Economic crisis ‘no better time’ to emphasize basic principles w/ link to 5k5k.com

By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

Chett Daniel has seen how it can happen.

The former U.S. Marine who is now a Neosho schoolteacher also spent years working for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., including time as a district supervisor with the company’s asset protection division. Part of his job involved talking to employees who had committed internal theft.

In many instances, he said, the theft stemmed from employees “being strapped for cash” to cover bills. He said he often thought that if those workers were better educated about basic financial decisions, they might have been able avert the personal economic problems that led them to steal.

It’s that issue — economic and financial literacy — that Daniel and others say should be front-and-center now.

Daniel, who is studying to be a certified financial planner through Missouri Southern State University, is doing his part.

He has mounted a “5k5k” program. Through his Web site, he is encouraging people to try and run five kilometers to improve their physical fitness and to improve their financial fitness by eliminating $5,000 in debt or saving $5,000.

Daniel, who has done workshops for fellow Neosho teachers and for his church, said he bases his program partly on Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover.”

Practices he encourages people to adopt include establishing emergency funds and compiling a list of debts, from smallest to largest, and paying them off.

Daniel, who teaches fourth graders in the Neosho School District, said the practices are good in the best of times, but may be more important in the current crisis.

“I think it is magnified now,” he said, referring to the national economic downturn.

“Personal finance is as much emotional as it is knowledge,” he added. “People who make a true change and get ahead financially at some point get tired of just getting by and sweating out each month’s payments.”

The average American household with at least one credit card had an average of about $10,678 in credit-card debt last year, according to CardTrak.com.