Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Financial Literacy



Financial literacy is a term I first came upon when reading the best-selling book, 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad.' It simply means knowing how to manage money. In Robert Kiyosaki's words, it's about having money work for you, rather than working for money.

Yes, I had an idea that it was what rich people did. What surprised me in the book though was that the author talked of how he came to learn this skill through years of studying and trial and error. He went on to explain how none of it is taught by the education system, parents, our peers...

I am an entrepreneur who provides a service, namely photography. In the past three months, I have come to learn some about business and marketing as it pertains to photography. It's a start.

Now I realize my complete lack of knowledge and expertise around money. I spend it liberally. I don't invest. I don't save. I know little or nothing about 'assets and liabilities.' I have the mentality of a poor person when it comes to money. I have NO control over it. It controls ME completely.

How can I possibly expect to have a profitable business without financial literacy? I can't, so I'm going to do something about it.

Kiyosaki created a board game named Cashflow. It is designed to teach its participants the principles of managing money. How you fare in it will reflect your attitude and expertise regarding money. Groups of people get together all around the nation to play it and learn from each other.

I found a group that meets in my neighborhood, Huntington Beach. You can find a Cashflow group in your area through www.meetup.com

Among other things, I also want to take a financial planning course at Orange Coast College next semester.

I actually love finding areas I know nothing about that can propel me forward. If I didn't know my weaknesses, how could I become stronger?

By the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS wherever you are :-)

1 comment:

Al Jones said...

How to Get Good Credit Gab is holding an online video contest to raise awareness for financial literacy. The prize is $200 cash!

Create a 30 or 60 second video that answers the question “How do I get good credit?” and highlights the benefits of obtaining good credit.

Videos must not contain adult content such as nudity, profanity, drugs and alcohol. Videos must also be posted on You Tube, so that we may obtain embedding code to showcase your video. Videos will be viewer rated using a scale of 1-low to 5-high. A viewing schedule will be posted on the blog.

Contest begins and entries are accepted beginning April 1st thru April 30th 2008.

Each week new entries will be displayed on the blog at http://www.HowToGetGoodCredit.blogspot.com. On May 1, 2008, the scores received will be counted and totaled. The video with the highest total rating number wins.

Contact Alton J. Jones, How To Get Good Credit Expert, at AltonJJones@msn.com with questions and notification that your video is available on You Tube.

Good luck.