Financial literacy is a person’s ability to learn how money works: managing and earning it, turning it into an investment, and using it to attain financial freedom. By definition, financial education refers to an individual’s knowledge and set of skills to make wise decisions related to money.
It’s crucial to value financial literacy because, in general, the strength and health of nations greatly depend on the people’s knowledge about handling money. When each community member can make intelligent decisions about their finances, it becomes the pillar in securing a life with financial freedom.
Society becomes more vital as more people make smart financial decisions. And if all small communities do the same, the entire nation will keep getting financially stronger.
Why Financial Literacy Is Vital
Allows you to stay in control
Debts and never-ending bills can make you feel overwhelmed. When people cannot handle such financial burdens, they instantly lose control of spending their money. Knowing how to properly allocate your money, use it, and spend it is the initial step in gaining control over your finances.
Taking action and eliminating your debts is the second step. Understand that you can’t afford things and what needs to be removed from your budget. Financial education is like a one way to ticket out of overflowing debts.
Healthier Financial Behavior
Financial literacy can improve your behavior when it comes to handling money. As you learn how to budget your money and how your income concern your expenses, your chance of experiencing being in debt becomes lower.
At this point, you become wiser. You no longer shop out of impulse; you take advantage of payment processing for loans, you educate yourself more every day, and you prioritize saving instead of spending.
Understanding your Cash Flow
Financial literacy is understanding how to make your money work and how beneficial it can be for you. Perhaps you’re torn in choosing between buying a new car or a home, or if you should save for emergencies or your retirement, asking professional help can make things easier.
A financial advisor can help you make decisions that benefit you the most. He might need to take a look at your income and regular expenses to do so, plus you’ll have to explain your short-term and long-term goals as well.
Creating Better Plans For your Future
You won’t always have the youth and the energy to generate income. And that is why it’s imperative to create plans for your future. Understand the different types of savings and how they can affect your life goals.
Financial education can make you create a plan for your retirement. It will make you understand how much money you’ll need according to your expenses and lifestyle. Once you learn these things, you can start saving the right amount per month to reach your retirement savings goals accordingly.
Understanding the Choices You Make
Learning about money and how you handle your finances will understand why you make particular choices. For example, you’re planning to go on a vacation in Bali, and you want to make sure that you’ll have the best time there, so you save as much as you can. And since you have a goal to reach, you avoid making big purchases that can affect your savings.
If you plan to buy a brand new home soon, you might now want to open a credit card at the moment as you know that a card can impact your chance of getting a great mortgage offer. As you can see, your spending habits can drastically change when you understand how to attain your goals.
Accessibility to Financial Education
The good news is that we now live in an era where everything is within our reach. If you want to learn baking, watch a tutorial on YouTube. If you want to know something about history, search on Google, and if you want financial education, you can access it on your computer.
It’s also a good thing that more and more people are becoming more self-aware about the importance of making intelligent financial decisions. That said, here are the five trends that affect people’s perspectives about financial literacy:
- Making personal financial decisions. People used to be so dependent on their pensions. However, since millennials are leading active lifestyles, they understand that pension funds are not enough for the retirement life they want to accomplish.
- Various options. People have more savings and investment options nowadays than before.
- Lack of government support. The government won’t always provide for your needs, making it vital to prepare for your future expenses.
- Constantly changing environment. Thanks to the internet and social media platforms, the global market has more participants now more than ever.
- Plenty of choices. Many things affect our financial behaviors, including credit cards, personal loan companies, insurance firms, mortgage companies, financial service companies, etc.
In conclusion, financial education is essential because a nation’s strength and well-being greatly depend on it. Every member of society can make a significant contribution to the development of their nation if they value financial competence. Remember that poor spending habits have consequences that affect you and the people around you.
