[Part 2] Building financial capabilities of vulnerable households

 

I've finished the book and must say that the most relevant bits are the first and final sections which contain information that is useful to audiences outside the US.

Becoming a financial advisor/coach for the poor is a job that is a lot more complex than advising the wealthy. If the textbook is right, most social workers would not have the sophisticated finance skills to sort out the personal balance sheet of their charges. Folks with a finance background may not understand the ground issues that need to be resolved before they can even review a person's financial institution. At the backdrop we've got a host of legal issues - maybe the person seeking help is an illegal immigrant. Finally, there will always be the probability that the recipient of the aid may not even be grateful for it. 

So helping the poor to build up their financial capability is a multi-disciplinary issue that has just received its first textbook.

I'm just one guy, but strangely reading this book has gathered a strange collection of interested parties who would be happy to assist because they feel really strongly about this. 

This is what I think can be done at the grassroots level :

• For any impact to be felt, we subject matter experts can't even focus on the poor directly - That remains the job of the social worker.
• It is possibly easier to assess what a social worker knows about personal finance. So I think I may actually be able to design a 5 question quiz to assess the level of financial proficiency of social workers.
• With the survey results, we can design a personal finance course for social workers. This can be done by the FIRE community or a pro-bono trainer for free. Maybe a social enterprise or NGO can provide a venue and cater some food.
• When the caregiver is taken care of, some would be open to assisting to create a variant program for their personal charges. 
• This second program will be delivered by the social workers with the help of the subject matter experts. It cannot be done by either party alone.

Sadly for me this year, I have my hands full with media appearances and the launch of a new course, but this serves as a guide for future action. If folks want to take this plan and run ahead of me, I'm happy to lend some assistance, but I can't take the lead. 

Some folks suggest visiting a Family Service Center to ask around. 

That may be the first step.