Fundamentals of financial literacy for beginners. Real tools for everyone!
For beginners to master the basics of financial literacy, we can advise you to first try to change your attitude to money. Most of our fellow citizens (and not only) consider them only as a means for acquiring primary goods, such as food, clothing, vehicles, housing.
Our consumer psychology in this case works against us, hence it logically follows that money is only earned in order to spend it. We must think a little more broadly and finally understand that money can and must be made to work for us. Bring additional benefits by increasing capital.
Here you have to try very hard to get rid of the addiction that almost everyone has and come to the point where you manage money, and not vice versa.
Planning and accounting of finances
In addition to the correct approach, it is absolutely necessary to keep a record of personal expenses and income, as well as to draw up a personal financial plan for the week, month and year. You need to learn how to plan your personal budget. This is very useful, once you start doing it, you will be very surprised if you have not done it before. Anyone who has tried knows what I mean.
Today, there are many software products that allow you to optimize the management and accounting of personal finances. In addition to the good old EXCEL, you can get an application that will be synchronized on all devices, this is extremely convenient. You will soon find an overview of such products on our website.
Banks
A financially literate person certainly understands all the benefits of the banking system in saving and increasing money. It is imperative to learn how to extract this benefit for your own purposes and with the benefit of your wallet.
It is necessary to understand that we, as individuals, in most cases do not need loans at all, and life on credit (so popular today) is a purposeful and systematic deterioration of our own financial condition, this is a movement away from financial freedom, and not towards it.
But a bank deposit, on the contrary, is a good tool for preserving and accumulating capital.
In general, you need to understand the essence of the banking business and understand the main levers of interaction with banks.
Additional sources of income
The majority of people who work for hire see their work as the only income and completely dismiss the possibility of additional cash receipts. But we, as students of financial literacy, must understand the importance of diversifying ways to replenish the family budget.
It is imperative to consider the possibility of passive income, as well as savings in case of adverse force majeure situations (illness, dismissal, etc.)
Investments
Investments can be classified according to the degree of risk and profitability. Which, by the way, most often has a direct dependence on the riskiness of a particular instrument. The higher the risk, the higher the return. To manage risks, there is diversification – an increase in the number of instruments to reduce risk.
In general, the topic of investment is extremely interesting and deep, so we will refrain from trying to consider it in detail within the framework of this article. You can learn more about this topic in the corresponding section.
Practical use
The practical application of the principles discussed should not be accompanied by any radical changes in our lives, such as being fired and leaving for our own business. The main thing in all this is to keep the main source of replenishment of the budget, effectively distributing money and earning on assets at the same time.
There is a popular misconception that the main goal of any commercial bank is by hook or by crook (even by deceit) to force the client to take out a loan that is obviously unprofitable for him. This is certainly not the case, large banks are seriously interested in attracting as many truly literate clients as possible. Such a client will quickly understand all the advantages of banking services and will recommend using banking products to all his friends.
The main thing to understand is that the bank is our ally in saving and increasing capital.
Increasing financial literacy is a continuous and ongoing process. To do this, read useful books, study the world of finance, use various opportunities to increase personal funds.