Saturday, November 10, 2007

Why were we not taught financial literacy in school when we interface with money almost daily?

This morning, I was so tempted to stop by Starbucks and get my fave White Chocolate Mocha. But I had to drop mail off at the P.O., and by the time I reached my office, I had forgotten. Ended up making French Vanilla Cappuccino (zero trans fat) in office kitchen. SAVINGS: $3.45. Mind you, I am not “goody two shoes.” Last Friday, I purchased a big hunk of fried whiting and generous portion of mac ‘n cheese (with peas on the side, of course) from the university cafeteria. It’s fun treating oneself on Fridays, isn’t it?

Called the health insurance company, because both James and I received bills stating that “This is not a bill,” and yet, showed how much we owe, but didn’t include payee information. We’ve learned from previous experience to not drag our feet on health-related correspondence, as we’ve had past incidences where on the very first notification, there was a line threatening to report us to a credit collection agency if we didn’t pay within a certain amount of time. No grace whatsoever. In this case, customer service rep provided acceptable explanation that the service provider was going to bill us directly, and that this letter was simply letting us know what was covered and what is not.

You see, this is why I don’t understand for the life of me why we were/are not taught financial literacy in school. Not a single day goes by in my own life where I do not have to interface with financial transactions in some way, shape or form.

Speaking of which, I have been having fascinating conversations of late with my international colleagues who’re on staff with the university, as they are able to view America’s economic system from a whole different perspective. For instance, a co-worker from Israel asked me why did it take so long—25 minutes—to fulfill a prescription for her child?” “What is the pharmacist doing back there” she queried, “and why did they tell me to go shopping until they were through?” I responded by saying that they’re filling the prescription and of course, I’m thinking that 25 minutes is not too bad. Compared to Israel where it takes about three minutes, however…It’s also fun answering questions and explaining things like how best to obtain coupons in order to save money. A Kenyan colleague told me that credit cards was a completely new thing to him. I think that financial literacy should be made accessible to immigrants so they will know how to navigate economically in this country.