Meet me this Saturday, buy me food

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16 comments — written on November 9th, 2007

One of the people I interviewed for my upcoming book was Laura Levine, Executive Director of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Finance Literacy. I was asking her about why young people say they want to learn about personal finance, but they routinely don’t attend classes that are offered at their schools.

“It’s not just young people,” she told me. If you have a seminar for middle-aged people, they won’t come either. Do you know why? Because attending is a big admission that they’re lacking education. Quite frankly, if they go and see their neighbor in the parking lot, they might just turn around and go home.”

Anyway, this Saturday I’ll be at Jovino in San Francisco this Saturday (11/10/07) from 11am-3pm. If you want to talk personal finance / entrepreneurship / publishing, feel free to drop by. I’m the Indian dude cursing at my notepad.

Btw, is it too gaudy to say that if you come to visit, you have to buy me something to eat? I think that ship sailed a long time ago.

PS–Laura writes in to call this a…”Ramit and Greet.” hahahahhaa i hate you so much

16 comments

Leave your own

1

November 9, 2007
john

you aren’t kidding on the attendance problem. the directors of my credit union were working on a similar program (money smart) provided through the FDIC. we held a dozen or so meetings to discuss various aspects of financial management – open to the public, well-publicized & free food & give-aways. do you know how many people showed up? ZERO.

it’s unfortunate, b/c programs like these provide a wealth of information that translates into real dollars down the road. i’m sure laura’s statement is a big part of the lack of participation. i think there’s also a lot of people that think financial matters are boring or beyond them.
2

November 9, 2007
Rance

“Gaudy” i think the work you were looking for was “tacky”.

Gaudy would be wearing a Hawaiian shirt with matching pants.
3

November 9, 2007
dan

Speaking of personal finance classes, when I was in college, one of my finance professors told me they used to offer a personal finance class. I don’t know why or when they stopped offering it, but I think that they should bring it back, and perhaps make it a requirement (Gen Ed or for the major).
4

November 10, 2007
Jeannie

I think people don’t show up because they think they are going to be pressured into buying something, such as investments, insurance etc…
5

November 10, 2007
Allen

I would agree with Jeannie.
6

November 10, 2007
Emma

at Rance: I disagree. I would say ‘gauche’ is what Ramit was after.
7

November 10, 2007
Phil

Ramit, I was at Jovino today and you definitely didn’t look approachable. You sat alone, hunched over your Thinkpad with scraps of paper all over your table and you were plugged into your ipod earphones. I think someone at one time took your other chair. Next time, maybe you should take appointments or have a speaking engagement at a pub during happy hour; I’ll buy you a drink in exchange your financial wisdom. Cheers.
8

November 10, 2007
Ramit Sethi

I’m sorry, Phil, but your comment really pisses me off. I put an open invitation to every single one of my blog readers and you knew it.

I looked like I was writing because I was writing, but if you had taken the initiative to say hello, you would have found that I’m a pretty approachable guy and I love meeting iwillteachyoutoberich readers.

In fact, maybe you could take a lesson from another iwillteach reader who sent me a note saying that she appreciated the invitation and would be showing up around 1:30pm. When she did, I spent about two hours giving her career advice.

I’m consistently amazed at the excuses people come up with to justify not doing something out of the ordinary. “It’s too far,” “it’s raining today,” or in this case, “you didn’t look approachable” (despite having explicitly invited people to drop by). The successful entrepreneurs I know would kick down doors to meet with someone they wanted to — not be stopped by “scraps of paper all over a table.”
9

November 12, 2007
dan

phil, buddy, you just got OWNED.
10

November 12, 2007
"Maybe"

Phil didn’t want to buy Ramit food. Ramit, I appreciate your frankness, even when it is one of your readers (or perhaps, especially to you readers).
11

November 12, 2007
Phil

Yep, owned. Don’t get me wrong, I mean no disrespect. Barriers aside, I’m overly cautious now since I was recently burned badly by what I assumed was nice friendly people while looking for an apartment off of craigslist. There is also a financial side to it too; I’ll have to submit my story to Ramit for his comments. Cheers.
12

November 12, 2007
Adam

Ramit,

Any chance you’ll come to Colorado? I wish I was in SF this last week. Let me know when you do come, I’ll buy you a drink at Vic’s coffee.
13

November 13, 2007
kevin

yeah, come on over to the mile high city.
First couple pints are on me at Wyncoop.

Yes, Phil was owned.
Phil-stop making excuses.
14

November 16, 2007
Kiwi

I agree with Jeannie.
“I think people don’t show up because they think they are going to be pressured into buying something, such as investments, insurance etc…”
Thats why I don’t go to any “free” financial presentations. I went to one at Barnes and Nobles once, and felt highly pressured to buy the book of the presenter, along with her services as a financial planner. Chairs were set up in a manner that there was no escape for the entirety of the presentation. Banks and other debt oriented businesses have also infiltrated high schools and colleges to sell their version of financial planning . Right up there with Timeshares – no thanks.

The exception for me would be if I knew something about the presenter. After reading your blog, I would probably go to your presentations (if you are in the area). Also any presentation by Dave Ramsey.
15

December 5, 2007
Helen

hey ramit!!

this is super late, but the meeting we had was really helpful! (btw, phil, i would be the reader who showed up and talked to ramit for 2 hours, so yes he is approachable despite the fact that he looks busy).

i just wanted to update you. i’m going for my second round interviews next week! i tried calling human resources directly and she had me bypass the entire online/electronic application process. i flew out to dallas for my first round last week and they loved me! YAY! also, i met up with mimi a few weeks ago and she was great to talk to as well.

i hope your book is coming along well. i noticed that you still don’t have many pics on your blog! nor do you have a logo! i have some ideas…something with a chalkboard…
16

December 8, 2007
Fear Of Looking Dumb » client k

[...] Sethi at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com interviewed Laura Levine from Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Finance Literacy and asked [...]