Personal Finance Required Reading

This article, if you missed it on the dozens of other personal finance blogs that have linked to it, should be required reading by everyone. It is in the May 21st issue of Business Week, and talks about business that is poverty, and really does a great job of illustrating how debt can spiral out of control. It also shows how a small amount of financial education can go a long way. It's both amazing and frustrating that the people whose stories are told took so long to realize that they were agreeing to credit terms that essentially put them in the horrible situations they were in. No one forced them to pay 10% in fees to get an instant tax refund, or to take out a 24.99% loan on an overpriced car, or to let $45,000 in student loan debt compound into three times that amount, or to pay $2,500 in fees on a $400 payday advance loan. If you read the comments you will see that most are divided between the "they got what they deserved" camp and the "someone needs to look out for these people" camp. There's a part of me that feels both ways, and I think the only solution is education. If I knew anyone that was graduating from college or high school this year, I would buy a copy of this issue, mark the article, and tuck it in with their gift.