NEET - Not in Employment, Education or Training

I recently watched programme on BBC IPlayer called The Return of the Real Apprentices, produced by documentary makers Panorama.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s5xsn

It was based on a case study on four NEETs in Swindon, UK before the recession and after the recession.  NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training), is term attached to unemployed individuals under the age of 25 here in the UK.  An age group the government desperately wants to get back into employment, as ultimately they are the future of the British workforce, thus the economy.

This program had many similarities to that of the Dispatches programme ‘Middle Class and Jobless’ (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-3/episode-5), aired last year. What both showed was the soul destroying experience of not only being out of work but looking for work in a competitive and low employment market.  

Some of the key points from ‘The Return of the Real Apprentices’ were:

• UK unemployment figures increased to 2.5 million in the month of April (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8634241.stm)
• Young people are not lazy, good for nothing but individuals looking for the right vehicle to motivate them into work, as one of the parents of the interviewees touched upon.
• Unemployment is not always a choice and can cause chronic depression. And with so many of our young people in this situation this is a serious situation.

One of the solutions advocated in the programme by Lord Digby Jones, the former head of the CBI and non-political minister of trade, is to force them to work in the form of American-style ‘workfare’.

My view is that there is a better way and it is not the above!  Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame states that the old rules of money no longer apply. Going to school, getting an education, going to university and then getting a good job with a pension is no longer a reality for most. Job security no longer exists! And I agree.

So what is the solution? I believe it is making financial education and entrepreneurial orientated business education, such as goal setting, a part of our schools national curriculum. Showing youngsters how to make an income from assets rather than simply a job! The truth of the matter is most of us have been brought up to fail; to conform to a life of mediocrity, of debt and corporate incarceration. 

It is not surprising that young people are not motivated to get a job.  Many have watched their parents work one all their lives with nothing to show for it but financial struggle, i.e. being ‘Just Over Broke’, enslaved to debt, and a two week holiday and the Xmas breatk to look forward to in each year!

We have to show them an alternative way to this, why? Because even if you think it is too late for you to learn the basics of financial education and wealth creation (which it isn’t!), it most definitely isn’t too late for them!!  So before there is any chance of your child becoming a NEET, I advocate taking them to events where the belief of ‘whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve ‘via hard work and persistency, is promoted, reiterated and enforced rather than snared upon.  Because ultimately, if they’re going to work hard for someone in their adult lives, why not for themselves?!

Read and introduce them to books on financial education. In doing so, you as a parent/guardian, may start to feel the effects of the philosophy yourself and take action, take a risk, to change your life from one of mediocrity to one by design.  If not for yourself, then for your family and generations to come! There is a reason why the rich keep getting richer and the poor, poorer!

Remember life, especially the type that gives you time and financial freedom requires risk!

Some financial education courses and books for children:

• Dani Johnson’s ‘Grooming to Success’ home study course
• Grooming to Success, by Dani Johnson.
• Rich Dad’s Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Child a Financial Head Start by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
• http://www.getbuzzyeducation.blogspot.com
• http://www.getbuzzyeducation.com

To Your Financial Success & Becoming Financially Savvy!

Financial Educator & Internet Network Marketer

P.S. If you are fed up of the rat race, looking to earn an extra income or simply ready to take some risks in order to create a life by design rather than just make a living, get in-touch with me at http://ButterflyWealthCreation.com to discuss various business opportunities for the open minded and willing!