Financial Literacy and its importance | Part-2

Now there's a lot I could unpack here; this is more in the spiritual realm. But you know, get wisdom, get inside, guys. It's the same thing when you get into the financial realm and when you're looking at financial literacy.

Let me say this: if you don't understand investments, okay, you don't understand real estate, you don't understand the crypto space that we're in now, huge, get inside, guys. Don't remain ignorant. Find someone you know and trust, and then be humble enough to ask them questions.

There's a ton of resources out there, guys. There's many good, free, helpful resources to help you gain understanding and insight.

My videos go on YouTube, right, because I want to share what I've learned with people.

But social media a great place to start. Just make sure you listen to the right people with solid reputations and long-term fruit on their tree, right? Not everybody puts, everybody that puts that video on YouTube you should watch or take advice from.

Books, guys. I want to just talk about a couple books. This is one I've read on the last year, "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel. Timeless lessons on wealth, green, happiness. Great resource. One I want to do, and I've never done this before, but my offer is the first three local friends that DM me "Rich Dad," I'll get this book too. I've got three copies of it. No, I'm not mailing or shipping it unless, unless that's the absolute only way uh, to get this. But be nice to me on it,

But know that information by itself doesn't cause transformation, okay? So if that were the case, you know, hey, we'd all be healthy, wealthy, and wise, right? So information by itself doesn't cause transformation. You can read this book and do absolutely nothing with it, and it's not going to help you. You still have to address your fundamental belief system about money. That's another topic. I'm reading a book by financial planner on the 10 top reasons that rich people go broke, and it gets into the belief systems.

So my second part, here's how financial literacy works. And this is from an article in The Balance from August of this year. And it just knows, because financial literacy begins with your interactions with money, it is a lifelong journey and one that inevitably has good, bad moments. I can attest to that. So while you can develop financial literacy by consuming educational content about personal finance, and I encourage you to do that by the way, you will also gain it through real experiences, right? This isn't a book thing where you can read all the books or watch all the YouTube videos you'll be an expert on. You have to have some real experience.

And then a lot of time, again, a good manner mine says he's learned more through his failures than his successes. Guys, you're going to fail, but learn from those failures. Learn what doesn't work. But gain insight by reading people that have wisdom in these areas, okay? Don't try to do it on your own. I'll share with that in a minute. But you've got to understand the pros and the cons of a money decision, weigh the costs, and confidently decide what to do.

But being financially literate doesn't mean that you know everything about money, right? I'm not a clairvoyant anything like that. Rather, it equips you to seek out the answers you need in order to make good financial decisions. So here's some decisions or questions financially literate people often ask themselves when faced with a money decision. You know, how much will this cost, right? And I would, I would add with that, is it a want or a need? And I think a lot of times in our consumeristic society in the U.S., we want stuff more than we need it.

But how much is it going to cost? And then, how do short-term and long-term costs of this choice vary? There's choices, consequences to our decisions, short and long term. And what are the rules that apply to this choice? You know, for example, if I miss a payment, well I have to have a fee. Does my interest rate go from you know, 12 to 18 or 21? That can happen, guys. You got to pay attention to that. If I use my money for this, what will I have to give up? What will I gain? Opportunity cost, right?

If this is a risky decision, can I afford to lose this money? And that's certainly something as I've gotten the investment arena and the crypto market. One of the big things I've learned, and I agree with, is don't invest money that you can't afford to lose, right? A financially literate person also understands how common personal financial products work, like checking accounts, right, credit cards, as well as how costs like interest and fees are calculated. You got to know some of that stuff, right?

Some of the core concepts of personal finance include understanding how credit works, how to budget, and how to invest. Okay, again, if you don't know, reach out to someone who does. Ask for help, okay? I recommend to get professional advice as needed. Consult a CPA if you've got questions about tax situation and all that. Work with a CFP, we do, certified financial planner, that can help you with financial planning, investments, all that type of stuff. Reach out to an attorney for legal advice if that's what you need, right? Don't try to figure out stuff on your own.

I'm guilty of doing all this, doing stuff that I didn't know. I had no real expertise in, and it, I ended up getting burned in some situations, okay? So don't do that. Get, reach out for advice or somebody that knows something about it that maybe can direct you to a resource.

So here's a couple key takeaways today, guys. Financial literacy means you have the ability to weigh the pros and cons of a money decision and confidently choose what to do, right? Confidently choose, not hoping roll and dice and hoping it's going to work out. Being financially literate doesn't mean you know everything about money. I don't, guys. Gosh, I'm still on a big learning curve. But you do know what questions to ask to make an informed decision.

So that's what I got for you today, guys. Thank you for tuning in. Remember, and Robert Kiyosaki said this, “financial education is why the rich are getting excessively richer” Your financial success depends on what you know about money. So work to be financially literate by educating yourselves, okay? I hope this perspective was helpful. Have an awesome Sunday. Bye.