Back-to-school season

It is that time of the year again—the back to school season! This is the season of anxiety, literally, because both parents and their wards get anxious during this period. 

Why? Well, on the part of parents, the anxiety stems from the need to find the extra cash to keep their school-going children in school or find a school for new entrants. 

Not easy at all because finding the extra cash to fund school-related expenses is always difficult. 
Moreover, it is even likely that some schools will be reviewing their fees upwards, and as such increases may not be in tandem with the general increase in wages and salaries, real incomes suffer, and that extra squeeze comes with extra pain for some.

For the school-going child or the new entrant, the anxiety is influenced by many factors, including lack of preparedness, and such low readiness always impacts on their psychological wellbeing whenever the school time is up.

Or, could it also be that for new entrants the fear of the unknown environment also plays on their mind, leading to anxiety?
Anyway, if you think my interest here, this week, is to help you deal with school season anxiety, then you will be disappointed! 

The back-to-school season heading is just to get you—yes you—back to school. So, my interest is to get you to school, this time to learn about financial education 101.
I started by talking about how, perhaps, the lack of adequate funds could pose a challenge and generate some anxiety among parents because it is the back –to- school season. 

The other truth is that this will not be a problem for all parents. For some, they would have put in place all the necessary financial buffers to ensure that no matter what happens, their wards will be in school.  

Hence, the incidence of school fees hassle, as described above, will not affect people evenly. Therefore, financial education is very necessary.
We are back to school on financial literacy or education issues once again; and I will set off with a reminder. 

Remember, at all times, that productivity and living standards improve when consumers, that is you and I, have the necessary tools and information to make sound financial decisions. 

So what exactly is financial education? Broadly speaking, financial education refers to the development of the critical skills that improves one’s evaluation of financial options to make a sound decision. 

Ultimately, making sound financial decisions improves financial health. 

Economic conditions, like tight financial situations, impact our day-to-day activities, therefore, we can never wish them away. As consumers, we are always faced with the situation of making financial decisions, and to make the right decision you must be armed with the requisite skills and tools. 

When you make better decisions it leads to more opportunities to build financial capacity. And I hope you have followed the drift thus far.
Your financial capacity is very critical to your wellbeing, that is your overall health because it gives you the needed peace of mind. 

For instance, once your financial position is strengthened you have the financial health to secure credit, build more savings and enhance your wealth-building capabilities. 

Of course, to stay up-to- date on your financial education is always daunting because of the vast and ever evolving financial services marketplace. But the benefit of staying well informed on financial matters are potentially limitless because when you understand how financial choices affect your current and future financial security you stay out of harm’s way. 

When you know what a bad interest rate is you won’t borrow from a loan shark!
As I have always repeated in this column, your current bank account or overall financial position is a reflection of past decisions. 

It is that simple so if you are not happy with your current financial security you can change it. There are situations where the echoes from the pocket must point you to a change in direction.

As I explained in the April 15, 2016 edition of this column, the pocket speaks to us, or gives off some echoes, just as the walls throw back the echoes of our footsteps sometimes. 
And, plainly, what this means is that there is a sound, or sounds caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface back to the listener, which is none the doing of the person.

It is a similar throwback that you get when your pocket speaks to you. When your pocket is dry, and therefore you don’t have that “pocket money” or school fees to survive, the effect is felt many days after when nothing is done about it. 

There is always the reminder of your state of financial affairs when there is the need to make a payment for a good or service and you are unable to do so. 
In this context, the school fees analogy used here.

Echoes from the pocket, sometimes, is an admonition to change job or change the course of your direction just as your bank account is only a reflection of yesterday’s decisions and not the reflection of the future. 

To be able to understand the wisdom from the pocket, you need to have a clear understanding, or a true meaning of money— that financial education. 

Even the banks and other financial institutions that had presented themselves as the Big Uncle with deep pockets, capped with financial discipline, were soon exposed as indiscipline when probed further. 

What this means is that it is not enough to be well educated, finance-wise, but you must also be disciplined to follow the principles.

Heed to the reverberating sounds from the pocket, as it may well mean that it is about time you took the right decisions to straighten the pocket. The louder the echo, the stronger your financial education.
botabil@gmail.com