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Why aren’t there personal finance shows for the general public?
This is my most recent random thought. Surely, if you are a fellow pf blogger, you must have wondered the same thing. Or did I now just make you go “hmmmm….I wonder why not?”
When I say show, I’m referring to a show like the Home and Garden Show or the Wedding show. You know, the shows that run for the whole weekend, you buy tickets to get in, walk around and get ideas, listen to professionals give their advice and hopefully you end up with a ton of free samples, depending on what type of show it is.
Obviously there is FinCon and the Canadian Personal Finance Conference, which is a phenomenal concept, but it seems only geared to people in the finance industry and personal finance bloggers. I have yet to go to one, but I’ve decided that my goal this year is to attend the Canadian Personal Finance Conference. In this day and age, with so many people in debt, struggling to get out of debt, make ends meet, save for retirement, you would think a show like this for the regular everyday folk? Aside from the wonderful Gail Vaz Oxlade, I highly doubt the majority knows much about the personal finance world, reads personal finance blogs or has even heard of personal finance conferences.
But they are the ones that need this type of show the most.
Sure these shows may start off small, as many things do, but who knows? Maybe they’ll grow into something HUGE and then every major city will have their own personal finance show. Then more people will have the opportunity to attend a personal finance show and feel more empowered about their finances. They will have access to a ton of resources and hear amazing stories from local personal finance bloggers. It will be the show where you can bring your not so financially savvy friends and family.
There are a ton of books and blogs out there about personal finance. But maybe we need to reach other even further and on a BIGGER level to the general public. Many of them view personal finance as boring or private. I don’t think I could ever have a conversation with my friends and family about finances. They don’t seem to feel the same way I do. With these shows, we can make personal finance the complete opposite. We can get people to see personal finance the way we see it.
Exciting!
Fun!
Brutally honest.
Challenging.
Attainable.
Satisfying.
Rewarding.
And of course, there will be a ton of free stuff, because who doesn’t like free stuff? 😉
I’m hoping in the future that a show like this will exist because the general public needs to hear about it.
Do you think there should be personal finance shows for the general public? Why or why not? Or maybe they already exist and I just don’t know about it??
I’m pretty sure they don’t. It’d be a cool thing for banks to get behind and push, and I know one in NZ that has a schools financial literacy scheme, but like an expo you mean? I’d go to that. Not sure most would though, wonder how they would market that and what ‘carrots’ there’d be to attract the general public.
Yes, I guess another term for the show would be an expo. I would definitely go to that as well. I think they would have to have a lot of commercials on tv, the radio and print ads to spread the word and have a lot of big names in the financial industry to get people to go. Perhaps having a lot of giveaways would also attract the general public??
I guess maybe they don’t have them with tons of vendors because what would they “show off” exactly? Or maybe they have them already but on the smaller scale, for instance at fincon there was a small expo with vendors for credit karma, other credit score places, etc. Maybe it’s not “sexy” enough to sell?
I guess the non bricks and mortar banks, such as ING direct could have booths, along with local credit unions. Authors of personal finance books could be there to sign copies of their books and maybe have Q &A sessions. Maybe even businesses such as Stella & Dot or Avon could be present to pose the idea of starting a side business.
Of course, you could always throw in models like they have at the car shows, to make it “sexy. Lol.
Isn’t that what people like Dave Ramsey and Robert Kiyosaki do?
Don’t they just have speaker sessions or do they actually hold expos with vendors/businesses? I’ve never heard of any in Canada, thus far. Then again, perhaps it’s not promoted enough to gain awareness from the general public?
I’d love to see an HGTV show that focuses on the financial side of home-buying. Right now all their shows squeeze the finance/budget part into a 30 second clip.
So true! It seems as if they just mention their budget, if they were over/under and by how much. The financial side is crucial to home-buying!!