For Patrick Dwyer Miami is a city with is very close to his heart and he has worked, lived and contributed to the area for all of his life, not to mention the avid support which he has shown for his beloved Miami Dolphins. He is currently working with a number of organizations here in Miami to try and use his financial power and knowledge to encourage the government to ramp up the way in which they teach personal finance. As it stands, we do not teach our children or teenage students anything about personal and business finance and this is something which Patrick believes should happen both here in Miami and across the country, and here is why.
Debt
There is very much a debt crisis in the country and there are tens of thousands of people who are living underneath a mountain of poorly managed debt. For anyone who is not financially savvy the appeal of borrowing money for cars, houses, and on credit cards is easy to understand yet this can often mean that people borrow more than they can afford. Much of this comes down to poor financial planning and whilst very few people take on debts which they know that they cannot afford, the majority are unknowingly doing just that.
Retirement Planning
The earlier that you begin to save for your retirement the better a future you will have and that is why education in this regard is so vitally important. Unless people are working for a company who offer a good pension plan, many people will not take it upon themselves to start up a pension plan. The result of this is that people get used to the money that they have and then they feel as though they cannot afford to invest in their future. This is very true here in Miami where the cost of living is high, and because these people weren’t aware of retirement planning they end up without very much in the pot come retirement age.
Business
The number one cause of the closure of a business is poor financial management and this is something which swallows up around 50% of every new business within 5 years. If we want a prosperous economy we need to have a solid balance between global companies and small to medium sized enterprises and as more businesses close their doors, the economy suffers each time. If we are able to teach our kids about how to manage their future business, rather than simply showing them how big businesses around the world manage, we will be able to inspire and engage the young entrepreneurs of this world and prepare them well for success.
For Patrick these are not difficult to changes to make yet the consequences of these actions can drastically alter people’s lives and further support our young men and women to have comfortable lives which are free from debt and ultimately prosperous.
