In this 21st century, the young generation is torn between what we are taught in schools and what information gets thrown to us from all over the place – the internet, television, radio etc. We would like to be the old school 100 percent professionals while at the same time we would like to be savvy investors and innovators who play the stock exchange game and build investments in real estate and the like. The irony is that we are caught between the past and the future.
In this 21st century, the young generation is torn between what we are taught in schools and what information gets thrown to us from all over the place – the internet, television, radio etc.
We would like to be the old school 100 percent professionals while at the same time we would like to be savvy investors and innovators who play the stock exchange game and build investments in real estate and the like. The irony is that we are caught between the past and the future.
In schools we are taught to work our jobs well. We are taught skills that can help us to obtain and maintain job. Yet the media is throwing at us examples of self made individuals who appear to have made money unconventionally – the way we are taught in schools and universities.
Robert Kiyosaki of the Rich Dad Education breaks it down this way. We get academic and professional education in schools and colleges. What we lack is financial education or financial literacy. Financial literacy is the ability to understand finance and the set of skills and knowledge that allow an individual to make informed and effective decisions through their understanding of finances. Financial literacy is an understanding of money and financial products that people can apply to financial choices in order to make informed decisions about how to handle their finances.
The good news is that the internet is a great source of financial education. There are a litany of affordable financial education books in our libraries – say for example in Nakumatt Supermarket which can go a long way in assisting you in your journey to financial freedom. All you have to do is take your time and surf through the bookshelves until you find something that interests you in line with whatever financial education you seek.
According to Squidoo.com, having good financial IQ is not about saving tons of money. It is developing healthy relationship money and building a wealth of assets that will generate you money. Stop avoiding numbers because there is nothing special with doing your small monthly budget while you are writing for your dinner instead of avoiding the numbers and wondering why with your good salary you seem to be getting poorer and poorer.
Find ways of improving your financial IQ by seeking financial education wherever you can get it – in banks about their financial products before taking a loan or opening an account, and of course, once again, on the internet.
Be selective with what you read, don’t adopt everything you read wholeheartedly, learn to aggregate information. Don’t trust what banker tells you because they are offering you a deal of a life time. Seek for the facts which always lie in the numbers themselves. As you improve your financial IQ, you are well on the way or charting your path to your financial freedom.