{"id":37228,"date":"2012-11-08T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T15:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/financial-illiteracy-motivation-to-change-careers-my-reading-list-and-more\/37213\/"},"modified":"2012-11-08T15:40:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T15:40:00","slug":"financial-illiteracy-motivation-to-change-careers-my-reading-list-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/financial-illiteracy-motivation-to-change-careers-my-reading-list-and-more\/37228\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Illiteracy, Motivation To Change Careers, My Reading List, And More"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"ca-pub-1408583772585547\";\n\/* SMW - News Links *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"3490797620\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 15;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/financial-illiteracy-motivation-to-change-careers-my-reading-list-and-more\/37228\/jason-bond-picks-12\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-37229\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-37229\" title=\"jason bond picks\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121111215630im_\/http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/jason-bond-picks2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"187\" height=\"262\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>By Jason Bond of <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">JasonBondPicks.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Maybe you were born rich, I wasn&#8217;t. Maybe you were taught about money, not me. People say it&#8217;s rude to talk about money, I generally disagree. Maybe that very belief is why so many people are in debt?<\/p>\n<p>Growing up my family didn&#8217;t talk about money and I certainly didn&#8217;t learn about it in high school.<\/p>\n<p>Being the first to attend college in my family I found myself filling out FAFSA forms for Niagara University on my own.<\/p>\n<p>As if student loans aren&#8217;t bad enough, at college I applied for credit cards so I could get the free Mallo Cups outside the bookstore.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/mallo-cup.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"mallo cup\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121111215630im_\/http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/mallo-cup.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(Sadly, I truly\u00a0believed\u00a0they were free.)<\/p>\n<p>Lesson here is debt is not a tool to get chocolate and marshmallows; it is a method to make banks wealthy, not you! I paid interest on that card for years after the 5-minute sugar high wore off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/financial-illiteracy-motivation-to-change-careers-my-reading-list-and-more\/37228\/live-your-dream\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-37230\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-37230\" title=\"live your dream\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121111215630im_\/http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/live-your-dream.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"208\"><\/a>As you can imagine, it wasn&#8217;t long before I was behind the eight ball. Luckily I landed a teaching job upon graduation from college with a starting salary $33,850 in August of 2001. Toss in a few cars loans and a mortgage on the house and things only got worse.\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/blog-posts\/cash-is-king-stop-letting-the-banks-rob-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Was this the American dream<\/span><\/a><\/span>?<\/p>\n<p>A survey of 1,000 consumers by LendingTree found that most people have no strategy to manage their debt. Remember though, it&#8217;s rude to talk about money so I guess that makes sense.<\/p>\n<p>Another survey by LendingTree shows that 74% of Americans envision themselves debt-free,\u00a0<strong>excluding mortgages<\/strong>, at some point in their lives, but only half said they have a plan for how to get there. Again, it&#8217;s rude to talk about money.<\/p>\n<p>I had to laugh at that one&#8230; the survey was about being debt-free, but somehow the biggest debt most people take on, mortgages, don&#8217;t count or can be excluded in the conversation?!\u00a0<em>Scratches head&#8230; what does LendingTree do again?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Without getting religious the good book clearly states, &#8220;The borrower is slave to the lender.&#8221; but&#8230; there&#8217;s the rat race to consider i.e. buying things we don&#8217;t need with money we don&#8217;t have in order to impress people we don&#8217;t like. Peer pressure (Joneses) is an amazing thing indeed!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/true-freedom.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"true freedom\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121111215630im_\/http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/true-freedom.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"587\" height=\"440\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(Freedom from the Joneses)<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, after a few years of teaching it didn&#8217;t take me long to realize the game was rigged and the odds were stacked against me. I tip-toed through the tulips with friends trying to figure out how they dealt with all this but as you can imagine, most of them weren&#8217;t open to discussing financial matters or my unorthodox ways offended them.<\/p>\n<p>So I turned to books. In particular books about people who bucked the trend and came out on top. Heck, if I was to pay off a few hundred thousand in debt on a relatively small salary I&#8217;d need some darn good advice.<\/p>\n<p>Now let me say this&#8230; when I started this reading list below I had no intention of leaving public schools to be an\u00a0entrepreneur, but as I digested each book I started to understand money more and more. That understanding gave me the confidence and financial literacy not only to get out of debt, but to change careers so I could do it quicker.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/max-lucado-fearless2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"max-lucado-fearless\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121111215630im_\/http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/max-lucado-fearless2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"414\" height=\"382\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(A present from my wife just before leaving public schools.)<\/p>\n<p>These are the books I read in roughly this order to go from a financial dummy to a debt free wealthy teacher. I read them over and over, took notes and even listened to them on my iPod while I jogged. The power inside them combined with my ambition changed my life forever.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/the-4-hour-workweek2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"the 4 hour workweek\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121111215630im_\/http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/the-4-hour-workweek2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"258\" height=\"366\"><\/a>Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki<\/li>\n<li>Think &amp; Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill<\/li>\n<li>The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton<\/li>\n<li>The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley &amp; William D. Danko<\/li>\n<li>Napoleon Hill&#8217;s A Year of Growing Rich by Napoleon Hill<\/li>\n<li>SUN TZU Art of War translated by Ralph D. Sawyer<\/li>\n<li>The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss<\/li>\n<li>The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey<\/li>\n<li>Fearless by Max Lucado<\/li>\n<li>Dare To Dream by John C. Maxwell<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Today I teach thousands of people to trade Wall Street. Tomorrow I&#8217;m considering motivational speaking.<\/p>\n<p>The road I took to get here was unconventional.<\/p>\n<p>They say knowledge is power and I couldn&#8217;t agree more.\u00a0I never understood the value of books until I needed answers and had nobody with experience to talk to.\u00a0The books above opened doors for me you can&#8217;t imagine and I can only hope they open doors for you too.<\/p>\n<p>For years my wife and I worked hard to get the best credit score so we could get the lowest rates. Like a cat chasing its tail round and round and round we went. Today my wife and I have a horrible credit score, it&#8217;s 0. I&#8217;m sorry&#8230; last I checked our credit scores read N\/A, we&#8217;re not even worthy of a 0! Are we ashamed? Nope! It&#8217;s intentional and that my friends is what I call financial literacy.<\/p>\n<p>Or as Dave Ramsey writes&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The FICO score is an &#8220;I Love Debt&#8221; score. According to the FICO website, your FICO score is determined by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>35% Debt Payment History<\/li>\n<li>30% Debt Levels<\/li>\n<li>15% Length of Debt<\/li>\n<li>10% New Debt<\/li>\n<li>10% Type of Debt<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So if you quit borrowing money like my wife and I have, you will lose your FICO score. It&#8217;s not a score that says you are winning with money or that you have a million dollars; it\u00a0mathematically\u00a0says you LOVE DEBT!<\/p>\n<p>I sure wish it wasn&#8217;t rude to talk about money, maybe if it wasn&#8217;t someone would have introduced me to these books sooner. Again, I speak from personal experience because\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/blog-posts\/cash-is-king-stop-letting-the-banks-rob-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">we were buried alive in debt<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0when we read all this but fought our way out one step at a time. You can too! So don&#8217;t be afraid to talk about money, who knows&#8230; the next Jason Bond might be on your Twitter list looking for answers with nobody to talk to, just like me.<\/p>\n<p>By Jason Bond of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">JasonBondPicks.com<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"nr_clear\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"nrelate_popular_2\" class=\"nrelate nrelate_popular nrelate_default nr_1col nr_text\"><\/div>\n<p>\t<!--[if IE 6]>\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">jQuery('.nrelate_default').removeClass('nrelate_default');<\/script>\n\t<![endif]--><\/p>\n<p>\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\t\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\t\tnRelate.domain = \"www2.thestockmarketwatch.com%2Fstock-market-news\";\n\t\tvar entity_decoded_nr_mp_url = jQuery('<span\/>').html(\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121111215630\/http:\/\/api.nrelate.com\/mpw_wp\/0.51.2\/?tag=nrelate_popular&domain=www2.thestockmarketwatch.com%2Fstock-market-news&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.thestockmarketwatch.com%2Fstock-market-news%2Ffinancial-illiteracy-motivation-to-change-careers-my-reading-list-and-more%2F37228&nr_div_number=2&maxageposts=7200&increment=1\").text();\n\t\tnRelate.getNrelatePosts(entity_decoded_nr_mp_url);\n\t\/* ]]&gt; *\/\n\t<\/script>\n\n\n<div class=\"nr_clear\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN -->\n\n\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style\">\n<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_1\"><\/a>\n<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_2\"><\/a>\n<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_3\"><\/a>\n<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_4\"><\/a>\n<a class=\"addthis_button_compact\"><\/a>\n<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_bubble_style\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_config = {\"data_track_addressbar\":true};<\/script>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/250\/addthis_widget.js#pubid=pennystocksfinder\"><\/script>\n<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n\n\n\n\n<p>More Posts by this author<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/learn-how-to-profit-from-story-stocks-i-e-the-presidential-election-coal-pump-and-dump\/37330\">\nLearn How To Profit From Story Stocks i.e. The Presidential Election Coal Pump And Dump<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/financial-illiteracy-motivation-to-change-careers-my-reading-list-and-more\/37228\">\nFinancial Illiteracy, Motivation To Change Careers, My Reading List, And More<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/early-holiday-shopping-3-small-caps-under-10-with-big-upside-potential\/37182\">\nEarly Holiday Shopping; 3 Small Caps Under $10 With Big Upside Potential<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/buyer-beware-pacwest-equities-pwei-err-pweid-stock-caveat-emptor\/37017\">\nBuyer Beware; PacWest Equities PWEI err PWEID Stock Caveat Emptor<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/7-small-caps-about-to-catch-fire-on-halloween\/36708\">\n7 Small Caps About To Catch Fire On Halloween<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/how-i-realized-roughly-10000-last-week-in-a-bear-market\/36649\">\nHow I Realized Roughly $10,000 Last Week In A Bear Market<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www2.thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/the-only-wall-street-pattern-you-need-to-know\/36069\">\nThe Only Wall Street Pattern You Need To Know<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<hr>\n\n\n\n\n\n<table style=\"border:none;margin:0;\">\n\n\n<tr>\n\n\n<td style=\"padding:5px;vertical-align:top;\" valign=\"top\">\n.<\/td>\n\n\n\n\n<td style=\"padding:5px;vertical-align:top;\" valign=\"top\">\n\n\n<div style=\"font-size:11pt;\"><b>Post Written By: Jason Bond <\/b><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div style=\"font-size:10pt;\">\n\nJason made his mark (and fortune) on Wall Street by spotting opportunities, pouncing and locking in those profits fast. His shares his strategies and winning swing trades at his website <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a>http:\/\/www.jasonbondpicks.com\/\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/td>\n\n<\/tr>\n\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-1408583772585547\";\n\/* 336x280, created 7\/9\/11 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"3552319058\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 336;\ngoogle_ad_height = 280;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\n\n<div style=\"margin:5px;margin-bottom:20px;font-size:11pt;\">&laquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/\">Return to Stock Market News<\/a> &laquo; <\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jason Bond of JasonBondPicks.com Maybe you were born rich, I wasn&#8217;t. Maybe you were taught about money, not me. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-stocks-to-watch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}