display. I said what are you trying to do, die with the most toys?

 

[bchannell]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk

I have a pet peeve with our schools. I believe no one should get out of grade school without an understanding of a savings account, checking account and credit cards. No one should get out of high school without a basic understanding of personal finance, especially the time value of money. Most go out into the world unarmed in the world of finance; it leads to so many problems.

You are soooooo right, I've said those same words several times. It's criminal not to teach children about personal finance. While I have nothing but contempt for the tool companies predatory tool sales plans, and they not only charge high interest, but grossly over charge for the tools themselves, I also believe if we taught people not to fall for the gimmick, they wouldn't exist. Believe me. I work in HVAC, and no profession seems to need more tools, but it can be done with common sense, it's not all that hard.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by John_K

I recently put $1000 on my Goodyear credit card as they had a 12 mos same as cash deal (tires and brakes etc.) I was shocked when I got a bill and it said "pay the minimum payment each month and you will pay a total of $4100 in interest." No wonder places say they make more on financing than on the product.

If you pay at least the minimum each month and the whole $1000 within 12 months, you will pay $1000 total.