I grant you that there are people who declare their lack of knowledge with a sense of defeat and a willingness to learn as well. I love to help people like that. They are like the out of shape people who start exercising and although it initially hurts a lot, they keep at it because they truly want to improve. I absolutely respect their attitude. To stay with the analogy, what I have little respect for the out of shape people who make fun of those who make an effort to get in shape. Possibly they are using the ridicule as a psychological defense because of their own shortcomings in knowledge/motivation/… however, that is still an inexcusable attitude in my opinion.

Yes, there are a lot of subject-area snobs out there. I have met them. They have told me. Maybe it’s mainly prevalent amongst academic types?

The second issue was why specialization is horrible e.g. why is it bad to focus on one’s interests to the exclusion of everything else. Here we are of course dealing with a sliding scale. For instance, I would see a doctor if I needed surgery, but I would not see a doctor if I had a flu or a sprained finger, and I would certainly not see a doctor to put on a band aid . There is a point where one would need to study for many years to achieve the same level of skills. And then there’s a point where the level of skills should be common knowledge.

It is my personal opinion that we have delegated a wee bit too much to experts. It may be a question of semantics but it is my opinion that I absolve myself of any responsibility when I leave it in the hands of the expert to take care of me.

I chose three areas, where I think delegating has gone too far.

1) Exercising. This has reached the “band aid level” in the example with the doctor. Here’s what everybody should know: “If you just want to get in shape, run 2 miles, do 50 push ups, 50 squats, and 50 burpees 5-6 days a week”. Of course the hard part here is the motivation and self-discipline, yet the problem is sold as being technically difficult. Upon payment, the trainer will supply an complicated exercise routine, but the fact is that pretty much any routine will work and the main point is to get the customer to feel guilty and show up.

2) Eating. Again, one can pay an expert and make it complicated, or one can make it very simple. It typically comes down to self-discipline.

3) Personal finance. To be financially healthy, don’t spend more than is earned, don’t go into debt, set up a savings account in the bank, save 15% or more of one’s income in a 401k or IRA and pick a target year fund or an index fund. That’s nine tenths of the way. The rest is just technicalities.

I submit that the problem is that there’s a gap between the people on the ground and the experts in the air. This gap is the reason why things like personal finance seems so complicated. There are so many offers floating around, that it is hard to find the few right ones. It’s like reaching up and picking a random (e.g. a 401k with broker access to some emerging market sector ETF) and trusting the expert from there is no good at all. However, people on the ground have no basic knowledge from which to evaluate the expert. They think that as long as they pick an expert, they’re fine. That is what I mean about not taking responsibility. Even if one relies on experts, one MUST know (take responsibility for) which expert to pick. The choice of expert can never be delegated.

You are probably right that I come across as being very harsh on people who in my opinion lack self-discipline, focus, the desire to learn, etc. That is a character fault of mine. I will try to be more encouraging, because these things are really not as complicated or scary as they are made out to be.

In terms of how to help low income earners save more, I plan to keep posting ideas of how to decrease expenses.

First, I wonder how you know about so many different people that their lack of knowledge about personal finance was/is rooted in the fact that “they considered such simple knowledge beneath their refined tastes/they consider finance to be somewhat beneath them.” Did each of these people say this to you, or is the conclusion you came up with on your own and attributed to them?

Perhaps it is not so with the people you know, but I know many people who declare their incompetence in a certain area simply because their talents–and as usually naturally follows that, their interests–truly lie elsewhere, and not because they feel they are somehow too good to learn about their areas of weakness. Many people in fact are self conscious or at least not proud of their weaknesses and proclaim their lack of knowledge or skill with a sense of defeat rather than smugness.

If you are certain they really did feel that way because they told you so, and you know that they simply “prefer to focus on more interesting subjects“ why exactly is that so horrible again?

Not everyone is skilled or has proclivities toward (nor can everyone be skilled or have interest in) the same subjects. Simply because you declare personal finance to be a simple (or interesting) subject does not make it so for everyone or make that an absolute, universal fact.

“Simple” and “interesting” are subjective terms. It’s normal to be drawn toward the topics we naturally find most interesting or are good at. In almost every instance, that is simply a case of following our natural tendencies and not of seeing subjects we are less drawn to as somehow inferior or beneath us.

Most people feel the topics and skills they are interested in or skilled at are simple. Obviously what is simple and what isn’t varies based on one’s skills, experience, interests, background, talents, and so on.

If people don’t know personal finance like they know how to put on clothing each morning or make a quick meal that is precisely because it isn’t as simple as putting on a pair of pants or throwing a frozen dinner in a microwave. If it were, so many books, shows, articles, blogs, etc.–many of which include quite detailed and technical how-to and clarifying information–would not exist on the topic and so many wouldn’t make actual technical errors or errors due to lack of knowledge and experience. Yet most of us manage to not put our clothes on backward or set our frozen dinner on fire. Just because pf is important in our society does not mean it is simple.

Just as I’m sure you utilize and hire professionals for certain areas in which you are not skilled or inclined–for ex. I assume you go to drs., lawyers, or similar professional when needing those services–so too do some when it comes to finances. Going to a professional for help is one way of *being* responsible for one’s finances, not one example of *not taking responsibility*. It just happens to not be the path you seem to have chosen in this particular area, but that certainly makes it no less of a responsible or effective approach.

As far as the claim that focus and extraordinary effort are all–or even much of what–it takes to accumulate a six digit net worth, I feel that all one needs to do is look around the world or at history to be reminded of the many ways in which life regularly and habitually intrudes and wreaks havoc upon even the best laid plans, the most thorough and devoted efforts, and the most hard-working–and smart-working–individuals.

Not everyone has the same strengths and interests. I think–rather than attribute a superiority complex (which even if it’s there, is often simply compensating for a sense of inferiority or shame about lack of knowledge or aptitude) or sense of irresponsibility to those who may not share your same strengths and interests–it would be more productive to help others succeed and improve by meeting them where they are, supporting them as they are, respecting their differences, and helping them begin in the ways that feel most comfortable and doable for them. For some that may include hiring professionals; for others it may include learning only the very, very basic first steps of pf approaches only.

But disregarding the many factors that come together to make a subject feel difficult or simple, or interesting or dull, for any of us, and simply assuming that because others do not share your natural tendencies, attractions, and strengths, that they are somehow lacking effort, focus, responsibility, and humility doesn’t seem to do much, I believe, to help those people change or improve or learn.

If anything that type of approach and mindset has the potential to creates yet another divide between people and to further alienate from a given subject/task those who already fear or are uncomfortable with that particular task or subject.

I believe those who excel can help others by making the fields that are easy for them less overwhelming and intimidating for others, and not by condemning the lack of comfort others may have with the subject they find challenging or by critiquing the methods that they do use to at least take some steps in approaching a task that may be very difficult for them.

Professionals can be utilized while still maintaining an eye toward individual needs and goals. And better someone use a professional to do something productive and to start on the journey toward improvement than to do nothing at all. Of course they will have to find checks and balances for their system and not blindly trust one person, but going to a professional can be a very good step for many people.

Not everyone can just pick up a book and teach themselves any and every subject, and I’m sure each of us has many fields that all the reading in the world would not help to familiarize us with to any degree of necessary fluency. Your theory is set on the assumption that everyone has the time, ability, and circumstances required to be able to as you do and have done or as you feel ought to be done, and that is something I believe is simply not so. Nor necessarily believe ought to be so.

Again, this is with all due respect to your beliefs on the topic. We seem to have very different set of beliefs on pf issues–for example I think, contrary to what I read in your intro., that what you earn has a tremendous effect on one’s financial gains, often much more so than spending. You living a poverty level lifestyle for ex. will allow you to keep a lot more money than someone who lives on a lower than poverty level income but spends the same or less than you do. No matter how little that person spends they will be nowhere near your level of savings if you earn a lot more than they do, even if you only saved a small portion of your salary and they saved a large portion of theirs.

Spending affects us of course, but without adequate earnings to save, our ability to save and make financial progress is squelched. However, despite some differences in opinion, I very much appreciate your ability to thoughtfully organize and communicate your views–and many of them are very interesting, I just browsed through your archives–and experiences and to inspire and provoke thought in others. That’s a big part of what good blogging/writing is all about.