A Taboo subject called “Money”

Dear Readers, lately I have been thinking about a subject which is considered a taboo during our childhood days and even today I think. That subject is about “Money”. Talking about money in our society is considered as a sin full subject which shows the greediness of the person talking about money. We visualize that person as someone not good or evil and having not the right character. In our schools also talking about money is considered sinful and immoral. In schools we are supposed to gather good grades with right character to be successful in our life in future.

Money and Job

Now that success for most of us in our society is “to get a good job in a reputed organization and earn a decent amount of money each month”. Am I wrong here? I think not. As success in our society is limited to that “respectable job” only. Now at the end, it all boils down to that sinful subject of money only which we used to despise as school children Now on getting that money on hand we become clueless about what to do with it as all our study life we were concentrating on gathering all forms of knowledge except knowledge related to money (except for those who pursue commerce backgrounds).

At this point of time we realize that financial knowledge is also important but due to paucity of time in our busy work life we cannot spare time to study the subject. So what is the next obvious step then? We turn for advice for our money related matters to whoever is willing to give their free advice to make the most our money!! How great is that? We turn to our relatives, friends, insurance agents etc. for what to do with the money we have. Then each of them will give their own advice making us confused even more.

Financial Literacy

So just think about the situation for a moment For the initial 20-25 years we labored so hard in our study to get a good job and ultimately to earn some decent amount of money and then we face a situation in which we do not have the proper knowledge to make good use of that money itself for which we have labored so hard. And what will be the end result of that all? Haphazard use of that asset called money without giving much benefit to its owner and do you know who are the major beneficiaries of all these? They are all the Intermediaries – Insurance agents (who will sell you all the wrong policies to earn the highest commission), bank agents (who will offer you the highest interest bearing loan which you don’t need) and the list goes on and on.

All the at the cost of only one thing that is your lack of “Financial Literacy”. Yes dear reader that is the hard truth. Of course I am not saying that all of us are like that. In fact some of you may be extremely financially savvy and taking the right approach towards money and your financial matters. But I am sure that percentage will be very low.

Knowledge and Money

So the need of the hour is to be “Financially literate” Now with the internet the whole world is at our fingertips. If we want to learn something there is a plethora of resources available on the internet we can have the access to. The only thing we require is our willingness to learn and gain that knowledge to our benefit. Even we should try to inculcate the knowledge of finance in our children from a young age for their benefit in the future. Why should we let our children walk the same path we had travelled and repented? The importance and habit of savings and investment should be told to them.

All things in life boils down to how we want to earn a living. With the proper knowledge about money our children will be in a position to take the right career in earning their money. They may choose to become an entrepreneur, they may choose to work for the initial part of their work life earning and accumulating some capital to start something of their own. But for that we will have to take the subject of money with respect and not something not to be felt ashamed of while discussing in our society.

Parents regarding Money

Young adults in many of the developed parts of the world and even in many parts our nation where this subject of finance is discussed openly take the decision of their career paths pretty early in life (even while they are studying). In fact many take part time jobs to earn some money while they are studying. How many of us had taken a job or even thought about taking a part time job to earn some money or to gain some experience while we were studying. We can see the difference of both these ways of thinking about money in front of our own eyes.

We or our parents do not think it appropriate to talk about money until a certain age. Why it should be so? We have a deep rooted fear that talking about money in front of our children at a young age will spoil them. But is it so? Is it correct to assume so? Have we ever tried to talk in a proper way about money with them? Its high time that we should give a thought about the same. Otherwise they will also become clueless about money at some point in time in future like us due to the lack of knowledge related to money or to say financially illiterate.

Some of the things which can be taught at an early age are-

• Importance of Savings.
• How compound Interest works and why Albert Einstein called it the eight wonder of the world.
• Difference between simple and compound interest.
• Good and Bad aspects of Debt Etc.

That’s all for today.

Regards

B.K. Sharma

Disclosure: Nothing on this website should be construed as investment advice. Please consult your financial advisor. We are not SEBI registered Analysts/Advisors. We are not accountable for any loss or gains that might occur to you from this or any analysis on the website.

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