The high cost of financial illiteracy

Financial illiteracy is the reason most people struggle financially. They make unwise financial decisions because they do not know better. In the West, most students graduate from college with a massive debt overhang from student loans. Having huge credit card debts is the norm rather than the exception.

Due to a lack of financial education, folks lack the knowledge to handle credit, piling up bad debts (consumer credit) to acquire things with the income they are yet to earn, and liabilities are soon gone with the wind without a trace. For many, there is hardly anything to show for a decade or more of working hard for money.

Your financial state determines your ability to enjoy life and fulfill your potential. The high cost of financial illiteracy becomes evident over time. There are very few things you can achieve without money as a facilitator. Financial problems have wrecked marriages and chained people in jobs they hate. Many lack access to quality medical care due to financial challenges. Even where there are good free healthcare services or you have health insurance, there are issues that healthcare or insurance cannot cover. You simply have to chip in if you want to go further. In some instances, it can be the difference between life and death.

Many people do not go for their dreams because they feel they have no means of supporting themselves in the quest to make their dreams come true. They settle on a job and say goodbye to their dreams. They lack the skills to make what they are passionate about pay. Money has wrecked many friendships and partnerships. Even in close-knit families, there can be simmering tension between the haves and the have-nots.

The thing about money is that it becomes an issue when there is a lack of it. Ordinarily, money should not be an issue. It should be in the background making things happen while we go about making our unique contribution to society and living to live to the fullest, with passion. But due to financial mismanagement, we find ourselves miles away from financial independence, we find ourselves busy working for money instead of having money work for us. We are forced to have to make a living rather than live our making. We become someone else, rather than be ourselves and remain true to who we really are. We find ourselves working to pay the bills rather than doing what we really love.

Financial freedom is linked to other freedoms – time, relationship, spiritual, physical, and ultimate freedom (being who you were born to be) – the six freedoms. If you are tied to your job, it dictates how much time you have, what you can do, when you do it, where you live and places, and who you can hang out with, etc. If you are not free to walk away, then you are in jail. If you do it because you have no, not because you choose to, you are under house arrest. You may be able to move around, but you cannot go very far.

You need the freedom to be able to be yourself, to attain your utmost potential, and to get to the level of self-actualization. Getting financial literacy is not just about getting to know how to handle your money. It is also getting your life back.