Why Financial Literacy Should Be Taught Before Algebra

Why do we spend years teaching students algebra, chemistry, and history, yet very little time teaching them how money actually works?

In this powerful episode of the PJ3GLOBAL Coaching Podcast, hosted by Anwuli Anim, we discuss one of the most important questions facing families today: Why isn't financial literacy taught as a core life skill?https://stan.store/anwulianim/p/book-a-11-call-with-me-18gfvauz

Most people graduate from school without understanding budgeting, saving, investing, credit, debt management, insurance, retirement planning, or wealth building. Unfortunately, these are the very skills that determine financial security and long-term success.

In this episode, Anwuli Anim explores why financial education should begin long before adulthood and why teaching children how money works may be more valuable than teaching many traditional subjects.

🎯 In This Episode, You'll Discover:

✅ Why financial literacy is essential in today's world

✅ The hidden cost of financial illiteracy

✅ Money lessons every child should learn early

✅ Why many adults struggle financially despite working hard

✅ How parents can teach financial responsibility at home

✅ The connection between financial education and generational wealth

✅ Practical steps families can take to build financial confidence

At PJ3GLOBAL, we believe financial education changes lives, strengthens families, and builds lasting legacies. Financial literacy is not just about money. It is about giving people the knowledge and confidence to make better decisions for their future.

This episode is perfect for parents, educators, professionals, young adults, and anyone who wants to improve their financial knowledge and create a stronger financial future.

🎙️ Hosted by Anwuli Anim, the PJ3GLOBAL Coaching Podcast provides practical financial education, wealth-building strategies, family protection solutions, and legacy planning designed to help families thrive.

If this episode inspired you to think differently about money and financial education, connect with Anwuli Anim and the PJ3GLOBAL team.

Subscribe, share, and follow the PJ3GLOBAL Coaching Podcast for more conversations about financial literacy, wealth building, family protection, retirement planning, and generational wealth.

Because at PJ3GLOBAL, we believe that one of the greatest gifts you can give your children is financial education.

#FinancialLiteracy #FinancialEducation #MoneyManagement #WealthBuilding #PersonalFinance #GenerationalWealth #FinancialFreedom #Budgeting #FinancialSecurity #PJ3GLOBAL 

https://stan.store/anwulianim/p/book-a-11-call-with-me-18gfvauz

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Think back to uh your high school days for just a second. Picture the classroom, you know, the humming fluorescent lights, the really heavy textbooks stacked up on your desk.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Oh, yeah, the classic setup.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Right. And you likely spent, I don't know, hundreds of hours memorizing the periodic table of elements.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Or perfectly balancing chemical equations.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Exactly. Memorizing the exact dates of historical battles, trying to figure out where X was in all his complex algebraic formulas. And I mean, you did all of this because you were told it was preparing you for the real world.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

That was the promise, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

But then, you know, you graduate, you land your first job, you get your very first credit card offer in the mail, and suddenly you are hit with this incredibly powerful central question from today's source material.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Which is such a vital question.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

It really is. Why do we spend years teaching students algebra, chemistry, and history, but very little time teaching them how money actually works?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

It is uh it's basically the ultimate paradox of our modern education system. I mean, we equip people with advanced abstract mathematics, but then we send them into the economy completely blind to the very mechanics that will, you know, govern their daily lives.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

It is a blind spot that is so universal it's almost unbelievable when you actually step back and look at it. So today, we are pulling from a really fascinating source. It's called the PJ3G Lobal Blueprint: Prioritizing Financial Literacy Over Algebra by Anne Wooley Anum.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

A fantastic read, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Oh, for sure. And our mission for this deep dive is to explore exactly why financial education is the ultimate non-optional life skill. We're gonna uh unpack the specific steps you can take to bridge this financial knowledge gap.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Right, not just for yourself, but for the next generation, too.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Exactly. And I want to promise you right now, as you're listening, this isn't gonna be some dry lecture or like a guilt trip about your daily spending habits.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Nobody wants that.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

No, nobody. This is a roadmap to empowerment. It's a look at the hidden mechanics of money that so many of us simply missed out on.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah. And to understand how to fix our financial futures, we first have to examine that glaring hole in our traditional education system. We have to look at the immediate compounding damage it causes.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Aaron Powell Because the reality is schools rarely teach money management.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

They don't. The system was, well, it was originally built to produce factory workers and obedient employees, not financially independent citizens.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Wow, that's a harsh truth, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

It is. And as a result, adults enter the workforce completely lacking the basic operational mechanics of, you know, budgeting, saving, understanding credit, and managing debt.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Aaron Powell You know, when I read this section of the blueprint, a very specific image came to mind from that. It's like sending you out onto a football field, strapping a heavy helmet on you, demanding that you win the game, but never explaining how the scoring system works.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Aaron Powell That's a great analogy.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Right. Or never telling you that the other team is actually allowed to tackle you. So you're just out there running around, getting blindsided and wondering why the scoreboard is flashing red.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

And you know, the clock is ticking the entire time you're out there, people graduate and almost immediately fall into the trap of student debt.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Aaron Powell Oh, the student debt trap is huge.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

It's massive. They sign papers at 18 years old for tens of thousands of dollars without actually understanding the mechanics of what they're agreeing to.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Aaron Powell They don't understand amortizations, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Trevor Burrus Exactly. Or how capitalizing interest means they might end up paying double what they originally borrowed. And then they enter the workforce and r rack up credit card debt to cover the gaps between their entry-level salary and their living expenses. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Just trying to stay afloat.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Aaron Powell Right. Before long, they're living paycheck to paycheck, suffering immense financial stress. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Because I mean you get that first credit card in the mail, you see a $5,000 limit, and your brain naturally translates that to, oh, I have $5,000 to spend. Exactly. Nobody sits you down and explains that if you only make the minimum payment on that $5,000, you're going to be paying for those groceries and that weekend trip for like the next 15 years.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

And that is the core of Anam's argument here. These massive financial problems, they don't start from bad intentions. Nobody wakes up and decides they want to be trapped in a suffocating debt cycle. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Right. Nobody wants that stress.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

No. The crisis begins simply because people were never taught how the system operates. I mean, the financial industry understands compounding interest perfectly.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Trevor Burrus But the consumer usually does not.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

So essentially, financial literacy acts as this invisible tax on every single decision you make.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Aaron Ross Powell, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

And because that foundation wasn't built in childhood, we adults are forced into this incredibly stressful game of catch-up. We end up learning these lessons the hard way, usually after we've already paid that invisible tax for, you know, a decade.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Aaron Powell Right. The curriculum we missed is extensive, and we literally have to decode it on the fly. We're talking about the fundamental building locks of personal finance here.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Aaron Powell Like what specifically?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Well, take credit, for instance. Most people only learn about credit when they are denied a loan or offered some exorbitant interest rate.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Which is the worst time to learn about it.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Absolutely. Building credit isn't about carrying a debt balance. It's about proving to the financial system that you can borrow a small amount and pay it back in full on time every single month.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

So it's essentially a trust score.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Exactly, a trust score. And that three-digit number dictates whether you'll pay 5% or 8% on a mortgage later in life, which, by the way, translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars over a 30-year term.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Wow. Hundreds of thousands. That's uh that's wild. The blueprint also heavily emphasizes asset building as part of this missing curriculum. But, you know, for someone who hears the term asset building and immediately thinks of Wall Street hedge funds, how do we break that down?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yeah, the terminology can be intimidating, but asset building, broken down to its absolute simplest form, is buying things that put money into your pocket over time instead of things that take money out.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

So rich dad, poor dad kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Exactly. A car purchased on a high interest loan is a liability. It depreciates in value while you pay interest on it. But an index fund, a piece of real estate, or even just a high yield savings account, those are assets.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

They work quietly in the background.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Right. They generate more capital for you. These are the required tools for real financial security.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

I have to push back a little bit here, though. Looking at that list, building a trust score, managing complex debt, asset building, retirement planning. If you are someone who is already caught in that debt cycle.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Caught in the thip of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Right. If you're dealing with daily financial anxiety, isn't it incredibly overwhelming to try and learn all of this? I mean, it feels like telling someone who is actively drowning in the ocean that they need to stop and study fluid dynamics before they can start swimming.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

That feeling of being totally overwhelmed is incredibly common. And frankly, it's why so many people simply shut down when the topic of money comes up.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

They just avoid looking at their bank accounts.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Exactly. But the blueprint offers a really crucial shift in perspective here. Learning these concepts isn't about studying fluid dynamics while you drown. It's about recognizing that financial literacy actually is the life raft. Oh, I see. Yeah, it is the triage you need to stop swallowing water. Even later in life, even when you are right in the middle of a debt cycle, understanding these mechanics is the only thing that breaks the cycle.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Because the cost of ignoring it is just too high to sustain.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Exactly. The heavy ongoing cost of financial illiteracy is generational poverty. It's a lifetime of poor money decisions born out of panic rather than strategy.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Operating from fear.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Yes. When you don't understand money, you operate from a defensive posture. You are constantly reacting to bills, just trying to survive the month. But the profound benefit of literacy is that it creates new options.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

It gives you a way out.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Right. The moment you understand how to restructure a high interest debt or how to track your spending so you know exactly where your money is going, you shift to an offensive posture. You regain agency.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

You start directing your money toward wealth building rather than just servicing your past mistakes.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

So if we accept that it's inherently overwhelming to try and learn this while actively drowning in debt, the only true preventative cure has to start before the debt cycle even begins.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

We have to look at childhood.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Right. If adults are struggling to learn this late in the game, we really have to rewrite the script for the next generation.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Completely agree. We must shift our focus to what children should be learning right from the very start. The text outlines an essential early education curriculum that is completely absent from most traditional schools.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

And what does that look like in practice?

SPEAKER_00 8:51

It starts with the absolute basics, saving money and the power of delayed gratification.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Oh, the famous marshmallow test of personal finance.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Exactly. Waiting for a bigger reward later instead of taking a small reward right now. And it goes beyond theory to practical application. The blueprint suggests introducing children to the reality of earning income.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Like chores and allowances.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, it can be as simple as an allowance tied to specific household contributions. The goal is to teach them that money is exchanged for value or work. Once they have that money, they learn to budget that small allowance.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

So if they want a new video game, they have to actually calculate how many weeks of saving it will take to acquire it.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Right. It grounds the abstract concept of money into a mathematical reality they can actually grasp. And then you introduce the concepts of investing and compound growth.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

You know, reading the section on compound growth for kids hit me hard.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

It's eye-opening, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 9:48

It really is. It's such simple math. But realizing that starting at age 10 versus age 30 is the difference between effortless security and a lifelong grind. I mean, it makes you wonder why this isn't a mandatory subject in fifth grade.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

It absolutely should be.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

If someone had sat me down with a chart when I was a kid and showed me how a small monthly investment could multiply itself over decades, my entire financial trajectory would have been different.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

I think most of us feel that way. Teaching a kid compound growth is like explaining that money can be an employee. Every dollar you save is a worker.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Ooh, I like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Yeah, compound growth is when those workers go out, recruit more workers in the form of interest, and suddenly you have a whole army earning money for you while you sleep.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

When a child grasps that concept, they understand that time is their greatest asset. It completely neutralizes the financial anxiety that usually plagues young adults. They don't fear money, they respect it as a highly effective tool.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

The catch here is pretty obvious, though. If the formal education system isn't going to teach these concepts, and we've established that they really aren't, the responsibility falls squarely on the parents.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

It does.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Parents have to become the primary financial educators for their kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

And that can feel terrifying for parents who feel like they are still trying to figure out their own finances. Oh, for sure. But the blueprint provides actionable home strategies that do not require you to be a Wall Street banker. The very first step is the simplest, yet often the hardest. You have to bring money out of the shadows.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

You have to remove the taboo.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Because in so many households, money is treated like this secret, highly stressful topic. It's something adults only whisper about behind closed doors, usually when a bill is due or an unexpected expense pops up.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Right, which inadvertently teaches children that money is inherently dangerous. It wires their brains to associate finances with stress and conflict.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

That makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

The text suggests actively countering this by bringing money conversations out into the open. Help kids build saving habits with tangible visual goals, like a clear jar where they can literally see the money growing.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Visuals are huge for kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

They are. And actively involve them in the household budgeting process in an age-appropriate way. If you are saving up for a family vacation, show them the math. Let them see that skipping a restaurant dinner this week means adding $50 to the vacation fund.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Making those real-world connections. The blueprint also talks about teaching concepts like generosity and stewardship, which I found really compelling.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

It's a really beautiful part of the text.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Yeah. It's not just about accumulating wealth for the sake of having a big bank account.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

No, stewardship is a vital concept. It teaches kids that money isn't just for hoarding, it is a resource to be managed responsibly to benefit your family and your broader community.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Recognizing that financial stability allows you to be generous without jeopardizing your own security.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Exactly. This holistic view ties directly into the core philosophy we see throughout the search material. At PJ3 Lobal, they operate on the belief that financial education changes lives and family legacies.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

It's legacy building.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yes. And Wooly Anum emphasizes that one of the greatest gifts you can give your children isn't a trust fund, it's financial knowledge. A trust fund can be squandered in a few years if the recipient doesn't understand money.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Happens all the time.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Right. But financial knowledge lasts a lifetime.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

This brings us to a really tough reality, though. Parents cannot teach what they do not know.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

If you are an adult who was basically failed by the education system regarding personal finance, how do you learn these skills today so you can simultaneously better yourself and confidently guide your kids?

SPEAKER_00 13:33

That is exactly where the adult action plan comes in. It is never too late to start, and the steps laid out in the text are highly practical. It begins with self-education.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Which is easier now than ever.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Whoa, absolutely. We live in an era of unprecedented access to information. You start by reading financial books, listening to financial deep dives, and consuming content that demystifies money management.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Like treating your daily commute or your morning workout as your new classroom.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

That's a perfect way to look at it. Once you are absorbing the information, it moves to application. You have to actually sit down and face the numbers. It is scary at first. You learn how to budget by tracking every dollar for a month, so you tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Right. You take the time to understand the basics of investing, like the power of low-cost index funds, rather than assuming investing is only for the wealthy.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Which is a huge misconception.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

It really is. It requires reviewing your financial goals regularly and understanding that a financial plan is a living, breathing document. And crucially, the blueprint advises working with financial professionals who can offer objective guidance tailored to your specific situation while committing yourself to continuous lifelong learning.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Aaron Powell I want to look at the real life impact to this because the source presents a stark conceptual contrast that really clarifies the stakes here.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yeah, the contrast is eye-opening.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

It really is. On one hand, you have the trajectory of someone who is working incredibly hard, maybe juggling two or three jobs, but they are struggling endlessly simply because they lack basic financial knowledge.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

They are making minimum payments on high interest credit cards, meaning 90% of their payment is just going to the bank's profit margin. They don't have an emergency fund, so one broken down car or unexpected medical bill forces them to take on even more high interest debt.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

It's a state of perpetual vulnerability. They are trapped on a treadmill, running at full speed but mathematically moving backward.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Contrast that with a family whose entire legacy was transformed through financial education. They aren't necessarily making a massive six-figure salary, but because they understand budgeting, asset building, and compound growth, they are building generational wealth.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

They buy assets that appreciate?

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Yes. They let their money work for them, they have financial wellness, and most importantly, they have peace.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

That contrast highlights the overarching theme of this entire blueprint. Education equals empowerment. Generational wealth isn't just about passing down a pile of cash. Right. It's about passing down the knowledge of how to maintain and grow stability. When you understand the mechanics of money, you make fundamentally better decisions. Better decisions lead directly to wealth building and family security.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

It removes the anxiety of the unknown.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Exactly, and replaces it with financial confidence.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

It's the literal difference between letting money control your life and you taking control of your money.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

It is about moving from being a passive victim of the economic system to an active participant who actually knows the rules of the game and how to navigate it to their advantage.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Bringing this all together, the final, inescapable message from the PJ3G Lobo Blueprint is that financial literacy is not optional.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

It really isn't.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

It is not a nice-to-have skill that you can just get to eventually. It is a vital foundational life skill that intersects with literally every single decision we make.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

From the big stuff down to the daily choices.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Exactly. Where we live, the food we eat, the healthcare we can access, how we support our kids. It all requires a working knowledge of money.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

And the sooner you decode these mechanics, the better prepared you are to build wealth, protect your family from economic shocks, and create a lasting legacy. Time is your greatest ally, but only if you know how to put it to work.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Absolutely. If today's deep dives encouraged you to think differently about money, debt, and the power of financial education, we want to share a direct invitation from the source material.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yes, please do.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Connect with Ann Willianum and the PJ3G Lobal team. Let them know you want to discuss your financial goals, your family's future, and practical strategies that can help you build confidence with money.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

They have so much value to offer.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

They do. Whether you are starting from square one and learning for yourself, or you're looking for strategies to teach the next generation, financial education really can rewrite your family's future. At PJ3G Lobal, they believe that education is the ultimate foundation of financial freedom. So reach out, learn with them, and start building a stronger financial future together.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

It really just begins with taking that first step, moving out of the dark and deciding to learn the rules of the game.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

As we wrap up today, I want to leave you with one lingering question to chew on. Think back to that football field we talked about earlier.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

If the formal education system never taught you the rules of the game, well, if they never sat you down and explained how money actually works, whose financial blueprint have you been unconsciously following all these years? And is it time to finally draft your own?