Financial Literacy
Financial literacy is the study of money and how it works. Money is an important tool in all of our lives yet a majority of us aren’t taught about it. The education system doesn’t offer any financial education & leaves you ignorant & vulnerable to the “real” world. The world where money actually matters and directly impacts your lifestyle. The world where you spend 40 hours a week away from your family to make money.
People make fatal financial decisions that could be avoided with financial literacy. These kind of choices affect you for the rest of your life and no one’s around to give you a heads up about them (You have me now). Financial literacy can liberate you from the daily 9-5 grind, life doesn’t have to revolve around working for money.
We were all raised to believe that there is only 1 way to succeed: by going to college and then getting a job. Schools don’t teach you to think about alternative ways to make money or even how to manage it. To be honest it isn’t their responsibility either, but this has left the majority of us totally unprepared to deal with money in adulthood.
On top of all this we’re raised to be consumers, people LOVE to buy things. People buy $3,000 clothes to impress people they don’t even like. People will buy these expensive things when they don’t even have access to $1,000 for an emergency. They then will mask it as “treating themselves” when in reality they’re setting themselves back months on a stupid purchase. Money matters and you need to start acting like it. Stop buying stupid shit.
Essential Financial Skills You Should’ve Learned in School:
- How to set up a budget
- How to manage & build credit
- How to invest and grow money
- How to plan for retirement
- How to do your taxes
- How to buy or rent a home
- How to start a business
- How to manage your time
- How to avoid or pay off debt
- How to apply for a business loan
Imagine going through high school and then paying thousands for college & not knowing how to do any of the things above, well this is a reality for many. Financial Literacy is about learning these things because they will help you make better choices which then will make your life 100x easier. Understanding how money works, how to manage it, how to keep it, and how to grow it will provide you with a different kind of freedom.
Budgeting
You never plan to end up broke, but you end up broke because you never plan. A budget is to money, what time management is to time. Without a budget you have no control over where your money goes. If you don’t control where your money goes then someone else will. Account for every dollar!
Budgeting gives you a birds eye view of your spending habits. It helps you see exactly where your money is going. Once you know where it’s going it’s easier to manage. The most important rule when budgeting is to pay yourself first. The more you pay yourself the sooner you can create an asset to earn you money. (More on this later)
Budgeting templates: These numbers aren’t absolute and will vary from person to person. The important thing when creating a budget is that it WORKS FOR YOU!
High
40% Expenses
40% Debt / Bills
20% Savings
Medium
60% Expenses
30% Debt / Bills
10% Savings
Low
45% Expenses
45% Debt / Bills
10% Savings
Money is nothing more than a tool to get things done. Money will not solve all of your problems, but lack of it will certainly make your life harder. Financial literacy can bridge that gap. Money doesn’t change you, it simply amplifies who you already are, for better or for worse. The sooner you understand money, the sooner you’ll be able to intentionally leverage the benefits it provides.
