A lesson from financial literacy month: Just do it
November was financial literacy month in Canada and there was a barrage of articles, seminars and media awareness promoting the importance of personal finance, from financial institutions, financial advisers, media, non-profit groups and personal finance bloggers.
Financial literacy month is organized by the Financial Literacy Action Group (FLAG), a coalition of seven non-profit organizations who work with the federal government body Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC).
The idea is to create more awareness around money and personal finance.
This may sound odd coming from someone who has a business centred around providing financial education, but I’m not convinced that lack of financial education is the problem. In fact, I think there is no shortage of financial education and information.
I happen to think that 80 per cent of what you need to know to improve your finances, you already know. It’s not rocket science. It’s no different than losing weight. If you want to lose weight, the trick is to eat less and exercise more. If you want to get ahead financially, you know you need to spend less and save more. If you want to make money in investing, I’m sure you’ve heard of “buy low and sell high.”
While these strategies are simple, they are not necessarily easy to put into action. It’s the doing that’s the hard part.
I was asked the question, “What is the biggest gap regarding financial education and literacy?”
I think the biggest gap is the availability of financial education for kids. With four young boys in elementary school, I know that financial education is not being taught in their curriculum. Some might argue that they are too young, but I disagree.
I have discovered they are very capable of learning basic concepts around money and personal finance starting at a very young age.
The key to financial success is to take just one, two or three good ideas and actually put them to work. Some of the best ideas are the really simple ones. And the best idea is the implemented one!