All of my years through school, I’ve always nit-picked about what is necessary to learn, and what isn’t necessary. (Like, what we’d actually use in real-life vs. just filler content that an average person will never use.)
With that said, here’s some points to backup my title of this topic:
School should teach us the necessary topics of life which every person will eventually deal with. These points include:
Basic Life Essential Knowledge
- How to Pay Off a Mortgage
- What is a Mortgage?
- Different types of mortgages (open, closed, variable vs fixed – pros and cons etc.)
- Different approaches to pay off a mortgage
- What is a down payment – how much money is necessary to start?
- Mortgage insurance pros and cons
- Buying a home vs. renting
- What responsibilities come with buying a home (Land taxes, maintenance, etc.)
- When is the right time to buy a home. (Not financially, but emotionally mature enough to handle these responsibilities)
- How to Pay your Yearly Taxes
- How does the process of paying taxes actually work?
- Different tax brackets and how you are actually taxed once your yearly income reaches that tax bracket.
- How can you get money back?
- What is Gross Income vs. Net Income? (Gross is before taxes, Net is after taxes + fees.)
- Basic book keeping to prepare your self all year round so you’re not crammed come tax due date!
- The benefits of running your own business and how write-offs work
- What happens when you give money to charities?
- Money Management Tactics
- The value of money
- How inflation works (What money was worth many years ago vs what it’s worth to date.)
- Tips to save money with different approaches. (Everyone is different in how they manage stuff.)
- Spending money wisely (Food vs. Recreation vs. Gifts vs. Saving)
- Different ways to enjoy your money (different ideas for vacations, hobbies, and even how to give)
- How to spend money come date time. Should a women never pay? – How to have self-control while spending at these moments.
- Investing Basics/Tactics
- What is investing – how can you build wealth?
- What’s interest? What’s a dividend? What are shares/units?
- How does a TFSA actually benefit you?
- How does an RRSP actually benefit you?
- Strategies to get the most out of both a TFSA and RRSP
- Different types of investing (Bonds vs. Mutual Funds vs. Stocks etc.)
- What are the risks investing? (What to be aware of?)
- Is investing something everyone should do? Are there other ways to invest your money while still seeing a return?
- How to plan for retirement at an early age
No wonder many kids skip school and don’t care at early ages about their education. It’s because we’re not being taught life essentials which actually effect our daily lives!
More than the average person deals with these topics on a daily basis, which we’re having to figure out on our own, or by asking parents, an experienced individual, or simply by reading a book.
If you’ve had the benefit of your elementary school, middle school, or high school teaching you these topics, then that’s amazing.
If we were taught these points in school, it would make our life goals more focused, and we’d be able to prepare for such events at an earlier age.
All I feel while attending school is, “Why are we learning this”, when really, the majority of us are actively involved in these points which were never taught in our basic school essentials.
Be wise and learn these points early on!