[EN/PT] Financial Education Late But Never Fails
[EN]
Financial education is still a little-known topic in most countries. In my opinion, it should be introduced from an early age, with content that is easy to understand and within the context of children's daily lives. Over the years, in adolescence, it is important to introduce more complex subjects, such as investments and financial planning. In fact, financial education should be a compulsory subject in the school curriculum.
But why doesn't the government make financial education compulsory in schools? The reason is simple: governments prefer the population to be dependent on the state. The poorer and more vulnerable society is, the easier it is to manipulate it and use it for political interests, thus ensuring perpetuation in power.
Brazil has around 200 million inhabitants, but only around 3% of the population invests in variable income, such as shares on the stock exchange. This figure even increases if we consider more traditional financial products such as savings, but it is still much lower than in developed countries such as the United States and Japan, where more than half the population invests. This shows that underdeveloped countries like Brazil lack financial education.
Many people claim that they don't invest because they are poor or because they lack money. However, it is easy to see that there are resources for leisure, such as a beer at the weekend, or to buy superfluous things. What is often lacking is the knowledge and discipline to direct this money more intelligently.
Currently, a major evil that has been damaging Brazilians' finances are bookmakers, the famous “bets”. According to an ANBIMA survey, at least 14% of the population bet on bets last year. In other words, there are many more people betting on these apps, such as the famous “tiger game”, than actually investing. The reality is that many people want to get rich quick, but few have the patience to build up a solid net worth, capable of generating financial freedom over the years.
Back to my story: it was 2010, I was only 18 and I was taking a 1,200-hour vocational course at SENAI. I had a teacher who, as well as teaching us a trade, also gave us lots of advice and shared his life experiences. He taught us, in practice, how to multiply money by selling sweets, a real lesson in entrepreneurship. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to these teachings, as I never had a vocation for sales.
He also told us about the stock market and the shares he invested in. At the time, investing in the stock market wasn't that accessible: you had to open an account with a broker, deal with a lot of bureaucracy, and there wasn't that much information available. Even so, I loved it when he started talking about these subjects, which weren't part of the official course content.
The seed of financial education was planted in me. Years passed and, in 2018, I started looking for ways to invest my money better. Until then, I only knew about the traditional savings account, which was very popular but had a meager annual return. Then I came across a YouTube channel that talked about investments in digital banks and fixed income, but with much better returns. At that time, investment channels were in their infancy and information was still restricted to small groups or those with a lot of money.
My first investments were in fixed income: LCI, LCA, CDB - it didn't even matter what those products meant, the important thing was to get started. Over time, I got deeper, looking for more information to access more complex investments. At the same time, I started reading books on finance. The first one I read was “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. In fact, I read this book before I even started my journey into the world of investments.
As you can see, it took me a long time to really start investing. Many people may know something about financial education, but only a few actually put it into practice, enter the financial market and build assets that can transform their lives in the long term.
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[PT]
Educação financeira ainda é um tema pouco difundido na maioria dos países. Na minha opinião, ela deve ser introduzida desde a infância, com conteúdos de fácil entendimento e dentro do contexto do dia a dia das crianças. Com o passar dos anos, na adolescência, é importante apresentar assuntos mais complexos, como investimentos e planejamento financeiro. Na verdade, educação financeira deveria ser uma disciplina obrigatória no currículo escolar.
Mas, por que o governo não torna a educação financeira obrigatória nas escolas? O motivo é simples: governos preferem que a população seja dependente do Estado. Quanto mais pobre e vulnerável a sociedade, mais fácil é manipulá-la e usá-la para interesses políticos, garantindo assim a perpetuação no poder.
O Brasil tem cerca de 200 milhões de habitantes, mas apenas cerca de 3% da população investe em renda variável, como ações na bolsa de valores. Esse número até aumenta se considerarmos produtos financeiros mais tradicionais, como a poupança, mas ainda assim é muito inferior ao de países desenvolvidos, como Estados Unidos e Japão, onde mais da metade da população investe. Isso evidencia que países subdesenvolvidos, como o Brasil, carecem de educação financeira.
Muitos alegam não investir por serem pobres ou por falta de dinheiro. Porém, é fácil perceber que há recursos para o lazer, como a cervejinha nos fins de semana, ou para comprar coisas supérfluas. O que falta, muitas vezes, é o conhecimento e a disciplina para direcionar esse dinheiro de forma mais inteligente.
Atualmente, um grande mal que vem prejudicando as finanças dos brasileiros são as casas de apostas, as famosas "bets". Segundo levantamento da ANBIMA, pelo menos 14% da população apostou dinheiro em bets no ano passado. Ou seja, há muito mais pessoas apostando nesses aplicativos, como o famoso "jogo do tigrinho", do que investindo de fato. A realidade é que muitos querem enriquecer rapidamente, mas poucos têm a paciência de construir um patrimônio sólido, capaz de gerar liberdade financeira ao longo dos anos.
Voltando à minha história: o ano era 2010, eu tinha apenas 18 anos e estava fazendo um curso profissionalizante de 1.200 horas no SENAI. Tive um professor que, além de nos ensinar uma profissão, também nos dava muitos conselhos e compartilhava suas experiências de vida. Ele nos ensinou, na prática, como multiplicar dinheiro vendendo doces, uma verdadeira aula de empreendedorismo. Na época, eu não dei muita atenção a esses ensinamentos, pois nunca tive vocação para vendas.
Ele também nos contou sobre a bolsa de valores e as ações em que investia. Naquele tempo, investir na bolsa não era tão acessível: era preciso abrir conta em corretoras, enfrentar muita burocracia, e não havia tanta informação disponível. Mesmo assim, eu achava o máximo quando ele começava a falar sobre esses assuntos, que não faziam parte do conteúdo oficial do curso.
A semente da educação financeira ficou plantada em mim. Anos se passaram e, em 2018, comecei a buscar maneiras de investir melhor o meu dinheiro. Até então, eu só conhecia a tradicional poupança, muito popular, mas com um rendimento anual pífio. Foi então que encontrei um canal no YouTube que falava sobre investimentos em bancos digitais e em renda fixa, mas com rentabilidades bem melhores. Naquela época, os canais sobre investimentos estavam começando, e a informação ainda era restrita a pequenos grupos ou a quem tinha muito dinheiro.
Meus primeiros investimentos foram em renda fixa: LCI, LCA, CDB — nem importava saber o que significavam aqueles produtos, o importante era começar. Com o tempo, fui me aprofundando, buscando mais informações para acessar investimentos mais complexos. Nessa mesma época, comecei a ler livros sobre finanças. O primeiro que li foi "Pai Rico, Pai Pobre", de Robert Kiyosaki. Na verdade, li esse livro antes mesmo de iniciar minha jornada no mundo dos investimentos.
Como vocês podem perceber, eu demorei bastante para realmente começar a investir. Muitos podem até conhecer alguma coisa sobre educação financeira, mas só uma parte coloca em prática, entra no mercado financeiro e constrói um patrimônio que possa transformar sua vida no longo prazo.
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The problem of bets is something cultural and also of tradition, very deeply rooted and difficult to change, in Venezuela we also suffer. The good part of all this is that you learned by adult trading and that gave you a different vision of opportunities and roads. Actually this education should be implemented from an early ages as usual in Japan, which teach family economy from 3 years of age. Countries with vision of the future, so they have high savings and growth rates, I think that model must be followed and replicated.
Unfortunately, our plits that we have in Latin America, are not prepared to assume those responsibilities, the corruption is infinite, just like their pockets ... so we are closed in a cycle without end.
That's right! Financial education should be taught from childhood. The problem in Latin America is that it seems that most people don't have a sense of saving, only spending as if there were no tomorrow.
People in Latin America are consumerist, they are poorly educated in that way. Make them change I find it practically impossible, I play in the draw I was born here, and I want by all the means of this continent to another where they find people and smarter systems =)
It’s nice how your teacher at SENAI taught more than just the course. Even though you didn’t follow his advice at the time, it stayed with you. That small lesson about selling sweets and talking about stocks planted something in you that grew later.
I understand what you mean about learning but not acting right away. Many of us hear about saving and investing, but we don’t know where to start or we delay it. It’s good that you finally took that step in 2018, even if it was small. What matters is that you started and kept learning. That’s how real change happens.
At the time my teacher gave me this advice, I wasn't mature enough to understand everything he was saying. I was just a teenager with no income at the time.
No Brasil esse tema é muito necessário, mais pessoas deviam aprender e usar o conhecimento à seu favor. Esse seu professor fez uma grande diferença, top ele ter falado sobre o assunto com os alunos.