Money can be a scary subject for many people and more so when a person is coming from a background where money was not abundant. As a result, a scarcity mindset is developed with the belief that the money acquired today is more precious than life itself. Sometimes the opposite could also happen where people who come into large amounts of money, indulge in the things not previously accessible due to the lack of money. Before too long, these people loss their money within a relatively short period of time, to return exactly to the same situation as before the money. In both cases, the mindset around money is not mature because this aspect has not been properly developed.
Lack of maturity around money leads to personal insecurity, which takes on various forms. Some of these include;
- Little knowledge on the subject of money,
- Withdrawal from learning about how money works,
- Low trust for people who understand the workings of money,
- Low self-confidence to discuss this subject with anyone, and more.
These challenges are not immune to people with university degrees, or great professions. These groups are often most affected, for various reasons.
Also, no one should be facing the subject of money with insecurity or fear, especially the fear of criticism. Fear is only a state of mind and most of the time, the thing feared never comes to reality. In the current times, yes it is understandable that there are a number of people engaged in illegal activities to extract money from innocent people. Does this mean a person should close the door to everyone on this subject? No, it just means a person needs to be smart about assessing the credibility of a financial professional. And when we say assessing, I do not mean taking opinions of people verbally or via the internet (reviews). It means, actually thinking on the subject in terms of legality, accessibility, availability, conflicts of interest, trust, values, and more.
Not knowing about money should not be something for anyone to be embarrassed about. To true financial professionals, someone taking the time to learn about money, earns more respect. This has several benefits.
- Firstly, you acquire financial knowledge you previously did not possess.
- Secondly, with the acquired knowledge and awareness, you could achieve clarity of your financial situation.
- Thirdly, you could improve your money management and obtain help to improve your financial position.
- And most of all, put yourself into position to exit the Rat Race and achieve financial freedom.
The benefit for the short term pain of becoming financially literate, is to enjoy much better long term financial security and comfort.
So the question is, what is more important to you?
Trevor Dunlop
Connect on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LkIn_tdunlop
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