"When you look at the crisis we've just gone through in this country, which started really with housing," says Glazer, "many of those problems might have been avoided if we had had better youth financial literacy. So there are preventive aspects to teaching this stuff."
Oddly, poor youths are now getting a better financial education than more affluent kids.
"The program has been aimed at the inner city because those families have been hit hard by the housing crisis," Glazer says, "but we don't want to lose sight of kids in the leafy suburbs, who are at huge risk of piling up credit card debt and making bad mortgage decisions."
Indeed, at his day job Glazer sees how big spenders are often the worst offenders.
"Even high-net-worth investors fail to appreciate the fact that in any given month they are spending more than they are earning," says Glazer. "We still see people graduating from college with huge debt and then taking on jumbo mortgages without even thinking that they actually have to pay it all back someday. They have so much over-confidence in their earning ability, and when the music stops they have a tough time fixing it."
Glazer says the new credit-card regulations that went into effect in February are a good step because they provide more transparency, giving consumers who want to act responsibly a fighting chance. Likewise, he says that some sort of overall financial regulation is inevitable. "Our financial structure is so complex," he notes, "and the system we have has not been working."
That's why Glazer always goes back to keeping it simple, even when it comes to asset allocation.
"I have twin two-and-a-half-year-olds," he says, "and every night when I come home I give them the coins in my pocket. They have three piggy banks labeled 'Save,' 'Spend' and 'Give,' and they have to feed all three."
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