Financial literacy

Due to ignorance in the field of economics and money, people are often unable to provide themselves
with a decent life even with a good salary. In addition, other people often use our financial illiteracy,
which leads to sad consequences. It is for these two reasons that it is worth learning the basics of
financial literacy.
As you will see later, the ability to earn a lot does not mean a comfortable life. If a person earns money
only with the help of certain skills (music, medical education), then this is not enough. The ability to
manage earned money requires completely new skills and knowledge - and it is this that can lead you to
financial independence.
We are not taught how to manage personal money at school and even at the university - and this is the
biggest omission both for any state and for you and me. We face money issues several times a day and
at the same time do not understand at all what money is and how to become a financially wealthy
person. Moreover, if you ask almost any person what a financially wealthy person is, the answer will be
the same: "The one who has a car and a good home."
On our course, you will understand that this is an incorrect definition of a wealthy person for many
reasons and you will learn what kind of thinking you need to develop in yourself in order to achieve a
stable financial position after a few years, or at least acquire some habits that will help you save wisely
and not waste money. ...

Content:

What is financial literacy?

This is not a very simple question, because different people understand it differently, and the concept
itself is rather philosophical and purely subjective. But if we still try to give direction to our course, then
we can say that:
Financial literacy is a clear understanding of how money works, how to make and manage it. There are
two main characteristics of a financially literate person. First, his expenses never exceed his income.
Second, any positive difference between monthly income and expenditure goes into investment of any
form.
You are probably familiar with many people who have been making very good money for several years
and at the same time barely making ends meet. They are great at doing what they do - it can be
programming, art, science, sports. However, some of them even manage to get into debt. And it would
be fine if they bought themselves important things with the help of which they develop. As a rule, these
products are completely meaningless and their purchase becomes burdensome.
It may sound strange, but it doesn't really matter how much you make at the moment. In the history of
mankind, there are thousands of stories about how a completely poor man became a millionaire. There
are also reverse stories - people who fell on their heads with wealth, managed to lose everything in a
short time. Therefore, it is very important to understand that your current income is not a sentence.
This is where financial literacy is needed. It shows how, by acquiring some financial habits, anyone can
get out of the financial hole and stand firmly on their feet.
Economics is a complex tool to understand. This is evidenced by financial crises, when even the best
economists in the world were not able to predict the now seemingly obvious things. Now economists
use the phrase about cycles, disclaiming responsibility: "There are cycles, there will always be world
crises." No one can predict the exact date of the crisis, but everyone can prepare for them.
Can a millionaire be financially illiterate? Maybe. For example, such is a Hollywood actor who can get
several million dollars for one role. After some time, his fame passes, and with him his financial
condition disappears. Therefore, he is forced the rest of his life to play low-paid roles, to sell off his
property in order to make ends meet. This is a great illustration of the importance of financial literacy.

Applying financial literacy in life

Studying theory, cultivating a conscious attitude towards money and thinking financially - these three
things will help any person to settle in life.
The most important is financial thinking, but it is very important to constantly learn and supplement
knowledge with practical skills. Someone believes that you need to work as much as possible in order to
become financially secure. On the one hand, this is so, but on the other hand, you must first of all work
rationally. Once you start your financial journey, you are forced to work as much as possible. But there is
one important point: the more money you have, the more sensibly you should approach your work.
It makes no sense to get rich and work hard. A financially literate person, as capital increases, works less
and at the same time does more. For example, when you succeed in becoming an investor, you may
work less. Money will work for you. Of course, in this case, no one forbids you to do what you love and
continue to work, but now you yourself will decide how much and where.
Remember, you can apply financial knowledge now. Everything you do with finances today affects your
future. When you stop buying things you don't need, you have new opportunities. A simple thought
begins to form in your mind - money should make new money. The mere waste of your income gives
instant results and does not move you forward in any way.
Any book about financial independence will first of all give you an understanding of the importance of
cost optimization in your life. Spending everything you earn is the worst strategy, only life on credit is
worse than it.
Our course will help you change your life and attitude towards money. You will learn to think in terms of
decades. In any area of life, the satisfaction of momentary desires does not lead to anything good. In the
field of finance, this can lead to the most disastrous consequences. The Financial Literacy course is
designed to change your thinking and help you become a more mature and responsible person.

How do you learn financial literacy?

Nobody is born financially literate. You can be born into a wealthy family, but this does not guarantee
you a great financial future.
It takes many months to develop a financial mindset. However, you can develop many positive changes
in yourself within a few days. The theory of money can be learned quite quickly, you can also
understand how the stock market or the bank works. And only after understanding how finance works,
you will begin to move forward little by little.
In times past, financial literacy was even worse. The man was forced to work from morning till night in
order to at least survive. Financial culture was in its infancy. To become a wealthy person, one had to
use force. Much has changed in our time and this is a great chance for each of us to succeed in life.
There are tons of materials in the public domain: books, courses and videos. Any information is available
here and now. However, as we know, the availability of information at the same time devalues it. You
must make it clear that you already have everything you need to prosper financially, all that remains is
to find the right materials.
Perhaps the most important skill for developing financial literacy is discipline. More than 90% of people
in the world spend money completely thoughtlessly and it is for this reason that none of them will
become a wealthy person. Nobody guarantees anything to the remaining 10%, but they still have more
chances. By developing the discipline of your financial habits, you have a thousandfold increase in your
chances of retiring in ten years from business, having passive sources of income, and doing whatever
you want to do.

Do you want to test your knowledge?

If you want to test your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how it suits
you, you can take our test. In each question, there can be only one correct answer. After you have
selected one of the options, the system automatically proceeds to the next question.

Financial literacy lessons

Having studied a large amount of literature and biographies of rich and successful people, we have come
to the conclusion that financial literacy is a skill. Any skill can be learned. We've designed six lessons for
you, each of which will touch on a specific aspect of financial literacy. The good news is that we didn't
have to target different types of people, as financial literacy is not unique to every financially successful
person. This is a certain set of knowledge and simple skills that everyone is able to acquire. All great
businessmen had approximately the same philosophy, only the ways of achieving the goal differed.
Purpose of the course: to acquaint our reader with planning, financial analysis and investing.
The objective of the course is to develop a financial mindset in the reader, which is not taught at school
and university.
We present you with a small overview of each of the lessons:

Lesson 1. The essence of money. Money and their properties

In order to start developing your financial thinking, you cannot do without the history of the origin of
money, as well as without understanding their properties and distinctive features. You must understand
why and why money was invented. They evolved over time and you can see that this evolution was
logical. Most likely, money will continue to evolve, and if you understand why it has changed over the
centuries, you may be able to predict some financial collisions in the future. In the first lesson, we will
tell you a lot of what every financially literate person should know about money. Of course, you can
continue your education further, however, this information is enough for you to understand the essence
of money.

Lesson 2. Planning and accounting of finances

Planning is an essential part of any area of life. When it comes to financial planning, the stakes go up. If
you want to become a businessman or run a large enterprise, first of all, you should learn how to
manage your personal finances. In this lesson, you will understand how the leaders of large enterprises
create their financial plans and how they are guided by this. After that, we'll show you five simple steps
to create your own financial plan. Already at this stage, you will look at money as an opportunity, and at
your expenses as obstacles. Also, learn how to optimize your spending, which will help you with
smartphone apps or a simple sheet of paper.
Lesson 3. Financial system and financial institutions
In order to look at money not like a piece of paper, but to understand cash flows, you need to
understand the essence of financial systems and how exactly money moves in financial institutions.
Everything in the world is permeated with money, so you must understand at least where your money is
going after you have bought a product. In this lesson, we will look at the four subsystems of the financial
system, and also see what kind of financial institutions exist. After all, it is quite possible that someday
you will work there. Explore all the features of financial institutions and you will begin to understand a
lot more about the world around you.

Lesson 4. Investing and Savings

Accumulation followed by investment is the final step towards gaining financial independence. Along
with this, this is the most difficult and risky stage. But the risk is always justified by a large return. In this
tutorial, we are going to show you some simple and difficult ways to build capital. The essence of any
investment is in residual (passive) income. That is, one that works without your participation. If you
succeed, you can quit your job or find something you like.

Lesson 5. Financial Analysis

The ability to analyze anything, allows any person to become more reasonable and thinking. When it
comes to financial analysis, it makes sense to talk about an important skill. It will allow assessing the
development prospects of any company and predicting the value of shares. In this lesson we will get
acquainted with the very essence of financial analysis, as well as with its tasks and types. We will look at
the financial world with completely different eyes. In just a couple of hours, you will learn important
fundamentals and be able to understand economic and financial news. You will finally learn about the
Dow Jones index, what it means and how simple it is.

Lesson 6. Financial Thinking

In order for your financial success to be stable, you need not only to do the right financial actions
occasionally, but to acquire financial thinking and philosophy. In this case, your dependence on the
opinions of other people completely disappears. You just know and feel what to do and how to act in
your financial life. Although this of course does not exclude further education.
In this lesson, we will educate financial thinking and philosophy. You will begin to instill financial habits,
understand how successful people think and think. It won't make you a copy because you will find your
own path anyway. This last lesson is the most important because it invokes a sixth sense - the very
intuition on which Richard Branson and many other successful people built his financial empire .

How to take classes?

At times this course may not seem very easy, but we have tried to mix simple and complex things. The
economy is partly complex, but it is worth getting to know it better and you will understand that it has
its own completely logical and understandable laws. There are also completely illogical things in it, but
you will understand this and do everything to be prepared for the unexpected.
Lessons 1, 3 and 5 are more about theory than practice. You can choose this order of study. The theory
will take the least amount of time. Lessons two, four and six are mostly practice and take more time to
learn and practice.
However, you can study the lessons in order. The symbiosis of theory and practice is the right approach
and any professional in his field knows about it. You can think a lot and not act, or you can act
thoughtlessly and make a lot of mistakes. When you think and act, you get the best results.
You can take our course in two ways, related to time periods. For example, if you have time, a week may
well be enough for you. However, we recommend that you take the course more thoughtfully and come
back to it from time to time. When you complete the course, return to it and consolidate your skills, go
through the list of recommended reading and move on. Nevertheless, our course is self-sufficient in
itself and will help open your eyes to many things. We tried to make it fun and easy to understand.

Additional materials
In the section on additional materials, you will find a list of recommended books. They cover different
aspects of financial literacy - from theory to practice, motivation and shaping financial thinking. The
authors of some books are real millionaires and people who are mentors of other people. In short, this is
a great starting list of books with which you can enrich your knowledge.
We also recommend you an excellent animation entitled “How the Economy Works. Cartoon. Financial
literacy ". You can find it on YouTube, it is 31 minutes long and can be a great starting point for our
course. The economy is interesting.
We also recommend the following collections of additional materials on finance and financial literacy:
And then a little parting word in the end.

Quotes of famous people on the topic of money

To conclude this introductory lesson, we suggest reading some inspirational quotes from famous people
about money:

A wise man keeps money in his head, but not in his heart.
Jonathan Swift

Too many people spend the money they hard earned on things they don't need to impress people they
don't like.
Will Rogers

Moderation is already wealth.

Cicero

Here's how to get rich on Wall Street: be careful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are
careful.
Warren Buffett

An annual income of £ 20 and a spend of £ 19.96 is happiness. An annual income of £ 20 with an

expense of £ 20 and 6p is poverty.
Charles Dickens

Wealth is not an accumulation of wealth. This is the ability to spend less than you earn, the ability to
save and invest. You won't get rich until you learn this.
Dave Ramsey
What our generation lacks is the financial education needed for financial security.
Robert Kiyosaki

How many millionaires do you know who have built their fortune on interest from a deposit? Here I am
about the same.
Robert Allen

Money is a good servant, but a bad master.

Phineas Barnum

Investing is like watching paint dry or growing grass. And if you want to get everything fast, take $ 800
and go to Las Vegas.
Paul Samuelson

Rich people have small televisions and large libraries, while poor people have large televisions and small
libraries.
Zig Ziglar

Never spend money before you make it.

Thomas Jefferson

And now we propose to start classes.

We wish you success in mastering the skill!