When you hear the phrase “Financial Literacy”, what comes to your mind? ‘Big words’, right? Well, you see it’s quite simple and easy to comprehend. There is no need to complicate things. I had always felt that phrase was for financial experts, but this notion was corrected when I attended a seminar for youth with the topic: “Managing your finances as an Undergraduate” . One of the notable speakers gave a lovely definition of financial literacy. He said that it is the ability to make sense out of money matters, being able to identify money issues and solve them. Simple, precise and sensible, right?

For the youth, this topic is very essential. According to http://www.futurepreneur.ca, financial literacy is “the ability to understand how money works; how someone makes, manages, invests, spends and extends money.”

Financial Literacy enables people to understand what is needed to achieve a lifestyle that is financially balanced, sustainable, ethical, and responsible. As a young Nigerian, one major thing you should note is that your level of financial literacy significantly affects your quality of life. It affects your ability to provide for yourself and family, your attitude to money and investment, as well as your contribution to your community. In fact, it also affects how much trust God can have in you on financial matters.

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM FINANCIAL LITERACY?

Financial Literacy/Education is profitable for consumers of all age and income levels.
-For young adults, who are just beginning their work lives, it can provide basic tools for budgeting and saving so that expenses and debts can be kept controlled.
-For families, it can help acquire the discipline to save for their own home and/or for their children’s education.
-It can help older workers ensure that they have enough savings for a comfortable retirement by providing them with information and skills to make wise investment choices with their individual pension and savings plans.
-It can help low-income earners make the most of what they are able to save and avoid dubious schemes.

So which category do you belong?

Note that there are 4 practical steps to financial literacy. These four steps form the foundation of what financial literacy entails.

1. Ability to Make Money

Money responds to value. The major question that financial literacy asks is, ‘what can you offer to the market?’ Before one can talk about financial literacy, one has to find ways to earn money. God does not give anyone wealth, rather he gives the power and ability (skills, talents) to gain wealth. As a beginner, task yourself on what you can give that has value and would in return earn money for you. Proverbs 22:29 (MSG) – “Observe people who are good at their work – skilled workers are always in demand and admired; they don’t take the backseat to anyone”.

2. Spending

Once you start earning, the next thing to look at is how you spend. Have a suitable spending pattern i.e budgeting, prioritising, delayed gratification, etc. We are not ready to receive a financial breakthrough unless we work on our character and change so that when God entrusts us with money, we will have the knowledge to multiply and maintain it.
How you treat the small things, will dictate how you treat the big things. Watch how you spend.

3. Savings and Investments

Once you start monitoring your spending habits, you will begin to have excess funds. This is where savings and investments come in. The three major laws of money are:

-Diligence (this also refers to your earning power).

-Retention (savings),

-Multiplication (Investment).

Sunday Adelaja said;
“Everyone must start his/her own financial journey with a philosophy of savings because in time, the small becomes big. After savings, then we will begin to have something to invest and multiply.”

4. Your Attitude

Your attitude is a key ingredient towards your journey in financial literacy. Watch the attitude you display towards things related to finance. If you have a care-free attitude towards money, money will always evade you. Money only comes to those who know what to do with it, the knowledge they carry is like a magnet that attracts more riches. Have a healthy relationship with money. Be inquisitive about your finances, read wide and know more. God is very interested in your financial life.

Napoleon Hill once said, “Riches do not respond to wishes. They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desires, through constant persistence.”

With God our efforts will result in success.

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