On Finance and Money

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If I was the Minister of Education, the first thing I'd do would be to add basic finance and money education to the curriculum, starting from Year One.  Apparently children as young as four know the difference between a $5 and a $20 note if they are offered both and told to choose one, so it’s never too early to start gaining financial knowledge.

I’ve always had a real passion for this topic and for most of my twenties worked in the offices of financial planners, which, while the secretarial work was deathly boring, I loved learning more about financial products and also seeing the different levels of money skills that clients had. 

From the recently widowed older woman who couldn’t understand why she got into financial trouble with cheques bouncing – she believed there must still be money in her account because her cheque book still had cheques left, to the young single woman only a few years older than me who had a well set up portfolio and a house deposit ready to go.  She was very inspiring and gave me a kick in the pants (although she didn’t know it).

Money is very much shrouded in mystery.  We are told that it’s not polite to talk about it, we’d die if anyone found out what our salary was and we often carry a lot of shame, guilt and fear around it.

I did at one point look at training to become a financial planner but at the end of the day they are not really a ‘financial planning’ role as such, but rather a commission salesperson where you had to constantly drum up business and sell rather than educate which did not appeal at all.

Interspersed with my fiction and other non-fiction reading is often a money book. I’ve listed a few in previous posts such as TheMillionaire Next Door and Stop Acting Rich.  I also love wealth and abundance mindset books because I notice I feel better when I think expansively rather than focus on penny-pinching.  I’m still all for thrift and not being wasteful, however in the past I have bordered on being stingy with myself.

Two really fascinating books I’ve read lately are Denise Duffield-Thomas’ titles:

Lucky Bitch (how she and her husband won a six month travel competition)

Get Rich Lucky Bitch (all about your money mindset)

Denise is an Australian money mindset coach who helps women overcome their money blocks.  She has such different ideas than I’ve heard, which are really quite fascinating.  Yes, she swears a little bit but take that with a pinch of salt.  I’ve listened to some of her videos on YouTube and apart from being laugh-out-loud funny sometimes, she also comes across as a down-to-earth and caring person who really wants you to be more abundant.  I signed up to her newsletter list and love the new topic that is sent out each week plus I have just joined her Money Bootcamp.

Denise has great free resources on her website including ‘7Ways to Remove Your Money Blocks’ and ‘How to Make Money in 24 Hours’ (and doesn’t that sounds like an appealing offer).  What I like about her stuff is that she’s really practical and offers simple steps to take.  I’ve already used some of them in my own life and they’ve made a difference.

I’ve only written about money a few times in the past, and given the level interest I have in being financially clued up, it should well be a higher number.  The topic pertains to this blog too, because to me, part of living a chic life is being in control of our finances.  But, like many other people, I somehow think it’s ‘unseemly’ to talk about money.  So I’m guilty of it too!  Ahh, I’ve got a lot to work on.

It’s certainly a very sensitive subject for many (most?) of us, but I firmly believe that we’d all have a less charged relationship with money if we were more open about it. I don’t know if that’s going to happen soon, but I’m happy to be part of the growing conversation. Money is just paper and metal and numbers, but we make it about so much more (including our self-worth and how we feel about ourselves).  

What about you?  How does the topic of money, finance, abundance and wealth make you feel?  Or, what cabinet position would you choose in Government and what would you change as part of your role?  Now is your chance to shine!

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