Obviously when we’re that age, our cognitive abilities aren’t as developed and we don’t have the life experience to effectively map out our future. That typically starts to develop when we’re in our early 20s. Which if you think about it, is really counter intuitive to the way most people think of their kids’ education. Don’t we typically expect our kids to know what they want by grade 12? And then they’re off to college or university to pursue it? Most, and when I say most I mean 79% of parents in Canada, believe that their kids will graduate from high school and go to college right after, when in reality, only 25% follow through with that.
Another point I want to preface is to think about how many people we know that changed careers. I know that I and most of my friends did. If this sounds familiar, I’m not surprised. Accoring to Stats Canada, today 87% of all college graduates at some point have found that they’re not in the career that they had intended. So they tried it, and found that they’re getting burnt out, or just not happy. Most don’t even get the job they want straight out of school. Let’s face it: it’s not exactly easy to get a job no matter what industry you’re in these days.
Which brings me to my point.
All this dabbling in careers–and the education involved to get us those careers–does not bode well for the financial sustainability of most Canadians. If you’ve been to college or university yourself, you can attest: it’s not cheap. In BC, tuition fees can cost the average student more then $20,000… for one year. And thanks to rising costs and inflation, our kids can expect to pay more than double that. Is it any wonder that student debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in Canada? The average student graduates with a debt of $25,000 looming over their heads before they’ve even hit the job market. And we all know how tough that it is these days.
Before you think this is a rallying cry to summon everyone to support lower tuition fees, don’t hold your breath. The focus here is not on the education system but more about what we can and should be doing within our own power to save us the heartache and stress that comes from the massive costs of an education.
As a financial advisor, you may expect me to be talking about RESPs or all the other investment tools out there to save up for education so that none of this happens to us. The fact of the matter is that financial planning is secondary to personal planning. By taking the time to understand ourselves and what we want for the future, we can minimize the financial mistakes we make and create sustainability within our financial plans.
Aaron Koo is a passionate networker and entrepreneur who gets people out of that “someday” mentality about understanding their finances.
GOD, FINALLY! A financial adviser who doesn’t reiterate the same BS about stocks, portfolios, 401k’s, and all that jazz. Finally (!) someone talks about the importance of getting financial education as opposed to the importance of paying a financial adviser to do your finance for you.
Sorry for the caps and the exclamation marks, I came here by complete coincidence and enjoyed this post thoroughly.
We’re not all bad guys 😉
The problem with the industry is that financial advisors aren’t trained to be life coaches, which is difficult since there’s a strong, undeniable correlation between your life goals and financial goals. Until you know what you genuinely want, a financial advisor can sell you stuff but can’t undeniably get you towards what’s important to you.
Exactly. They can’t help you achieve your goals if you don’t know what your goals are in the first place.
The irony is that a big part of going to university *is* going through the process of “finding yourself” and figuring out what you want to do with your life. There is something to be said about a university education beyond what it can do for your career, but clearly there is a hefty price to be paid financially and in terms of opportunity cost.
I agree and I’d like to add that by simply taking the time to explore your options that experience can be much richer and fulfilling as opposed to the intuitive route of simply going before you know the reason why you’re going.
Nice article Aaron and as I see it you need to really look at what you would enjoy doing, research it and see if it is what you really want. That should be the job of the parents, the child and the school system. Schools, teachers and guidance counselors have a good grasp on what a student likes or dislikes in all the hours that they are at school.
Being in the education field, I see many students really want to do something, but they have to take this course or that course to graduate and it’s what their parents want them to do. But, there are so many choices in today’s high schools with all the Career Technical Education courses, the Technology paths, the medical course path. I could go on and on with the course paths that I see each day, but it is up to the parents to listen to the child, to not place their wants or what they missed as a student and project it on the child.
Lastly, the child needs to speak up for themselves, have the will power to follow through with the classes and to remember it is their future, not their parents.
Looking back on my high school career, that was definitely lacking. My parents would’ve killed to see me go to med or law school.
What are your thoughts on an early apprenticeship program having a stronger presence? I certainly would’ve appreciated getting my hands a bit dirty.
I had “career prep” in high school that involved three one-week placements (unpaid). I still found it to be lacking, especially after I was able to get four four-month placements with co-op (paid) at the university level.
I believe that they have a great head start for students. One of the examples that I spoke of CTE is a whole path in a lot of different area’s. A few of the choices are Graphic Design (AutoCad, etc.), Adobe CS products, and any MS Certification you could ask for. They all have career paths to choose and they all start in Middle School 6-8th grade).
All of the courses offer internships locally and team events that our schools have placed 1st in state and top 10 in US for building remote vehicles or something electronic, having it work a maze or do something in a skit that the students have to make up to fit the rules.
Here is a link to this year’s Middle School team: http://sarasotacountyschools.net/departments/communications/newsroom.aspx?id=34340&blogid=868
whatever information i needed i got them online , so i ddnt have to buy books . it was much cheaper to pay my internet bills than buying books