financial literacy
Introduction
My parents were never so mindful of how I spent my money given to me for holidays or the weekly upkeep while going to school. I would be given cash, and often, if not in all cases, ends up finishing the whole amount given to me way before the stipulated time. In most cases, the money which I was allocated for the entire week would end up ending on Thursdays and, in some cases, on Wednesday. This was due to my financial illiteracy. This had been a significant cause of the problems which I used to experience in school. I did not have much knowledge considering financial literacy until an incident that taught me much about financial literacy and its importance.
One day after school, I went home and found my parents having a little argument about how much money was being spent on one essential household expenditure. According to my father, the typical household bills were almost doubling in just six months while the family size had remained the same. His worry was why the regular bills would double within that shout time. To end this scenario, he suggested that we would be having regular financial meetings and that that day was the first time we were going to have the meeting as a family. My father challenged everyone to write down all his weekly expenditures within the past week. We were then expected to tell how we had spent our weekly financial location. Every member of the family was expected to highlight which parts expenses could be avoided and on what ways this could be achieved. We started to review every member of the family’s financial expenditure for the whole week. We were able to establish that most of the spending which everyone had was essential but could be reduced but still have a standard way of life and quality services. We agreed to make the expenditure on every member of our family standards and decided that the spending was supposed to be very necessary.
During the meeting, my father took the same opportunity to expose us to the element of investment. He challenged us to suggest one of the best but simple way to invest in our future. He gave us the best and simple ways of investing, starting with saving the extra cent that we had from our daily expenditure. The meeting opened my mind to the best ways of investing as we brainstormed on the small investment methods and how much one was likely to gain from such investments. From the incident, I was able to have a depth understanding of how much it was easy to invest, especially when one has full control of their finances. Lastly, I also learned how to save. My parents opted to open an account for me and taught me how best I would save in and invest in my future. I was given a goal for saving, and by the end of the year 2019, I had saved up to $1, 300 from my school balance.
Conclusion
From the incident, I was able to have an in-depth understanding of financial literacy. I got better economic empowerment. I did develop a better understanding of how best one can consolidate finances as a child to have a better monetary base for the future. The incident greatly enhanced my general financial literacy. The event was the first step towards my currently advanced financial literacy.