Drawing our way to financial literacy
Money is complicated. (I’m sure no one will argue with that!) That’s why I love how a simple line drawing like this one can offer a world of personal finance wisdom.
The man behind the Sharpie is Carl Richards, a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) who explores and sketches the relationships between money and values. You’ve probably seen his back-of-the-napkin drawings in The New York Times Bucks blog (you can peruse the whole collection here) or on his website, BehaviorGap.com.
Teaching personal finance through visuals seems to be growing in popularity. I’ve been especially enjoying The White House’s White Boards, where experts doodle the budget or health care reform, and Visual Economics, which uses graphics to show concepts like how much it costs to raise a kid. And the trend is only going to get bigger, since of course our iPad-obsessed kids are going to crave a more visual world—and an overhead projector isn’t going to cut it!
Which Carl Richards drawing is your favorite?