Everyone has different learning styles. Most schools focus on standardized learning yet we are unique. I took many standardized tests that did not reflect how I learned. By society’s learning standards, I thought that I wouldn’t understand business acumen and allowed doubt to creep into my mind. It was not until years later that began to understand and embrace my learning style. I learned that there are many ways to receive a strong financial education. After I embraced my learning style, I had to overcome the fears and obstacles that prevented me from leveraging my strengths and venture into the unknown world of finance and business.
I am not a financial or tax expertand cannot advise anyone on finance or wealth building. I can only share my story. When I was growing up, my goal was to go to school and get a good job. The good job changed to a career. This was my way to get out of poverty and remain out of poverty. Later, I learned that having a career is not enough. Careers may be considered safe but I was still an employee and could be terminated by my employer. Many people with careers have no other interests or knowledge of the importance of a financial education. To me, learning is a lifelong process and with the right attitude, it is never too late to learn something new or build on what you know. My lack of financial education taught me to be an employee instead of an entrepreneur. There is nothing wrong with being an employee but a person should also explore other options. I learned to explore other opportunities while working as an employee. Most people may prefer to be employees but many people dream about becoming an entrepreneur but are afraid to fail. I was an employee for many years before I ventured outside my comfort zone, learned about financial education, and took a risk. For me, it was important to have various pathways to remain out of poverty.
When I was a child, we were living in poverty and didn’t have or understand money. Our home was an active learning center however; finance and business were not topics of discussion. It’s difficult to talk about money, investments and wealth when you don’t have it. Not having it did not prevent me from being curious about the magic of money. Looking back over my life, my business sense started while I was a child. I just didn’t know how to make it grow. I didn’t have a roadmap to follow. As an adult, I learned the value of a financial education. I bought books to study, watched television shows and attended financial seminars. I was not interested in get rich schemes, sales pitches, or financial advice from sales people. I didn’t want to hand over my hard earned money to sales people. I learned that poor people have a different view of money. I had a hunger to learn and transform my outlook.
As a child living in poverty, I figured out how to earn money. My challenge was figuring out how to grow and keep the money I earned. We lived in a shack and worked on a rich farmer’s land. I saw the people who worked for the farmer but I never saw the farmer. The farmer was the person who was growing wealth. He owned land and the people who worked for him were earning a salary. We worked long hours for meager wages. Meager wages will not get or keep a person out of poverty.
I shared my story in my blog for the purpose of helping and encouraging others. I lived in poverty but poverty did not live in me. In my blog post, Earning My Own Money, I wrote about how I earned money when I was a child. My parent’s didn’t have money so they couldn’t teach me about accumulating wealth. They taught me how to save money the best way they knew how. All I knew was to make sure my credit was good and to always save some money for a rainy day. As I shared in my blog post, Entering the Workforce, prior to graduating from college, an older man held a seminar on money management. To this day, my college friends say they don’t remember the fatherly man so I referred to him as “Guardian Angel.” We had student loan debt that we would have to pay off soon. This interest bearing debt is considered unforgiveable but was necessary for most of us to complete our education. Most of our parents were poor or low income and financially illiterate. They didn’t know how to teach us about financial independence. They wanted more for us, therefore, their advice was for us to go to school and get a good education so we could get a good job.
I remember that “Guardian Angel” met with our small group of soon to be graduates. We discussed our career paths. Some students would continue on with graduate studies but most of us were ready to enter the workforce. He warned us that we would be eager to overspend. He also advised us to have good credit and good credit scores. He explained that this was one of the keys to a good financial future. I remember staring at him and wondering why I agreed to attend this boring seminar. I’m sure my classmates felt the same way. In spite of being bored, I paid attention because I lived in poverty. It was obvious that he did not. He patiently explained that there is a debt called good debt. This debt may reduce what we pay in taxes. With fatherly advice, he cautioned us against using credit cards for unnecessary purchases because it can easily lead to bad debt. He advised us to pay ourselves at least ten percent of our income. This information was foreign to me but I continued to listen. I was starting my career as a nurse and would be receiving a regular salary. Guardian Angel asked me about my career goals. I shared my passion of serving people in underserved areas. He suggested that I start my career at an underserved teaching hospital. I took his advice and m y student loan debt was forgiven.
As an adult with a new career, I negotiated my salary, opened my first bank account and faithfully paid myself ten percent of my income. I had a steady paycheck, had spending power, took the advice of “Guardian Angel “but still didn’t know anything about accumulating wealth. I sent money home to my parents to help out. To my surprise, it was not until later that I found out they saved the money I sent home. Instead of spending it, they were saving it for me in case I had to repay the student loan. I told them about the advice I received from “Guardian Angel.” My parents didn’t have financial wealth but was wealthy in many other ways.
As an adult, my interest in books changed. I enjoyed investing in books and looking at television shows about financial education. I will admit that finance, investments, and money were still a foreign and scary topic to me but I couldn’t shake my interest. I was determined to learn how to remain out of poverty. Many people have a high consumption lifestyle and live above their means. They have the appearance of wealth but are really drowning in debt. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend. It is the result of a lifestyle of planning, perseverance and self –discipline.
I learned to accept responsibility for my financial future. I learned to be frugal yet still enjoyed life. Being frugal is the cornerstone of wealth building. I bought my first home in a working class neighborhood. I did not have a high consumption lifestyle and had no desire to display a high social status. I developed a monthly and yearly budget. This brought focus to my spending. I learned to not let my income define my budget. I used an envelope method and didn’t deviate from my assigned allotment. I planned my consumption spending like food, clothing and mortgage on a monthly and annual basis. The budget didn’t restrict me from enjoying life but was a tool to help me track my spending. In my research, I learned to have at least an eight month emergency fund. With two growing children this was a struggle. I started with one month and gradually built up. There were a lot of things I was still purchasing that depreciated after I bought them. The budget process took time and I made small changes to make it happen. I still budget on a monthly and yearly basis and passed the power of budgeting on to my children so they could be self-sufficient.
At one time, I had many credit cards and was spending up to the limit. I never paid the balance every month and I became consumed with credit. Looking back at the things I bought, I didn’t need them. They were quickly forgotten after the purchase. Eventually, I cut up all credit cards except one for an emergency. I paid all my bills before time. During those times, bills were paid in person or by mail. I allowed time for the post office to deliver the bills so I wouldn’t have late charges. Today, many people bank and pay bill online but the concept is the same.
As a young adult, I ventured into several business possibilities. I shared my story and lessons learned in my blog post, The Spirit of Entrepreneurship. Over the years, I continued to learn about finances and my thought processes changed. I learned about assets and liabilities, the three types of income, investments, and many other important topics on money. Life transformed me and taught me valuable skills and the right attitude to be resourceful and self-reliant. Understanding money and finances can be daunting but it is important to start somewhere.
I am still learning many valuable lessons about financial education. There are too many lessons to mention in this post. I will say that the first lesson is to have a good attitude about learning. Building wealth and financial independence, involves a change in spending habits, and lifestyle changes. It is hard work that requires financial education, discipline and sacrifice. Financial literacy helps us save enough to provide adequate income while avoiding high levels of debts.
Living in poverty led me to be creative and become inquisitive about money. As a child, I earned money by spelling words for my lunch money in grade school, drawing and selling paper dolls and their clothes to my classmates, and working long days in cotton fields for meager wages. When I was eleven, I earned extra money by sharpening hoes for the cotton choppers. As an adult, I learned to overcome my fear of failure and embarked on business ventures. When I graduated from college, I got out of poverty. This was not enough to keep me out of poverty. I remained out of poverty by having a financial education. My road-map out of poverty involved a strategy and a tactic.
Financial education is a key to getting out of poverty and remaining out of poverty. My self- taught courses were on finance and investments. I learned there’s a difference in working for money and letting your money work for you. I learned the difference between the three types of incomes and associated taxes. Most entrepreneurs learn to create wealth by changing ordinary income into passive and portfolio income. They do not have an entitlement mentality and I learned not to have an entitlement mentality.
I know firsthand that there are many things in life more valuable than money however it takes money to be financially independent. It is my understanding that there are approximately 140 million poor or low income people in the United States. Many of these people make less than living wage. At one time, my family and I were included in this group. I support social programs to give people a much needed hand up. I also support the need for financial education starting at a young age. Financial education should be part of the school curriculum.
Parents, Grandparents and other adults lead and teach by example. My granddaughter is seven years old. Her parents and grandparents are preparing her for the real world by providing her with an age appropriate financial education. There is a real life lesson from learning life’s challenges. When children see their parents or grandparents learning and being good stewards over their finances, they will do the same.
As an adult, I learned to have a vision, strategy and tactics. My vision was my destination or what I wanted to accomplish. Strategy describes how you’re going to get there and tactics describes the specific actions you are going to take along the way. We learn from each other and many people helped me along the way. I built on this knowledge to help others navigate the rough courses of life.
“Strategy without acts is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”- Sun Tzu