An “Educated” Child Is An Invaluable Asset – Protect Your Heritage
There is a famous African saying about parenting and finance, and it’s been playing on repeat in my mind for a few weeks now.
Our elders in Africa say: “The child you refuse to train today will sell off all you labored for tomorrow,” and I couldn’t agree more. An educated child is a gem and an invaluable asset to their parents, and I do not mean or refer to our regular formal education system.
“Education” means to “Educe – unearth, bring out, and polish that innate talent and ability” in a person. Hence, the “education” that I am referring to here is that which would help your children not only properly manage the wealth you create in your life but also go on to generate more and continue to prosper long after you’re gone.
According to the proverbs of Solomon: “A wise son maketh a glad father: But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.” – Proverbs 10:1. Helping your sons and daughters grow financially begins with the deliberate steps you take towards “educing” their financial gifts and abilities, especially at their tender ages.
In these highly volatile and unpredictable economic climes we live in today, teaching young people financial education and how to manage crisis early is no longer optional but compulsory. As a matter of fact, as things stand presently, all leaders, parents, and schools should recommend life-changing, motivating, and highly instructional books like Soul Tonic – A Daily Motivational & Inspirational Guide (Vol. 1), The Richest Man In Babylon, Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and others like them to their lads early enough.
Simply put, every child you bring into this world must be financially literate and astute. And to achieve this goal, you must know what it means well enough to start with. Now, financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively use various financial skills and tools, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. The meaning of financial literacy is the foundation of your relationship with money, and it is a lifelong journey of learning.
According to the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, there are five critical components of financial literacy that one must be conversant and proficient with: earning, spending, saving and investing, borrowing, and protecting.
Also, there are four vital things one needs to practice to become proficient at handling finances, and no child is ever too small to start learning these already:
(1) Mental Toughness – A mentally weak person can never manage their life properly, let alone effectively handle, manage, generate, grow, and retain wealth. Hence, your children and wards’ mental well-being, health, and growth are vital in their journey to financial literacy and mastery.
(2) Financial Intelligence – Like their emotions, you must also train them to be financially intelligent from a tender age. This can easily be done by starting with the things you allow them to buy or have from their tender ages.
Teach them the difference between wants and needs, and help them to develop enough intelligence to adequately balance this on a wise scale of preference from childhood. Oh, you will be so glad you did this for them much later in life when you start to see and reap the fruits of your labor over them when they’re grown and being astute and fruitful with all your wealth and life’s work.
(3) Financial Plan – You also need to instill in them the unavoidable need to plan before any money comes into their hands because failure to learn this will lead to them squandering any funds that enter their hands.
You must train and show them ways that they can legitimately generate and make money by themselves, and importantly, how to spend the money when it comes, too.
They also need to know how to have long, and short-term plans on how to make and sustain their money and cash flow, especially as they go through the different phases of their lives.
(4) Financial Discipline – Like a financially intelligent person, every child needs to know and understand the apparent differences between what they want and what they need.
This is where the much-needed culture of spending and savings comes in, plus having viable investments. You must help them realize that intentional savings open other doors of wealth creation and sustainability.
That’s what 10-year-old Prince Igwe Duru calls “building wealth, not a business” because, according to him, “anyone can start a business but not every person can build wealth because it requires a level of financial discipline and intentional sacrifices that can’t be made by just about anyone.”
These are values that can be taught, instilled, and developed in every child regardless of age, race, color, religion, or social class and status. And, the sooner we all start and religiously keep to this, the better for us as parents, families, and even the world eventually.
Remain richly blessed always.
