MONEY TALK
The way I used to hear people talk about financial literacy some years back made me think it was rocket science. I heard a lot of things like you need to understand the laws of money, you need to relearn your maths and understand profit margins and all. But growing up I started to understand that financial literacy is knowing how to control the inflow and outflow of money. I recently learned this, and it met me in a very bad financial state. Knowing how to control the inflow and outflow of money is easy as it is difficult but takes discipline to attain. It requires even more levels of discipline when you have dependents and do not know how to say no to their wants and put their needs on a scale of preference. Even though financial literacy isn’t rocket science, it takes a good level of discipline to fully actualize.
The main reason why actualizing financial literacy is difficult is because it makes you shun other people's emotions and make those who don’t understand view you in a bad light. I remember when I just started practicing saving and investing, my mum called me selfish after the first month of not fully attending to her needs. I wasn’t strong enough to hold up my practice and thus reverted back. I used to think the law of financial literacy began with savings, but now I realize it begins with hard work. It's not about how much you save or spend, it begins with how much you make. If you make very little, it will be hard to save and invest because your basic needs will always keep coming up which is something that you can not ignore.
If you want to save money, you first need to make money else you become stingy. It’s safe to say that financial literacy begins with financial dependency. You can’t be dependent and know how to handle money. There are things that I have learned over the years in my journey to financial dependency, one of them is always providing for irrevocable needs like food, utilities, and shelta. If you provide for just you, then it’s easy, but when you have dependents, it becomes harder and you become wicked if you do not provide. A lot of people have ignored their families in the name of trying to look out for themselves, and even though it’s justifiable, it’s also selfish.
It took me a lot to finally get to the point where I can help my family out in major things. I had to look out for myself first which although selfish was the right thing to do. If I have nothing to eat and I give you food, who then gives me food? If all I have is my transportation to work I can not give you money for any reason because I need to work and get paid to give you. So this is why I said financial literacy begins with financial dependency. First learn how to make money, then learn how to spend that money spreading them across savings, investments and take homes.
THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 167 EPISODE 2
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Omo, it takes longs to grasp financial knowledge. It's a fresh school on it's own. But with discipline and determination, it is is achievable and if you refused to learn it, you and poverty might be perpetual friends.