Speaker Offers Humorous and Helpful Financial Advice

Ryan, one of America’s top 10 money speakers, visited the Upper School on Thursday, October 10, during Morning Meeting and presented “This Isn’t Your Parent’s Money Talk,” a humorous, practical approach to money management. Ryan was brought to the School by the nonprofit organization Stand for Street $Cents, which works to provide education on financial matters and was founded by Masters parents Zara Crowley P’25 and Rich Fuller P’25 along with Dr. Suzie Kaufman.

 

Ryan began his interactive presentation by considering the Stanford marshmallow experiment, wherein a child was offered a choice between one small reward, provided immediately, or two small rewards if the child waited approximately 15 minutes. The idea behind the experiment demonstrates the difficulty in “choosing the future instead of right now,” Ryan said to the crowd.

Throughout the hour-long presentation, Ryan discussed the following three financial skills: invest in yourself, borrow safely and choose your marshmallows. He recalled how, at his first job, he met with the office of human resources to find out what a 401K was. “I didn’t know what it was, how it worked, why there was a ‘K’ in it." The moral of the story, he said, is “It’s ok to ask. It is wise and beneficial.”

Throughout the hour, Ryan also shared three common credit traps: store cards, cash advances and minimum payments. He also encouraged students to identify areas in which they overspend and “change the environment in which you make the choice.” In other words: Avoid the places where you are prone to overspend.  

And when it comes to the third financial skill — choose your marshmallows — Ryan said that everyone should focus on financial choices and maintaining a budget that makes them happy, not one that provides immediate gratification.