We made the choice to be poor.
posted in Financial Literacy, General Finance |Robert Kiyosaki sees it as the fundamental cause of people struggling through life and not able to lead a life of their dream – the lack of financial knowledge. It is this concern of people getting caught run in circles all their life in the Rat Race, without knowing how exactly they could get out it, which led Robert Kiyosaki to write his “Rich Dad” books and to create his “Cashflow” game.
Why do we lack financial knowledge? Is it because the knowledge is not easily accessible or the knowledge is scare? Is the knowledge considered as “specialized” knowledge, which only a handful of bright people can understand?
All no! Whereas in previous centuries, you might be able to argue that education is not commonly available and accessible for all, in last century or so, there is no longer much barrier for all, regardless of gender, to be educated. Financial knowledge is tightly related to our everyday live, so it can hardly be classified as “specialized” knowledge. Remember that Robert Kiyosaki learnt financial knowledge from his “Rich Dad” who hardly had much education. So finanical knowledge can be acquired by anyone.Â
Even so, we have seen, years after years, bright students who have good domain knowledge ranging from sciences to engineering to medicine, but yet, stumbled and fell when it comes to their own personal finance.Â
I was reading the ”About me” page on a blog (gradmoneymatters.com) , and the author of the blog was frank enough to make his confession:
IÂ recently completed my Ph.D and started to work. I realised one thing right away – I needed to do some serious research on this thing called “Personal Finance”. And I needed to do it fast. While my domain knowledge was no less than anyone else in my field, I have to admit (with my head hanging in shame), that my knowledge of finance related matters is at an elemenatary level, at best. My financial IQ would qualify me to the “moron” status. So, as I browse through the cyber space and engage in stimulating discussion with the enlightened souls that my co-workers are, I realise, I have a lot to learn. And I have lost a lot of time. I wish someone had got me interested in these matters sooner ! I wish I had realised the power of “compound interest” before I became the poster child for why NOT to delay starting a nestegg.
It is therefore not that the financial knowledge is not accessible or it is too complex to understand.  It is becasue we made a choice not to understand them. We made the choice perhaps our parents have made the choice not to and we followed them. Perhaps we are not told that financial knowledge is important. Perhaps we are too busy running what Robert Kiyosaki termed as the rat race to see that financial knowledge is the key to get out of the rat race.
No matter what is the reason, perhaps it’s time for us to start realizing the importance of financial knowledge and start acquiring them! Robert Kiyosaki might have started learning financial matters at a young age, but I guess it is still never too late for me to get started.
And yes, if you are wondering, I too, has a good domain knowledge in my own field but low in financial literacy. I am guilty too!
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