THE IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL EDUCATION IN ACHIEVING FINANCIAL FREEDOM

"The main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money...but never learn to have money work for them."

- Robert Kiyosaki

Author

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Financial education, knowing how to make money work for you, is important in the quest to achieving financial freedom. Had we recognized this truth twenty-five years ago, or had schools provided us with a solid foundation in financial education, then perhaps our financial situation would have been a whole lot better today.

Sadly, this was not the case. And so, for a vast majority, the primary urge when we received our first paycheck was to spend rather than to save. We opened credit card accounts rather than savings accounts. Instead of accumulating assets, we piled up liabilities. Somehow, the illusion of a brilliant professional career, of being promoted, of receiving a bigger paycheck, has given us a false sense of financial power that emboldened us to spend even more. Work more, earn more and spend more was the accepted dogma.

Fast forward twenty-five years, three kids, five credit cards and several mortgages later, we find ourselves still hard at work to earn more. Midway to retirement, and burdened with debt, we spend sleepless nights wondering where did all the money go and how we can get out of the rat race. Trapped in a financial gridlock, we only have two options available: continue working even harder until we're old and gray, or try learning financial education and find a way to get out of debt and climb towards financial freedom.

It is never too late to learn financial education. The bitter lessons we have learned with this global financial crisis is more than enough motivation for us to start learning financial education NOW. Read a book. Attend workshops and seminars. Search the internet for valuable information on financial education. Make your hard-earned money work hard for you. Start your climb towards financial freedom today.