An unconvential guide to personal finance

Interview Jay Fulgencio, PhD,Founder & President of Learngenix, USA.

First published eZINE Volume 5 no 3, Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, 2022.

Keywords Entrepreneurship, educational technology, personal finance, entrepreneurial mindset, career planning

How to reference this article Fulgencio, F., An unconventional guide to personal finance, Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, accessed [insert date], <www.e-star.academy/student-education/jay-fulgencio>.

What inspired you to go on a journey that started with political science, moved on to entrepreneurship, and then progressed to educational technology?

My journey started when I was a graduate student in Political Science at Oklahoma State University. I was walking down the halls of campus when I saw a flyer for a course titled “Entrepreneurship in the Arts” the name entrepreneurship caught my eye, plus I needed an elective course for my Masters in Political Science. I automatically fell in love with the topic on the first day of the entrepreneurship course. After that, I pursued my Masters in Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State. Started my own business. My startup experience, professional work experience, and experience teaching in the classroom led me to get involved with educational technology.

You have a lot of experience in creating educational workshops. Which is best: - classroom training or eLearning?

That is a good question. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Classroom training is great because you can interact with the audience and know if something is working. However, with eLearning, you may get a higher attendance rate. The downside to eLearning is that you may spend a lot of effort on creating the workshop with little to no ROI. I prefer both, but I don’t oppose either as long as I have a good participation rate, and I get paid for my work.

Picture Credit Pixabay

What are some key takeaways from your e-book The unconventional guide to personal finance?

The key takeaways include saving money, not getting into credit card debt, and not spending money on stupid stuff. When I was in my early twenties, I made the mistake of swiping my credit card like it was play money, and I had to pay the consequences later on by paying off the debt over the years. Another piece I add to the book is I talk about entrepreneurship as a university student.

You were responsible for a personal finance curriculum for junior high school students. Why do young people need to learn about finance?

Young people need to understand that financial habits start at an early age. If your surroundings include people spending money they don’t have, gambling, and not saving money, the chances of you doing the same are extremely high. Young people should learn from the mistakes others make and not make them because it could weigh heavily on their financial future. Young people should not trust anyone, including family members, with their social security number. I’ve seen cases where a parent would use their child's social security number for credit purposes and leave the child with heavy debts.

You have written that the entrepreneurial mindset needs to be introduced to all students in higher education. Why?

The entrepreneurial mindset is the way of the present and future. We live in a society where our careers may change every two years, and we must be ahead of the curve. Building an entrepreneurial mindset means keeping your career skills up to date, building a network, looking for opportunities even though you may not need them, and growing your brand. Think like an entrepreneur for yourself because companies come and go, but your career highlights will remain with you.