The boomers are such an interesting generation.  They have changed everything in each succeeding decade of their lives, from the hippie movement of the 60s, to child-rearing in the 70s, to the retirement movement of this decade.  We’ve talked in this column about several ways that boomers are changing the face of retirement and travel, but we haven’t touched on the idea of volunteerism and philanthropy.  This is definitely another trend in the boomers “reinvention of retirement”.

This month you get to meet Byron and Mariah Edington of Kauai, Hawaii who are taking this year to travel the US to promote financial literacy amongst our youth – a badly needed focus if you’ve ever watched a young person at McDonalds try to make change, much less balance a checkbook or, <gasp>, invest money for their future.

The Edington’s were recently in the Northwest and I had the opportunity to enjoy some time on our patio with them before they headed back to Hawaii to get ready for their journey, of course using Live Your Road Trip Dream as a guide!  They shared a little of what their “Wealth is Freedom” Tour is all about.  Here is a short excerpt from their materials, and you can read more about their project at http://www.edgington1.com

We’re dedicated to financial education, the abolition of negative myths about money, establishing good money habits early, and the eradication of ‘money guilt’.  We believe that debt is equal to incarceration.  We believe that wealth allows us to live the life we
deserve. Americans are losing our independence to easy credit, spending as therapy, acceptance of debt, and false assumptions about wealth.  All these inspired us to establish our business, titled Wealth is Freedom.