Becoming a Certified Financial Education Instructor with Vince Shorb | Ep. 255

• Vince developed an early interest in money through family influence and began investing in real estate at age 19. His first purchase was land in New Mexico; his second was a condo in Phoenix using an FHA loan with 3% down that he held for 15-20 years.

I made some early mistakes that a lot of people do. Got behind the eight ball a little bit with college debt... I really wanted to go out and help people.

• After 15 years in financial services, he founded NFEC in 2006 to scale quality programming beyond his personal capacity by training other educators and coaches.

• Despite 20 years studying personal finance and 15 years in financial services, Vince's first teaching experience at Orange County Juvenile Hall revealed he lacked education methodologies.

I was talking over their head... I did not know how to teach. I was just speaking instead of utilizing education methodologies that helped them learn.

• He partnered with teachers, shadowed educators, and learned visual learning cues, case studies, previewing content, and classroom management strategies—skills still missing in much of financial education today.

• Education track: (1) Certified Financial Literacy Professional (content knowledge), (2) Certified Financial Education Instructor - CFEI (teaching groups), (3) Accredited level (proven execution).

• Coaching track: Certified Personal Financial Wellness Consultant (one-on-one) and Accredited level for demonstrated success.

Our goal is not just to have qualified educators and coaches, it's to help them avoid the years of construction that it takes to build a program and provide everything in a turnkey format.

• Coaching certifications apply only to adults. Education certifications (CFEI) work for kids, teens, and adults. Brown University research shows financial habits form by age nine.

Kids under age between seven and eight... can't really distinguish reality from commercial content. So there's a problem there when they're experiencing so many ads at a young age.

• Teens represent the last opportunity before they make decisions with long-term consequences like credit damage or college debt without ROI consideration.

• Program results tie most closely to educator qualifications. Schools can outsource to CFEIs or train staff, but currently untrained teachers are assigned personal finance with no preparation.

They spent eight years in elementary school studying that subject... four to eight years in college... But what states are doing is they're just throwing untrained teachers in to teach a new subject. It doesn't work.

• Personal finance involves behavioral finance and emotional decision-making, unlike fixed-answer subjects. Teachers report lacking confidence and crave the training.

• No experience is necessary. Passion is the starting point; NFEC provides training and turnkey resources.

We welcome everybody. No experience necessary. If you have a passion for it, you can learn it and you can make a difference in your community.

• Connect at financialeducatorscouncil.org or via LinkedIn at Vince Shorb.