This website is free.  We created it because there is a major problem in our society.  A whole generation has been raised without being taught how to manage money.  Schools have taught generations on how to take care of their minds through reading, math, science and language.  Schools have even taught how to take care of our bodies through proper diets and exercise.  However there isn’t a single course on how to take care of ourselves financially.  Children are raised that through hard work comes the possibility of financial reward.  Children are not taught that without financial management, financial reward means little to nothing.  I find it bizarre that my children have been taught more about sex education than about money.  Is another entire generation going to end up like mine?

I was raised upper middle class, and neither my parents nor my teachers taught me about money. My parents and my teachers were concerned about my safety growing up.  I was taught not to talk to strangers, to look both ways before crossing the street, but I was never taught how to be safe when it came to my financial future. Money was never talked about around the dinner table. It was as if it was a burden that children should not have to worry about.

Then one day during the peak of my career I realized I was broke.  It was as if the more I made, the more I owed.  My wife and I were raising three kids on one income and we were trying to provide our children a standard of life we want rather than the standard we could afford.  My debt was growing and our future being sold out.  I suddenly realized that modern medicine was going to allow me to live a longer life than my grandparents, but the lack of anyone teaching me about money meant I would most likely live those years in poverty.  I expect I will live well into my late 80’s or early 90’s.  That’s 20 to 30 years either sitting in a nursing home watching TV or laying on my back in some government funded bed. 

That future scared me straight.  I decided to stop financing my wants of today and focus on my needs in the future.  I begin reading everything I could about money.  I went back to school to earn my MBA and I concentrated every class I could on finance.

I do not want our children to have to learn like I did halfway through their careers.  We have created this website so that people can learn about financial planning and financial responsibility.  We want to prevent an additional generation from being raised without talking about money.

There are multiple areas of financial management.  While it would be foolish to attempt to cover them all on the site, we will attempt to clarify the basic topics by walking through examples of a hypothetical family working through the basic topics.  We have provided worksheets so that you may also begin to determine your financial situation and begin to think about your future.

We have attempted to arrange the topics in a natural flow in which most professional financial planners use when working with their clients.  Feel free to walk straight through each topic or jump right to a topic that fits your particular needs.  For any topic not covered, feel free to contact us through the blog and we will attempt to either answer your question or point you to additional resources.

I hope you find the information on The Financial Swami useful.  If you do, please share it with others and watch for our future sites.  We will be building sites on many more topics that we feel are important.

Best regards and good luck,

A Friend