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Larry M. Jacobson, author of Growing Success, helps young adults build a financial foundation.  He is an author, educator, motivator and public speaker.  He’s helping young adults figure out life and establish a financial future for themselves.  Developing financial awareness is a critical skill in today’s society, and is a subject that is rarely discussed in school.  Larry and I both feel that we need to educate young people on how to manage their money and how to do it effectively to help young people prepare for their futures.

Larry M. Jacobson helps young and emerging adults follow their goals to make decisions that positively impact their overall financial and personal success. He’s a professional speaker, a contributing author for the international best-selling Ready, Aim, Captivate and recently wrote his first book, Growing Success:  A Young Adult’s Guide to Achieving Personal and Financial Success.

For 22 years Larry M. Jacobson was a music executive for one of the largest record companies since he graduated from Indiana University with a Masters in music.  A year ago Larry left the music industry and is now devoting his life to educating young people and helping young adults build a financial foundation.

In 1993, Larry was in his apartment and decided to write an email to the then president Bill Clinton with the four things he wished he was taught during his time in school that he thought should be a part of everyone’s education.  These four items were sex education, personal finance, personal development and time management.

With all of these ideas, Larry began writing a book in order to help young adults make better decisions because they will have the tools and resources to do so.

Larry is very passionate about personal finance.  Experts say there are societal problems with finances, but not many are doing anything about it.  Larry is trying to get students to understand their relationship with money.  Money is like a gas pedal where you want to stay within your speed limit.

He is teaching young adults that money should not be used to show off, but it should be used to get the things you really want.

Schools should be teaching skills that students will be using in their real lives.  Critical life skills like how to balance a checkbook, typing and entrepreneurship are not being taught in today’s schools and our students are left unprepared when they get into the real world.

You could sit one hundred people down in a room to define what success is and you will get one hundred different answers.  It could be making a lot of money, having a great job, being in a relationship, or being the president of the United States.

The one common denominator that will not let people become successful is fear.  Most people don’t reach their goals because they don’t possess the tools and resources from an early age or they can’t get out of their own comfort zone.  They are afraid to be honest with themselves that they have a problem.

When kids are young, they always ask the same question over and over again . . . Why?  When kids get older, they end up asking how.  How can they get that job, how can they get those skills.

The biggest mistake young people go through is denying their strengths.  Most people go to their negatives.  To be successful people think you have to be the next Meryl Streep or Brad Pitt, because they envision that as successful.  But if you love acting then you don’t have to be the most famous actor or actress.  If you love what you do an you’re able to do it, you’re a success.

When Larry was younger, he told his friends, “I want to be a millionaire by the time I’m 30.” As he approached 30 years old he wasn’t on his way to becoming a millionaire and what he realized was that he needed to have a goal or a plan to achieve his goals.  He needed action steps.

When Larry left his job a year ago he wanted to see if he could change his life 180 degrees in 365 days, which he called Operation 365.  The main question that he asked of himself was, “How is that life working for you?”  It was the moment where he realized what was working and what wasn’t.  He wasn’t very happy and he decided he was going to move to Bloomington, Indiana and he started reaching out to people.  You need to do things by reaching out and asking for help.  Larry started reaching out to a lot of people who could get him where he wanted and where he wanted to go.

Larry was able to go back and do some of the things he loved doing the most.  He married the love of his life in May.  He would create action steps, and then would measure his goals to see if he was being successful.  Most people would stay in their comfort zone than do something scary and change.  It’s important to reach out to people you know and trust.

Nobody initially loves going to the gym and once you see the results it becomes easier to do it.

About his book, Larry wanted to figure out how he could become more successful at his job in the music industry.  He knew he needed to get in better shape, he needed to develop stronger relationships and he needed to learn more about how to manage his finances and in 2010, he attended an online training academy.  For the last 10 years, Larry’s been doing a lot of reading and got his PHD in organizational leadership.  He wanted a book that he could write that people wanted at his age.  At the end of each chapter, there are assignments that will help students manage their lives.

A lot of people do things that are not in line with their goals.  He wants to get kids to start thinking about their finances and he knows many young people are not prepared.

Writing a book forced Larry to look at himself and realize that there were decisions to make in his own life and he realized that there were many things that he was doing wrong.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

• Why are so many people in economic and financial turmoil?
• How is that life working out for you?
• What do you think is important for young people to know about money?

Links to Great Stuff:

• Larry M. Jacobson – “As a dynamic speaker who understands what it takes to reach this particular audience, Larry generously shares several of his personal life lessons and principles that he has painstakingly learned through his own personal successes and failures in his career, relationships and in business to inspire today’s young adults to achieve the success they desire and enable them to pursue all of their life goals and dreams from an early age and beyond.”
• Build a Great Financial Foundation for Your Child – One of the first blog articles I ever wrote for The Tutoring Solution.
• Educate Your Children About Money – One of the first blog articles I ever wrote.

Success Quotes:

• “Success is getting to do what you love every single day, being supported by friends and people who love you.”
• “I wish I had had the ability and maturity enough to start planning.”
• “The reason why people don’t succeed is because they try to take short cuts.”
• “Do something every day that will get you closer to your goal.”
• “The people that are successful are not smarter than most, they have taken the initiative to do what they love.”
• “The people that tend to be successful have a plan and then implement action steps immediately.”
• “Education appreciates and things depreciate.”
• “Every time you open up a newspaper, they are always slamming these young people.”
• “Money is like a gas pedal . . . where you want to stay within the speed limit and live within your means.”
• “By having more money and saving, it has an opportunity to get them where they want faster.”

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