In his recent his column for Marketwatch, Mark Hulbert suggests that no amount of financial education will ever keep people from doing the wrong thing when it comes to their money choices:

“In my experience, the biggest obstacle investors face is not cognitive but behavioral. Even when they have sufficient knowledge, they still do the wrong thing. No amount of education will overcome that.”

Well that’s depressing. And wrong. Financial literacy basics learned and mastered early on can help overcome behavioral missteps later in life.

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At The WSJ “The Future Of Everything” conference this week in NYC, Ted Benna, the man who invented the 401(k), points to his invention as the savings vehicle that can turn even a modest salary into a sizable retirement portfolio.

How? As soon as you get the opportunity to fund a 401(k) or 403(b) – do so. Process the paperwork ASAP so the first paychecks you get are the paychecks you will learn to live on. In other words, you won’t miss the money being swept into your future investment.

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Sunday’s WSJ article ‘Playing Catch-Up in the Game of Life.’ Millennials Approach Middle Age in Crisis makes the case – once again – for EARLY financial education. It highlights how essential this education is to laying a foundation for later-in-life financial decisions:

“If I can’t afford a home, I definitely can’t afford kids,” said Joy Brown, 32 years old. She is a renter who is single and earns $75,000 a year. She also owes $102,000 in student loans and $10,000 in credit card debt. “Myself and a lot of my peers still feel like we’re playing catch-up in the game of life,” said Ms. Brown, a compliance officer for the city of Chicago.

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Dear 2019 Morehouse College graduating class,

This past weekend, Billionaire Robert F. Smith announced that he will pay off your student loan debt, and that was just awesome.

Now, nothing stands in the way of you opening your 401(k) and funding it to the max as soon as you start work.

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