Social Workers Getting to the Roots of Debt
As credit-card debt, the loss of homes, and predatory lending are leaving many Americans in financial crisis, financial training for the underprivileged has never been in greater need.
Now, a movement within social work to provide clients with the tools to make financially responsible decisions — and to understand why they get into financial trouble in the first place — seems to be taking off.
David Crary with the Seattle Times reports there are financial think tanks in St. Louis, new on-line certificates in financial social work, and financial training at many social work universities.
Margaret Sherraden, a professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis has long advocated for financial training in social work schools. Sherraden explains,
The growing field of economic empowerment represents an exceptional opportunity for the social work profession. Arguably, no other profession is as well positioned as social work to assume leadership.
Getting to the roots of why people spend the way they do is a main objective for those in financial social work.
Robin Mckinney, a University of Maryland social-work graduate, explains that much of our financial education is focused on numbers, but emotions play an important role in making financial decisions.
Although long overdue, approaching financial crisis from a behavioral perspective makes sense as a more sustainable method to addressing debt for those in economic need.
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Fishing:)
I've heard it said that to give a man a fish is to bring him demise, but to give him a fishing pole is to give him life. We've found ourselves in a world that advertises fish and never the pole. We are constantly bombarded with marketing that makes us feel inferior if we don't have the latest car or biggest house. Its no wonder that we have developed such poor behavior when it comes to spending. No one wants to feel as though they are in the lower of classes. Credit card companies make it so incredibly easy to obtain and spend money that we don't have, why should we subject ourselves poverty, right? Wrong. Our problem starts there. Eventually, if we spend that money we don't have faster than we can pay it back (which is often the case) we inevitably find ourselves in debt and impoverished. I think that financial counciling is a great trend that must continue if we ever plan to stay on top (or regain the top as it may be) as on of the strongest economical governments in this world. Lets keep distributing poles!
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