FEI

Hype first, then comes the hope. This word has many noteworthy synonyms, including a longing, yearning, urging, aspiring, or wanting for something better and brighter. A better opinion. A better option. A better opportunity. A brighter day. A brighter future. A brighter outcome. And financial education can provide a ray of hope to those who are stuck or stranded, sometimes through no fault of their own, at the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder. Miss the mark here with high-need populations, and they might not ever take the chance of climbing out of their economic hellhole. For those of you who have a disdain for (or distrust of) organized religion, please keep reading. This is an illustrative example, not a proselytizing sermon. Hope can’t survive without faith. In fact, hope and faith, along with vision, are inseparable tenets but not interchangeable terms. Hope expects (where both greatness and excellence lead the way in a purposeful life); faith believes (when the odds of success seem insurmountable or unattainable); and vision imagines (what could be in spite of how bad things have been). We’re told in Romans 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” This famous Bible verse has spiritual and practical applications. Why? Because life can’t be lived — eternally or internally — without some measure of faith-inspired and vision-guided hope. Literally and figuratively, it can push or propel those who’ve been beaten down by life across the financial success finish line. Here’s the problem for most of them: Hope is in shorter supply than money.

Rydell Gibson, a mentor and close friend of mine from Sacramento, shared these two faith acronyms with me over 20 years ago. Obviously, I’ve never forgotten them, nor his prophetic declaration over my life back when I played with the Sacramento Kings. He told me, “Lawrence, your assignment in life will be to instill hope into the hopeless.” He added, “You have the rare gift of helping people see their future lives from a present lens.” As I write this article, tears are swelling up in my eyes. I didn’t quite understand what Rydell meant back then, but I clearly do now. In his F.A.I.T.H acronym, “for all individuals there’s hope,” the key word is all. Everyone needs hope to express a given level of faith. Without it, life becomes a meaningless activity or uninspiring voyage. Here’s what I’ve learned while working with (and being a former member of) the scarcity class. Hope deprived is hype denied. Hype runs out of gas — to achieve better and brighter economic outcomes — when hope is missing from the picture. That’s why it is incredibly dangerous to get at-risk communities fired up about a financial future that can’t be seen or experienced up close and personal. This is the classic case of a gimmick trap, which was highlighted in the previous article. Gassed up, with no place to go. The result? Another letdown, and potential meltdown, is added to their disappointment ledger account, as lives and legacies hang in the balance.

“If I could show you a picture of your financial future right now, how excited would you be?” This is the question I open with when meeting at-risk students for the first time. I must admit though, their varied facial expressions, teenagers in particular, speak louder than words, ranging from radiant happiness to heightened curiosity to utter surprise to profound doubt to outright indifference. Some lean forward in their chairs — a welcoming sign for me. Some lean back or slump down in their chairs — a distancing sign for me. Some fold their arms, purse their lips, wiggle (or rub) their noses, and/or tilt their heads up — a troubling sign for me. Regardless of their facial expression or body language responses, I still move forward with my uplifting message. I continue, “This financial life skills program will help you connect the success dots between your present reality and future possibility.” Now, I can’t share all of my observational frameworks or trade secrets with you, but here are two of them free of charge. With a happy facial expression, students will usually smile (and show their teeth), nod their heads in agreement, and breath a sigh of relief, among other behavioral gesture clusters. Their biochemical mood follows and flows with their upbeat, emotional mode. Feel-good neurotransmitters provide them reassurance, notably dopamine, serotonin, and GABA as well as oxytocin, the comfort hormone. Testosterone, the muscle-flexing hormone, also plays a huge role when joy is expressed as the body readies itself for action. These students view me as a battle-tested ally, someone who can coach or cheer them on from the sidelines.

With an indifferent facial expression, blank stares can convey emptiness (which might be a sign of numbness or callousness); closed mouths often indicate silence; and measured breathing typically mirrors static (or frozen) eye blinks. It’s as though these students are suspended in midair without a safety net in sight, all while being totally oblivious or detached from reality. Obviously, this disposition is even more problematic than a doubting demeanor. Not believing that favorable outcomes are possible is bad enough, but not caring about one’s future is far worse. Neurotransmitters that are likely to impact an attitude of indifference — also known as the orphan spirit of insignificance — include those that offer numbing relief (and, in some cases, can even produce pain), such as endorphins, enkephalins, and dynorphins. Apathetic students might see me as a pain contributor, someone who might cause them to revisit or reopen a trauma wound.

Time for a neuroscience lesson. What is taking place during the accelerated stage of alpha brain wave synchronization between the ages of 9 and 12? Well, let’s take a trip down memory lane. What do you vividly remember about this time of your life as an impressionable youth? Seriously, stop right now and reflect on this pivotal time growing up in childhood. (For some of you, I realize this might be difficult if painful memories are being triggered. Feel free to bypass this exercise if necessary.) During this period of rapid personal development and inspirational nourishment, children are forming their interests, preferences, curiosities, concerns, beliefs, values, expectations, goals, aspirations, pursuits, priorities, habits, talents, skills, abilities, emotions, feelings, boundaries, benchmarks, baselines, relationships, friendships, narratives, methodologies, disciplines, and more. And what drives all of these growth-oriented tasks, key objectives, and foundational pillars in our youth? Their unique experiences! Thus, it’s imperative for us to help our young people (or even current clients’ children and grandchildren) build their knowledge base in financial education while their life script is being shaped. Why wouldn’t we make a strategic investment right now to get them started on the right economic foot?

You see, this is where a costly mistake was made, which I warned DEI proponents about many years ago. Their line-of-sight focus was on curtailing discriminatory practices (against minority or carve-out groups) rather than crafting emancipatory principles (that benefit every person, however one wishes to be identified). And when the topic of discrimination leads and emancipation lags with a movement, this is what happens when the political pendulum swings in the opposite direction. Whether you’re a black or brown American, a woman, or part of the LGBTQ+ community, you want to be treated fairly under the economic law. Right? Things got quite messy, actually diluted, when these groups were all thrown in the same opportunity bucket — by their own coordinated, advocacy representatives! Boxed in with no “fair” way out. Not a smart strategy. Well, when you aggregate divergent groups of people into a single-minded cause, you’re bound to alienate millions of Americans who fall outside that box. Suburban moms. Committed dads (aka involved fathers). Straight men. Traditional families. Conservative voters. As a black man who grew up on welfare in a single-parent home, my advocacy for DEI opportunities was always wrapped around FEI options. Diverse candidates with noteworthy credentials who are promoted to C-Suite positions can also leverage diversity within their portfolios — stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate holdings, private equity offerings, and other investments — and lucrative compensation packages. Equitable employment practices allow targeted minority groups to create equity as first-time homeowners, a key step to building generational wealth. Inclusive workplaces and inviting educational spaces allow marginalized communities to be part of a dynamic, inclusionary environment that prioritizes financial wellbeing. The FEI pull should have led the DEI push.

Why a downstream playbook for an upstream problem? Truth be told, social class habits, really ingrained economic mindsets, are hard to break. And once they are deposited in early childhood, they’re usually solidified in young adulthood. As a certified financial planner for 15 years, very little training is received in our profession to address a client’s root system issues from a social class perspective. Exceptions to the rule do exist, but the foundation for a person’s monetary template or socioeconomic grid is typically laid early in life through observational programming, environmental priming, and biochemical prompting. I discuss these three topics in great detail in my book, Sociopsychonomics: How Social Classes Think, Act, and Behave Financially in the Twenty-First Century. In short, how caregivers act or overreact in handling financial resources, children invariably pick up through osmosis … unless they’re shown a different way by an outside tour guide with inside knowledge. Three social class mindsets come into play: the scarcity class, the security class, and the seniority class. I’ll address each of these mindsets over the next three articles while making this case: financial education programs should be offered in elementary school when students’ brain waves are in alpha mode, a time of intuitive breathing, introspective storytelling, and inquisitive downloading. Between the ages of 9 and 12 — alpha mode’s sweet spot — children are exploring what they want (and are willing to pursue) out of life. Let that sink in for a moment.