Letters to the editor

I read the Just Thinking column “Advisers should advocate financial literacy” (Dec. 6) with great interest.

I have spent my entire 20-plus-year career in the financial services industry and have been a vocal advocate for financial literacy. However, over and over, I have been disappointed by the approach that the government or other entities have taken toward “solving” the problem.

Three years ago, I was introduced to a local organization that has grown from the ground up with little funding to be a provider of basic financial literacy to high-school youths called Make A Difference – Wisconsin Inc.

In a little more than four years, the organization went from a startup nonprofit to having reached more than 17,000 high school students.

To say I am proud to be a board member, volunteer and financial supporter is an understatement. The organization proves that when a passionate group of people get behind a worthwhile cause, amazing things can happen.

All too often, people talk about the problem but never go to work to fix it. This organization never bought into that approach.

As with any nonprofit, the recession has caused it to think differently in order to be financially viable. An outcome of its creative thinking was the annual Make a Difference – Wisconsin Investment Conference.

The organization is often referred to as the best-kept secret in non-profits with the success it has had, but that is beginning to change.

Joe Schlidt

Private family office director

Godfrey & Kahn SC

Milwaukee

I agree completely with the Just Thinking column “Advisers should advocate financial literacy” (Dec. 6).

As I wrote to a colleague recently, “I’m of the opinion that what we do as planners is increasingly integral to the economic health of our country. And … too many of our fellow citizens are woefully ignorant about basic economics/financial literacy/investing.”

This is what the Foundation for Financial Planning is doing. It has made grants to dozens of groups that provide pro-bono financial education/financial planning and probably knows more about the opportunities available than any other group.

Take a look at its accomplishments, and you will sit a little bit taller with pride at what has been done.

Curt Weil

Managing partner

The Lasecke Weil Wealth Advisory Group LLC

Palo Alto, Calif.

The Just Thinking column “Advisers should advocate financial literacy” (Dec. 6) is right on but likewise off a little.

As a 17-year financial planning practitioner, I have seen firsthand the ills that develop as a result of poor financial decision making. The challenge isn’t the lack of financial literacy but connecting literacy to behavior.

We are swimming in financial literacy. It abounds; it is everywhere.

So why is our society financially illiterate? I often relate all this to the simple process of eating.

We know the four food groups, we know to eat in moderation, to exercise, get plenty of rest and the other elements of a healthy lifestyle. With all this information surrounding us, why is our society so obese?

It comes down to choices and decision making, not the lack of information. Like good eating habits, good financial habits are neither complicated nor onerous, just at times less appetizing.

I provide a dozen financial literacy presentations in any given year. My goals are simple: Keep it light and entertaining, give the participants several immediate take-aways and always encourage them that it is never too late to start.

Edward W. Gjertsen II

Vice president

Mack Investment Securities Inc.

Glenview, Ill.