The Entitlement Epidemic - Eroding Our Financial Future?

Today, it seems all too common that young people have very little appreciation for the concept of "work ethic". The implications of this as it relates to the near crisis financial statistics in North America are huge.

Jobs are prolific and as a result, many young people don't seem to understand commitment or work ethic. They expect to have everything they want, when they want it; and when they don't they just move on, leaving a wake of hard-working, committed business owners and managers behind. They will often not move on quietly either. If they expect something they don't receive, they can be verbally abusive to the innocent shopkeeper behind the counter.

Their expectations are so high they become impatient or don't even see the value in what they're doing or learning at the time. Their respect for work and for training is negligible.

What I've discovered from sharing my story with my peers about a young employee I had is that everyone has at least one version and often multiple versions of the same story.

In North America, our youth are still looking for job security and high pay, with complete flexibility and lots of time off. They are still telling themselves they will save a lot of money so they can buy a house in 5 years' time and save for retirement after that. They are completely closed-minded to the idea that you can learn how to buy real estate and create income in other ways besides working at whatever job seems to offer the highest pay and most rewards at the time.

Personal debt levels are at record highs and savings rates at record lows. The way out of this mess is not to cut back spending and save more money. The answer is to learn how to earn more money and to re-ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in young people like it has been for people in overseas countries - namely China and India.

Yes, today's youth are facing an uncertain future, as the largest and most powerful generation in the world, the baby boomers, will be retiring. And yes, there are organizations that support and recognize the youth who will become our future leaders. There are also some amazing young people who get inspired by a cause and commit their time, and their piggy bank to do what many adults don't even think of doing. The question is, will enough of our youth be ready and prepared to take on the challenges their generation faces? Is there enough training and support to raise financially independent, hard-working, inspired, future leaders?

The young person in my story decided she wasn't getting the training she wanted despite being paid to review a very expensive CD program from one of the top professionals in her field. After less than 2 months, she decided she wanted more security and to be involved personally with the company's consultants. I'm not sure what she expected besides her regular paycheck but she certainly wasn't going to be the junior person in a start-up organization and have personal access to $1000-an-hour consultants. She decided to look for work while continuing to accept the payment for her training then gave 2 days' notice and expected to be paid the day she left - hmm.

I guess I should be so lucky; my brother owns a catering company and has shown up many times for work to find that the person who was supposed to start early on food preparation for that day just didn't show up because they were too tired from being out late the night before.

There are also the poor employers of young people who don't service the clients because a) it's their break time or b) the request by the customer is something they don't want to do or c) it was slightly outside the normal course of business.

The bottom line is the entitlement mentality is becoming an epidemic. And that's a problem because this Generation Y, as its known, expects to have all the benefits the current generation has worked hard for without the commitment to make it happen. There are too few young leaders who take up the challenges of our society. Those that do step up need support, and unfortunately this means they will have to work alongside the growing number of youth who jump from job to job and pay for things on credit they don't have money for, and then look to parents or the government to bail them out when they can't make things work for themselves.

One of my favorite success stories is a young woman who opted to work as consultant, rather than settling for an entry-level job right out of school. Her income jumped from $1500 per month to $7500 in 4 months because she followed her passion. Another young woman I know (still in high school) is very interested in fashion. Rather than take a retail job she found a way to open her own "shop" in the back of another store.

There are examples all around of young people who are making a difference - just a few more of them who aren't. It's time for business owners, teachers, parents, and other would-be "mentors" to stop bailing out our young people. "Generation Y" needs to take responsibility for their actions and to be committed to the decisions they make. We have to help more of them learn to earn a living for themselves so they understand the commitment and responsibility the people who employ them take on when they hire them.

We have to help them understand that when they learn these skills they actually can have the securities and freedoms they want when they want them. We have to help them learn how to earn so they can be part of the change we so desperately need in North America to maintain our independence and financial freedoms.

By Tracy Piercy

How To Find A Debt Consolidation Specialist That You Can Really Trust

Nowadays it seems like it's just too easy to find yourself in high levels of debt before you even realize it's happening. With the easy availability of credit cards, and the usual circumstances that life throws at us, it's an easy fix to just use your credit card to make ends meet. The end result is a lot of unwanted debt. If you need to get your debt under control, then a debt consolidation specialist may be the answer.

Basically, a debt consolidation specialist's job is to help you work out how to get your debt back under control. They can help you with strategies to eliminate your debt, and also teach you good financial management skills so that you don't accumulate more debt once the current problem is resolved. If you know you need to do something, but just aren't sure what it is you need to do, then a debt consolidation specialist can help you.

Debt consolidation specialists are reasonably easy to find. Usually there will be a number of different agencies in your area that specialize in this type of service. Ask around family and friends for referrals. Will recent high growth levels in personal debt, more debt consolidation companies have appeared on the scene in order to help you get your money troubles back on track. If you're comfortable using the Internet, you will be able to find resources online as well. Websites can help you find a specialist in your area who can assist you with your financial education.

There's no debt that having high levels of debt can be a very stressful and insecure feeling. Many people try to resolve the problem themselves, and only find their stress levels go up and the debt still doesn't seem to go down. Learning about financial responsibility from a specialist in debt consolidation can make a huge difference, helping you through the hard times and showing you how to move forward. This knowledge is with you for life, so you can apply the lessons learned and relax a little.

It's not enough to just pay off your existing debt, although that's a very important part of debt consolidation. Once the debt is paid off, you still need to make sure you don't start to accumulate any more. Reverting to your old ways of irresponsible spending and bad money choices will soon find you right back where you started, if not in more debt than you were before. That's why it's important that the debt consolidation specialist also gives you good financial strategies that you can continue to apply in the future. Making changes can be tough, but with good guidance it can be done, and you can avoid getting into debt again.

So if debt is a major problem in your life, take the time to find a debt consolidation specialist in your area and spend some time with them working through your situation. You'll be so glad you did, once the stress of debt is removed from your life and you're able to move on financially.

By Tim Gorman

Life Insurance Purchases Amongst Young People Falls

Protection specialists LifeSearch have released figures showing that life insurance bought by young people aged 35 years and under, had dropped by 5% compared to the previous 12 months. Young persons life protection policies had made up just 31% of all life cover written by LifeSearch during this period.

Policy advisor for LifeSearch, Matt Morris, commented about the falling sales figures that "This shows a worrying trend that the UK protection gap will continue to grow."

Despite life insurance being less expensive for younger people because of their age and perceived better health, which helps to keep premiums low, the research suggests that as well as falling sales figures, young people are making unwise product choices.

People aged between 18 and 29 who have no dependants, are nearly six times more likely to insure their life rather than their income. Those that insured their life stood at 74 per cent, whilst insurers of income were a mere 13 per cent.

Morris said, "Although the average age of first time buyers is probably rising, many younger people still have debts, mortgages and families that need financial protection in the event of the main income provider being unable to work."

In addition to these figures, only 12 per cent of young people aged between 18 and 29 said they felt that had purchased a product which best suited their own circumstances. Instead of basing their decision on which policy to buy on comprehensiveness of cover or suitability of the product, 37 per cent said they chose the policy on price alone.

These figures lead to the Head of Protection Strategy, Kevin Carr to say, "Clearly more work needs to be done to reach the 35 and under age group so they fully understand why protection is important and which type of cover is best for the individual needs. Many are either buying no financial protection at all, or are relying on the internet to get the best deal, which might work for car insurance, but not with financial protection."

However, research commissioned by TCP Lifesystems showed that around a third of people aged between 18 and 24 felt that the process of buying a life insurance policy was too invasive and the sales approaches adopted by insurance companies were too aggressive.

Further figures to come out of the research showed that 32 per cent of people aged under-25 described the sales approach and procedure as uncomfortable.

TCP's business development director, Ashley Hale commented, "With 81 per cent of those individuals surveyed being happy to share medical details if this speeds up the process, then this suggests that with a well designed expert system, there is scope to radically increase the proportion of business that is underwritten at the point of sale. On the other hand, the under-25 age range appears to have greater concerns about sharing their medical information.

Perhaps we have to think more about these different attitudes when we design our processes and procedures. It's apparent that one size doesn't fit all."

By Phil Benson