What does it take to become successful?

Many people aspire to become successful, wanting the nicest car, the biggest house, the most expensive clothes, going for their dream vacation etc. But how many people are able to acheive all that? Instead, many of the so called rich are in actual fact in debt. On the outside, they have all the cars, houses etc but everything is bought on credit. Once they lose their jobs, they will lose everything. Why do many people fall into this trap of constantly running in the rat race and not able to acheive financial freedom?

I believe there are a few reasons:

1) Lack of financial management skills
Where do we learn the skills to manage our money? In schools, they only teach us the academic subjects like english, maths, science. So, if schools do not teach us those skills, most likely we learn these skills from the people around us. We learn it from our parents and our friends. So ask yourself this question, are the people around you successful? If not, you may have learnt all the wrong things about managing money.

2) Lack of financial education
This is the ability to earn more money, save money, invest money and protect money. There is one saying which goes like this:" It is not how much money you can earn but also how much you can save and what you do with the money you save."
There are 3 groups of people in this world. The first group are those who live from paycheck to paycheck, not saving a single cent. These people are most of the time in debt and even if they get a raise or promotion, they will quickly spend it away. Expenses when not in control will always rise to the level of income. The second group of people are beter than the 1st group. They are able to save a portion of their income but most of the time they put it inside a bank or in low interest rates fixed deposit accounts. These people have enough to live by but they are not able to quit their job as it is their only source of income. The third group of people are the ones with the highest financial education. They save a portion of their income, they watch and read financial news regularly. They know how to pick the right stocks to invest and most of the time they have more than one source of income. They have also built a stable stream of passive income and are able to quit their jobs if they want to. Financial education is very important if you want to live a life of abundance. Learn how to invest and manage your cash flow.

Social media environment in U.S. schools.

What is the general approach to social media in U.S. school districts and classrooms today? What about the use of social media in international class rooms? Are their opportunities in social media to enhance learning? What policies are in place for the use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels? What should publishers be doing to meet schools’ needs? What do technology experts say about the use or criticisms of social-media, and its role in improving student achievement and its impact on cost savings.

“Growing Opportunity” Report Cites Momentum Gained and Renews Call To “Do School Differently”

Carnegie Corporation of New York & Institute for Advanced Study —

In the two years since its release, The Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy has served as a call to action, a unifying framework, and a mission statement for improved math and science education. The report presented a vision for excellent, equitable science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning that would reach all U.S. students and prepare them for full participation as citizens and as workers in an increasingly global economy, and it lent momentum and credibility to a growing movement

Gold as a Hedge Against Tuition Hikes

We have discussed a series of investment articles for students relating to precious metals. We have introduced the concept that aggressive-minded students may want to consider the precious metals as a source for long-term growth, and as a hedge against Tuition hikes and long-term inflation. Over the years, hardly anyone can argue that Gold has outperformed Real Estate, and certainly stocks. Gold has been used throughout history as money and has been a relative standard for currency equivalents specific to economic regions or countries, until recent times. Many European countries implemented gold standards in the latter part of the 19th century until these were temporarily suspended in the financial crises involving World War I. After World War II, the Bretton Woods system pegged the United States dollar to gold at a rate of US$35 per troy ounce. The system existed until the 1971 Nixon Shock, when the US unilaterally suspended the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold and made the transition to a fiat currency system. The last currency to be divorced from gold was the Swiss Franc in 2000. Students may take advantage of the Gold precious metals alternative by seeking out suitable and reputable companies that teach new investors how to invest in Gold. Please follow this blog for more advice for students.

80 Partners Join Multi-sector Movement To Tackle Nation’s Need for 100,000 Excellent Math and Science Teachers in 10 Years

More than 80 partners–from NASA and Google to the New York City Department of Education, Stanford University, and Teach for America–have joined 100Kin10, an effort to respond to the national imperative to prepare, deploy, and support 100,000 excellent STEM teachers over the coming 10 years. The partners are unified by a single, ambitious goal: to prepare all students with the high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills needed to address the most pressing national and global challenges of tomorrow. The effort is led by Carnegie Corporation of New York and Opportunity Equation.

U.S. Chamber Gathers Tennessee Leaders To Discuss the State of Education and the Imperative To Take Action

U.S. Chamber of Commerce — Saturday, October 15, 2011 The Honorable Margaret Spellings, former U.S. Secretary of Education and current President of the U.S. Chamber’s Forum for Policy Innovation, gathered with business leaders from across the state to discuss the state of education in Tennessee and across the country, the imperative for business engagement in education and the actions Tennessee must take to continue the fight for reform. The event centered around findings from a report of the Chamber’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce that highlights the valuable role business can play in retooling school systems around the country and bringing about transformative improvement.