By Emily Elmore
We sat down with Jack McCann of General Finance for Gen Z. A motivated athlete and college student, Jack is driven by a passion for helping people.
“I have a deep admiration for the powers of personal finance, and my goal is to help as many people as possible understand the basics so they can achieve their goals, whatever they may be.”
Enter General Finance for Gen Z
The blog is a financial literacy platform aimed at “educating as many people as possible in all aspects of finance and empower each member of our community to reach financial independence.”
As a Millennial, I distinctly remember when “teaching to the test” displaced elective courses like Home Economics. As it was, that class was associated with ‘how to sew’ versus ‘how to budget’, but the latter was part of the curriculum… even if it wasn’t particularly valued. These days, forget balancing a checkbook. How are your quadratic equations?
Jack confirmed that experience. He tells us he didn’t have a single personal finance, home economics or financial literacy course during high school.
“In my opinion,” he continues, “This is what is furthering the wealth gap in this country. The average American does not have the knowledge to succeed, which is why it is so important that the financial literacy gap is filled…Not only do I want to fill the enormous gap that the education system left, but I want to make it accessible to everyone!”
Specifically, he wants to introduce his peers to education that can empower financial independence (FI). And if his blog helps him along the way to his own financial independence, it’ll be a passion project that pays. What’s that quote?
“Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Yeah, that’s it.
And Jack is on his way to funding life on his own terms, which is what we love about our Nav.igators. Although there are affiliate links on his site offering him modest monetization, the goal has always been to share knowledge.
“I realized how difficult some of the other sites were to understand. So many sources really get into the nitty gritty, while many people need a broad overview to start their journey. Instead of talking about how to choose investments based on fundamentals or technical indicators, I started with the most basic investment: index funds! After I had a few people message me saying how easy it was to understand how a credit score is calculated after reading one of my posts, I knew I couldn’t stop anytime soon.”
The More You Know the More You Save
When asked how financial literacy impacts Jack’s personal finances, he says he became more frugal. He’s talking the talk on his blog, and he wants to follow his own good advice.
“It is really hard to talk about budgeting and expense-cutting, just to spend money furiously. The blog has also forced me to continue researching and learning to provide new content to my readers. As I learn more, I am able to apply it to my personal finances and enhance my financial literacy.”
Saving 20 percent of total income is a major goal in order to reach financial independence. Why FI? To free him up for other opportunities.
“I do not want to be pinned to a desk for my entire life. While I may continue to work my day job after I reach FI, it will be a choice. I can quit any day I want and know that I will be fine. I do not know exactly what I plan to do when I reach FI, but that is also my favorite part, the choice will be mine!”
Empowered Finance Empowers Choices
Nav.igating personal finances successfully can feel daunting, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. And with blogs like Jack’s, info is never out of reach.
“It is my opinion that basic financial literacy should be accessible to everyone. Many people that eventually decide they need to get their finances in order do not have the money to buy the latest subscription, class, or book to help them.
I do plan to eventually release an “all-in-one” ebook that will provide the basics of financial literacy and a basic outline for successful personal finance. But all of the information in the ebook will always be free on the site!”
And that’s why we had to highlight all the hard work he’s doing, because we too believe in accessible finance tools that empower our Nav.igators’ money mindsets, and make confident money moves that enable their goals.
A Passion Worth Pursuing
Overall, Jack tells us starting the blog has been an outstanding experience. Beyond increasing his own level of financial literacy, he picked up new skills along the way, like web and graphic design. He found a new community as excited about FI and personal finance as he is (where we first connected) and doesn’t mind the hurdles along the way because he was able to learn from them and pay that knowledge forward.
“While I think ‘learn-as-you-go’ is a good strategy, I would recommend doing a little more planning than I did before you start your personal finance site,” he jokes.
Starting a passion project is like finance in that way. A little planning goes a long way.
If you want to connect with Jack, head over to his site, General Finance for Gen Z or find him on social media @GenFin4GenZ.
We’re changing the narrative around money but change can’t happen with a one-sided conversation. That’s why we’re excited to bring different voices and experts to share their wisdom from the Community. Send us an email and let us know what you think. And remember the nav.it money app offers you free tools for budgeting, automating savings, and tracking your expenses.
You can download it at Google Play and the Apple Store.
General Finance for Gen Z believes that valuable knowledge, such as how to develop a budget or investing basics, are never taught throughout formal education. Their mission is simple: to educate as many people as possible in all aspects of finance and empower each member of our community to reach financial independence. They hope you’ll include them in your own journey to financial independence!
