On Friday the 16th of March. I had a good time speaking with S.6 Vacationers about personal finance. They asked me to go share with them a few insights about this thing. I am humbled that young people are starting to think about this thing and I wish parents and schools were given such talks at the dinner table, in the cars or even in school parades, we can develop many young people who have good financial I.Q and the rewards could be enormous in the long run.
Never Thought About Learning Personal Finance
I remember while in my S.6 vacation, I never ever thought about learning anything to do with money and I was so humbled that this group of young people wanted to understand some principles that they can apply in their lives now. I asked them what they wanted to learn, and the thoughts ranged from learning how to save, invest, use their skills to make money etc.
Time: Start Early, Start Now
There is no better time to start learning something than "EARLY". Many of us at the time were either watching movies the whole day or just moving around going from one hang out to another (I understand it is a phase of life but if you are grounded with truth, you can understand your purpose early and start living it out). On a personal note I did some crazy things to make money but eventually it got wasted on drinking out, hanging out etc. You can learn more of what I did in this article. Now I pray I can help some of these young people avoid what costed me, they would rather make new mistakes but not the ones I made.
I told these young people to start now! I talked about how they needed to check their lifestyles. I told them that their lifestyles would dictate a lot about how money would play out in their lives. I reminded them that personal finance is 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge. When I asked them what they would do with money when they get it the first time, I wasn't shocked at their answers, everything showed the consumer mentality and there was nothing to show how they could earn, save or even invest. I asked if some had saved money before and they said that they did and I asked them what they did with it, the reply was a hearty laughter, some couldn't even tell in simple terms it was all consumed and nothing was invested. In my article deal with consumerism, I highlight how the culture is draining us more than ever.
I asked them a few pertinent questions like "Do you feel like schools are not really preparing you for the real world? " This was a question asked by Robert Kiyosaki. I told them to think deeply about these questions and many more. I reminded them that they should not just subscribe to the thought that, " I went to school to get good grades and get a job'' jobs are so few that we need entrepreneurs to create them, I said that as they study, they should think of how they will use that knowledge to solve problems, In solving problems they add value to humanity and in many ways they will get rewarded.
Get Practical
I encouraged them to get practical by writing down their expenses so that they can get to know where their money goes. I also told them to start having short, medium and long term goals irrespective of whether they are earning much or not or even still getting financial support from their parents or guardians or even well wishers.
I told them that they should have a budget and that their budgets should not only have airtime, data, hanging out, transport, smartphones, new shoes, new clothes (to keep up with the joneses) etc but that it should have an element that shows that they are working towards their goals, it could be things like tithe, a book, support to the needy etc.
Stop Wasting Time
I encouraged them to stop wasting their time and start converting it into tangible results. I gave them a challenge to read the book Make Sense Of Your Money and I will be meeting them soon to continue the chat.
Are you mature and haven't started thinking about this area of personal finance. It has been said over time that our mindsets play a big role. People are poor not because they were born poor but because they haven't made some hard choices. Others don't want to risk, others don't want to learn, others say ,"My parents are already rich, why do I have to work or even think about learning these things".
Lastly I told them thinking about changing the status quo takes work, I told them deciding to start being a good steward of money takes a mindset shift and that is work itself. I left them with this quote
“Hard work is always profitable in some way, it builds your character, your bank account, and your reputation. But when you’re one of those people who always make plans but never actually do anything about them, you will never succeed” – Jason Cabler
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