What is financial literacy and why study it from school. Financial literacy Learn to effectively control and plan your budget

Hello friends! Today we will talk about the basics of financial literacy. Knowing this is very important in order to improve the quality of your life and competently manage all resources.

Friends! This article is not quite typical for my blog. The fact is that ALL ARTICLES ON MY BLOG are written independently. I fussed over each article, tried to give you the most useful and interesting information, let it pass through myself, etc.

I asked one of my readers to write this article, whose name I will not say for obvious reasons. Let's call him Alexander.

I am very grateful to him for this, because it just so happens that I still don’t think I know how to handle money. I really try.

Alexander is now the boss at his place of work and has a small business. In addition to all this, he has the education of a manager-economist. Therefore, I believe that it practical advice can be useful to many people, especially those who have never thought about financial literacy.

I suggest you start.

It just so happens in our country that we are not taught financial literacy either at school or at college.

Unfortunately, our parents don’t teach us this either, not because they don’t want us to prosper, they just don’t know it themselves. They were never taught this either.

Most likely this is due to the fact that it is beneficial to a certain narrow circle of people. We need to have as many poorly educated people as possible who do not strive for self-education, we need people to live from paycheck to paycheck, so that out of fear of losing their jobs they run headlong into it every day.

Someone must do heavy physical or routine work.

In one of the books I read a definition of this - “rat race”. Since childhood, we have been told our “standard path”: kindergarten, school, university/technical school, work, wedding, children, work until retirement, and living on pension money, or rather pennies, in old age.

At the same time, you need to take out several loans and pay them off for 20 years. This path has already been mentioned somewhere in Nikita’s blog articles (). About aimless existence.

I had to develop financial literacy skills on my own; there was a stage in my life when I was completely in debt, but, fortunately, I was able to quickly correct the mistakes of my youth.

At 32, I was fortunate to receive a financial education that has given me a stronger footing.

I was born in an ordinary Soviet family, where my mother was a teacher, my father a factory worker.

Since childhood, I knew what it was like to live from paycheck to paycheck. I don’t know if this left an imprint, but already at school I firmly decided that I would become an economist, and in the future I would be an entrepreneur.

And so it happened - I went to college and received an education as a manager-economist.

To gain experience, I went to work for the city administration. There I already managed to make a number of mistakes.

Seeing how young (rich) people drive luxury cars and ride beautiful girls, I decided to keep up and definitely buy a good car.

Naturally, I didn’t have any savings. And loans in my country (Kazakhstan) were very accessible. Having grabbed a number of loans, I bought my dream, driving was a pleasure, but there was a downside.

I had no idea that a car is an endless waste of money: gasoline, spare parts, tax and maintenance.

In 2006, half of our country took out loans without thinking about how to pay them back. I was one of them. The following year, a tragedy occurred in my life that turned my life upside down. Mentally I was very depressed. Let me say briefly that it was due to the loss of someone very close to me. I wouldn't like to go into more detail.

I quit my job and didn't even try to find a new one. The loans were in arrears, and banks kept calling me. A year earlier, having a job in the city administration, I was scattering my resume to find a job in my specialty.

And while sitting without work, I got a call from financial organization, by some miracle my resume was found and they offered me to come for testing.

My future job was in lending to small and medium-sized businesses, which is exactly what I was interested in. True, 33 people took part in the competition for 1 vacant place! After passing both the test and the interview, I was among the 2 candidates for the vacant position. I completed an internship and was hired.

The salary was not great, but most importantly, I was trained in financial analysis of enterprises. Every year, training seminars and courses were held repeatedly to improve the results of financial analysis.

I also realized that you cannot get rich without starting capital, it immediately became clear that you need to work, and in your free time study and try to do some kind of business. Even then I drew up some kind of development plan.

Basics of financial literacy

• Before every purchase, ask yourself the question: “Is this the most necessary thing at the moment?”

How often do we see that people try to purchase luxury items in order to look cool in the eyes of others.

For example, I have friends who do not have their own apartment, have enough money only for the most necessary things, and dress at a flea market. But on the other hand, I bought two iPhone 6s for myself and my husband on credit for 1.5 years. For what? This is almost her entire annual salary.

For example, I bought such a phone for myself when I was allowed to do so monthly income. This is 2 times less than my monthly income.

Or Nikita wrote on his blog that he doesn’t understand people who go on vacation at sea on credit. I also have a lot of friends like this. I started going on vacation abroad myself only when it became less than 10% of my annual income.

Before every purchase, ask yourself this question. Of course, life is short, and we cannot live our whole lives like a miser, but sometimes we need to be able to deny ourselves. At least if you don't have an iPhone 6, people won't treat you worse. If you still decide to buy something, use my second rule.

• Use installment plans and other tools to reduce financial burden.

In our country, almost any service or product can be purchased in installments from 3 to 5 months.

For example, in stores household appliances Our banks offer installment purchase services. Moreover, whether you buy the goods in cash or in installments, the price is the same.

How it works: banks have reached agreements with large chains; they sell goods to banks at a discount. Banks sell goods to consumers without a discount, at the same price as on the price tag.

This form of payment is beneficial for everyone: stores expand their sales volume (allows them to increase cash flow, despite a slight loss of profitability), banks have a profit in the form of their markup, but the consumer does not care - he would pay the same for cash payment as in installments. No one will give a discount to an ordinary consumer.

How it works in practice.

I have an apartment that I rent out. The balcony was terrible, the tenant moved out. I decided to insulate the balcony and glaze it with metal-plastic. The installation amount is 350 thousand, I didn’t want to pay that amount at once because... I would have to lose my deposit reward.

We agreed with the company, I pay 50% immediately, the remaining amount is divided into 5 months in installments.

The arithmetic is simple: I will pay 35 thousand monthly, I rent out an apartment for 80 thousand (and with an insulated balcony it will be even easier to rent it out). I can put the difference of 45 thousand into a monthly deposit. Think about how you can apply this in practice in your case.

• Plan and distribute your monthly budget into parts and be sure to save at least 10-20% of your income.

I divide my salary into several parts:

• payment of food expenses,
• public utilities;
• workout;
• kindergarten for children (50%);
• I put part of the money directly on deposit (20-30%);
• I put the rest for unexpected expenses in 4 envelopes (one envelope for each week) (20-30%);

Why do you need to save money? If you work, this is necessary to collect a sufficient amount for your business or investment.

In my case, at first I saved for a rainy day, so that if I was fired from my job, I would have something to live on and not rush to look for good deals. Well, in general: for any serious investment you need at least a small amount of money.

I advise you to start with a strict rule: from each receipt of money, put at least 10% into your pocket, and later you can put it in the bank. More than 10% is possible, less is IMPOSSIBLE!

Over time, you will be surprised that you can actually live on slightly less expenses when that 10% is not an eyesore.

• Engage in financial education.

There are a lot of books on the Internet like “financial analysis for non-financiers,” read any business literature. Find out where you can invest your money.

For example, in our country you can invest small money in mutual funds (mutual investment funds), the return of which is higher than the deposit.

Also, I was lucky that in my city real estate cost little money; having bought an apartment on time, I was able to rent it out, receiving passive income.

Every time I draw up a balance sheet for myself as an enterprise.

I stick to a simple formula:

“My liabilities should be 2 times lower than the volume of my assets”

This means if I feel bad, I can close all my debts by selling all my assets and still have half left.

I make a forecast of my income Money and approximate consumption.

I don’t advise you to draw up a balance sheet, because financial analysis requires special training.

You can't explain this to an ordinary person.

If you wish, sign up for financial analysis courses. If you want to be an entrepreneur in the future, this will come in handy.

• Develop your entrepreneurial skills. Always look for ways to invest, invest.

This point overlaps with point 3. Why?

Because it allowed me to save a little money, and with this money I was able to buy a small business (a boutique in a well-known trading house).

I knew the owner because I communicate with entrepreneurs through my work. He was leaving for permanent residence in another country and selling assets; he offered this asset to me because he knew that I had the amount to buy it right away.

I asked him to allow me to conduct an analysis (suddenly the business was unprofitable).

I checked management and tax records, interviewed neighbors in the trading house.

A week later, I bargained and bought a point within 10 thousand dollars. It is worth noting that these investments can be recouped in 10-12 months.

I also have an apartment, I bought it during the recession. The mortgage crisis of 2007-2008 halved prices in our city. After the purchase, my wife and I renovated it and now we rent it out. In the future, I will give this apartment to my son when he grows up.

In general, you need to understand that money depreciates every year, so you should always look for ways to invest your free money. Use your brain to think about what can bring you additional income outside of work. Maybe the stock market, maybe the real estate market, maybe mutual funds.

My brother buys clothes from wholesalers, then supplies them to public schools at a markup. Each school has a fund for purchasing clothes for low-income families. So he puts them on. Everyone is happy.

• Learn to turn earned income into passive income.

Look at the biographies of entrepreneurs. Almost everyone started working and developed their own business in their free time. At the same time, in order to develop their business, they had to invest their earned income into it.

I do the same. It is worth noting that I spent 5-6 years just working on myself, I developed the skills of a professional, worked hard at work.

He was an example to follow. I managed to climb the career ladder. My salary is now 10 times more than at the very beginning of my career!

Over the past 3-4 years, as my salary grew, I began to save money and invest it.

And by the way, I love my main job. It was she who allowed me to learn financial literacy, allowed me to earn money and save.

I save part of my salary to invest later.

Now I have 20% in deposits, 40% in real estate, 30% in business, the rest in securities and mutual funds.

Fortunately, all this generates income. So I advise young guys to find a job they like. Try to grow in your career, not forgetting to save money and turn it into assets.

• Do not save investments on education and health.

This is not worth saving on. Educated people earn more than a worker at a machine. This is harsh, but true.

I advise you not to skimp on education. You should also not skimp on your health. This is why I go to the gym. My family and I try to buy quality food products. We use health insurance to gain access to quality medical services. As a result, medical insurance is cheaper.

And in general, why do we need money without health?

• Do what you love. Entrepreneurship is the path to wealth.

If you have been good at drawing since childhood, but because your parents forced you to become a lawyer, you gave up this business, it’s time to develop your skills in your free time.

You can try to open a design business, you can sell your sketches online. The main thing is to want it.

If you had a dream, realize it step by step. Practice shows that if you love your business, then success awaits you. Believe me, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford and other successful people loved what they did. Therefore, instead of wasting your life aimlessly, cursing everyone, try to find time to do additional things.

A friend of mine from a poor family has been drawing all his life; against the wishes of his parents, he went to study to become an architect-designer. Worked in private company. Later he began to work for himself, now he makes orders for rich people to design cottages, and he also makes sculptures. The administration of several cities in our Republic ordered sculpture projects from him.

So listen to your heart and take action. For example, Nikita devotes all her free time to her blog. Over time, I think he will be able to earn more from blogging than he does now.

The main thing is to do what you love. After all, only by becoming an entrepreneur can you become truly rich.

• Have a strategic financial plan (drawn up for 5 years in advance or more).

Once there was an article about what Nikita planned at the beginning of the year, and what he managed to accomplish (). I am making the same plan. I look at it once a month.

Nikita’s plan may not be called financial, but you must admit that most of the tasks rest on finances.

So make a plan like this for every year. My strategic plan is to retire at 50-55 years old and live on passive income. Have savings, own liquid assets in the form of real estate, and be the owner of a small business.

I would like to point out that these rules are not dogma.

Maybe they will be revised during life. Why? Because life is an endless learning experience.

Anyone who stops learning from experience, educating themselves and changing their views on life is frozen in the past.

There are ups and downs in life, and it’s not a fact that tomorrow my property won’t become cheaper, my deposit and securities won’t depreciate.

But I think that self-development will help me find a way out of a possibly difficult situation. After all, as Nikita wrote in one of his articles, the main thing is!

conclusions

I thank Alexander for very interesting and practical advice.

Many moments were interesting for me. I am sure, friends, that his experience was useful for you too. I love practical advice from a practical person.

Here are the main points of this article:

1. Find an opportunity to SAVE a portion of your funds from each income received (for example, 10%).
2. Before every purchase, ask yourself: is this the most necessary thing at the moment?
3. Use installment plans and other tools to reduce your financial burden.
4. Plan and distribute your monthly budget into parts and be sure to set aside savings (at least 10-20% of your income).
5. Engage in financial education.
6. Develop your entrepreneurial skills. Always look for ways to invest, invest.
7. Learn to turn earned income into passive income.
8. Don't save investments on education and health.
9. Do what you love. Entrepreneurship is the path to wealth.
10. Have a strategic financial plan (drawn up 5 years in advance or more).

I hope the basics of financial literacy outlined in this article were useful to you, friends.

This is not the last article on the topic of saving and rational handling of money on my blog, because the topic is very relevant, useful and important for every developing person.

P.S. Subscribe to blog updates. It will only get worse.

With respect and best wishes,!

Universal tips work, but this does not mean that you should limit yourself to them. Internet users are successfully coming up with their own methods. Programmers, engineers, investors and students share their own inventions that look extremely smart.

Not all bad habits as dangerous to your savings as it seems at first glance. Perhaps a more flexible approach to the basic principles of saving is right for you. If you adapt them to your needs, simplify them and take into account the psychological component, saving and increasing money will become easier.

Why cash helps you save

Those who pay for purchases with bills and coins are more sensible about spending than their counterparts who shop with bank cards. Scientists came to this conclusion after studying the behavior of 14 thousand people who had loan debt.

You've carefully studied saving tips, but you see no incentive to follow them. Meanwhile, just three thousand rubles can change your life if you put it into a piggy bank every month and not spend it.

Balancing debits and credits, drawing up a budget are not activities for the faint of heart, and in general, saving is a very boring process. But Lifehacker tried to add a little fun to it by packing the main principles of saving money into a short quest.

If your efforts to start saving fail over and over again, do not rush to blame yourself. Perhaps the reason is not your lack of discipline. Most of our habits are formed in childhood, and attitude towards finance is no exception. You will have to begin to improve your relationship with money by eliminating the patterns laid down by your parents.

And a little more psychology to improve your relationship with finances. It is believed that money gives power. But it also happens that they establish control over us. To make your own approach to finances healthier, you'll have to dig deep into yourself and develop some healthy habits.

If you are used to thinking that only people with connections, rich parents or a magic wand can make money, it’s time to change your way of thinking. Instead of envying wealthy citizens, it is better to learn from them. Moreover, they are united by useful habits that are useful not only for making money.

Dreaming about fortune is wonderful, but ineffective. It's time to act. Of course, you won’t turn into a dollar billionaire tomorrow (you remember the benefits of advice in the style of “How to make a million in half an hour” - there is none). But changing your lifestyle and mindset greatly improves your chances of financial success.

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 take advantage of our financial illiteracy, which leads to dire 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 your 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 or even at university - and this is the biggest omission both for any state and for you and me. We come across money issues several times a day and at the same time we 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 house.” In 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 throw money away .

What is financial literacy?

This is not a very simple question because different people they understand it differently, and this 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 earn it 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 expenses is used in investments of any form.

Surely you know many people who have been earning quite good money for several years and yet are barely making ends meet. They are great at what they do - it could be programming, art, science, . However, some of them even manage to get into debt. And it would be nice if they bought themselves important things with which they... Typically, these products are completely pointless and purchasing them becomes burdensome.

This may seem strange, but in fact it doesn't matter how much you earn at the moment. In the history of mankind there are thousands of stories about how a completely poor person became a millionaire. There are also reverse stories - people who were hit with wealth managed to lose everything in a short time. Therefore, it is very important to understand that your current income is not a death sentence. That's exactly why you need it financial literacy. It shows how, by acquiring some financial habits, anyone can climb out of a financial hole and get back on their feet.

Economics is a difficult tool to understand. This is evidenced by financial crises, when even the best economists in the world were not able to predict things that now seem obvious. Now economists use the phrase about cycles, abdicating 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, this is a Hollywood actor who can receive several million dollars for one role. After some time, his fame fades, and along with it his financial fortune disappears. Therefore, he is forced to spend the rest of his life playing low-paying roles, selling off his property in order to make ends meet. This is a perfect illustration of the importance of financial literacy.

Application of financial literacy in life

Studying the theory, cultivating a conscious attitude towards money and financial thinking - these three things will help any person get settled in life.

Financial thinking is most important, but it is very important to constantly learn and supplement knowledge with practical skills. Some people believe that you need to work as hard as possible to become financially secure. On the one hand, this is true, but on the other hand, you must first of all work wisely. Once you start your financial path, you are forced to work as hard as possible. But there is one important point: The more money you have, the more intelligently you should approach your work. There is no point in becoming rich and working your ass off. A financially literate person, as his capital increases, works less and at the same time accomplishes more. For example, once you reach the point of becoming an investor, you can 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 will decide for yourself how much and where.

Remember that you can apply financial knowledge now. Everything you do with your 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. Simply spending your income gives immediate results and does not move you forward in any way.

Any book about financial independence will first of all make you understand the importance of optimizing expenses in your life. Spending everything you earn is the worst strategy, worse than living on credit.

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, satisfying immediate desires does not lead to anything good. In the financial sphere, this can lead to the most catastrophic consequences. The financial literacy course is designed to change your thinking and help you become a more mature and human person.

How to learn financial literacy?

No one is born financially literate. You can be born into a rich family, but this does not guarantee you a wonderful financial future.

To develop financial thinking in yourself, you need to devote many months to this. However, you can develop many positive changes in yourself within a few days. The theory of money can be learned fairly quickly, and you can also understand how the stock market or bank works. And only by understanding how finance works will you begin to move forward little by little.

In past times, financial literacy was even worse. Man was forced to work from morning to night in order to at least survive. Financial culture existed in its infancy. To become a wealthy person, you had to use force. Nowadays, a lot has changed and this is a great chance for each of us to succeed in life. There is a lot of freely available materials: books, courses and videos. Any information is available here and now. However, as we know, the availability of information at the same time depreciates it. You must clearly understand that you already have everything you need for financial prosperity, you just need to find the right materials.

Perhaps the most important skill for developing financial literacy is. 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 discipline around your financial habits, you increase your chances a thousandfold of being retired in ten years, having passive sources of income, and doing whatever you want.

Want to test your knowledge?

If you want to test your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how suitable it is for you, you can take our test. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question.

Lessons on financial literacy

Having studied a large amount of literature and biographies of rich and successful people, we came to the conclusion that financial literacy is a skill. Any skill can be learned. We have developed six lessons for you, each of which will cover a specific aspect of financial literacy. The good news is that we didn't have to rely on different types people, since financial literacy is not something unique to every financially successful person. This is a certain set of knowledge and simple skills that everyone can acquire. All great businessmen had approximately the same philosophy, only the ways to achieve the goal differed.

Purpose of the course: to introduce our reader to planning, financial analysis and investing.

Course Objective: develop financial thinking in the reader, which is not taught at school and university.

We present you with a short overview of each of the lessons.

How to take classes?

At times this course may not seem very easy, but we tried to mix simple and difficult things. Economics is somewhat complex, but once you get to know it better, you will understand that it has its own completely understandable laws. There are also completely illogical things in it, but you will understand this and do everything to be prepared for the unexpected.

The first, third and fifth lessons are more related to theory than practice. You can choose this order of study. The theory will require the least amount of time. The second, fourth and sixth lessons are mostly practice and require more time to study and implement. However, you can study the lessons in order. The symbiosis of theory and practice is the right approach and any professional knows about this. 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 complete 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 return to it from time to time. Once you've completed the course, come back and reinforce your skills, review the recommended reading list, and move on. However, 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.

Hello, friends!

Over the course of decades, a very dangerous stereotype has grown in our country, according to which financial literacy is needed only by people working in the financial markets. And only now is the painful realization beginning to dawn that without her we are like little children who cannot read and count.

The governing authorities also saw the vacuum that had formed in the field of financial education. In 2017, Russia approved a strategy to eliminate illiteracy in financial matters, designed until 2023.

What is financial literacy and why is it important?

While preparing the material for this article, I realized that I could easily slip into the realm of a finance textbook. It will seem boring and uninteresting to people who don't have economic education and have never heard of compound interest, investments and risks.

It seems to me that my task is to convey to readers in simple language one single idea - financial literacy is needed by absolutely every person.

What is financial literacy and why is it needed?

– this is the necessary knowledge that helps to plan a family budget, save money in conditions of instability in the economy and increase it in order to ensure a decent standard of living for yourself and your loved ones.

Now tell me that you don’t need this, then I can sympathize with you.

Problems that a financially illiterate person may face:

1. Participation in dubious monetary transactions that lead to the loss of invested funds (for example, pyramid schemes).
2. Recklessly getting into debt by taking out loans at inflated rates.
3. Investment that does not protect savings even from inflation, including pension savings.
4. Misunderstanding of majority action market instruments, the proper use of which can lead to improved well-being.
5. Unsecured old age on a poverty stipend from the state.

We definitely don't need such problems. Therefore, now let's determine the main reasons for compulsory study of the basics of money literacy:

1. Learn to keep track of your income and expenses for the purpose of further budget planning.
2. Learn to live within your means, and not become an eternal client of credit institutions.
3. Understand existing tools for preserving and increasing your own funds in order to ensure that you receive passive income in the future.
4. Avoid becoming the target of fraudulent activities.
5. Protect yourself and your family from economic crises.

Statistics on the level of financial education of the Russian population

In 2015, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation conducted a study in which it assessed the level of knowledge of the Russian population in matters of the financial sector. Participants ranged in age from 14 to 79 years. Interesting results were obtained:

• 24% of respondents, when asked whether they have at least some amount for unforeseen expenses, answered “No”;
• only 20% are confident in a fair resolution of a dispute or conflict with a financial institution (bank, insurance company);
• 37% of those surveyed who took out some types of loans did not compare these banking products with each other and did not choose the best offer;
• 70% of respondents believe that the state is responsible for a decent level of a person’s pension.

These are bad results, but there are also good ones:

• 64% understand that the higher the return, the higher the risk;
• There has been a positive trend for almost all questions of the questionnaire compared to 2013, when the first studies were conducted.

This is official data obtained from a study, but there is also a subjective opinion of Russians. In 2017 National agency financial research (NAFI) conducted a survey among the population of the Russian Federation. Only 12% of Russians believe that they have a good level of financial literacy. This figure has been declining sharply in recent years.

However, the number of families that keep records of income and expenses has increased (from 20% in 2015 to 42% in 2017). If you still do not do this, I recommend reading the article on our blog. She will dot all the i's.

Do you want to test your literacy? Don't be alarmed, there are only 4 questions. In 2013, 33% passed a basic financial literacy test. But in 2015, only 14% did so.

Financial literacy test

The test consists of 4 questions. Choose the correct answer in your opinion. I will give the correct answers at the end of the paragraph.

Question 1: Let's assume that you deposited 100,000 rubles into a bank account for 2 years at 8% per year. How much money will be in your account after 2 years if you don't make any withdrawals or deposits?

1. More than 108,000 rubles.
2. Exactly 108,000 rubles.
3. Less than 108,000 rubles.

Question 2: Let's assume that you deposited 100,000 rubles into a bank account for 5 years at 10% per year. Interest will be calculated annually and added to the principal amount of the deposit. How much money will be in your account after 5 years if you do not withdraw any principal or accrued interest from the account?

1. More than 150,000 rubles.
2. Exactly 150,000 rubles.
3. Less than 150,000 rubles.

Question 3: Let's say you see the same TV model on sale in two different stores. The initial price of the TV in each store was 10,000 rubles. One store offers a discount of 1,500 rubles from the original price, and another offers a 10% discount from the original price. What is more profitable - a discount of 1,500 rubles or 10%?

1. Discount of 1,500 rubles.
2. 10% discount.

Question 4: Let's assume that you took out a loan from a bank for a year in the amount of 10,000 rubles. Interest on the loan is 600 rubles per year. You must repay the loan and interest on it throughout the year in equal installments every month. Estimate approximately what the annual interest rate on your loan will be.

1. Less than 6%.
2. Exactly 6%.
3. More than 6%.

Now let's summarize. Correct answers:

• 1st question – more than 108,000 rubles;
• 2nd question – more than 150,000 rubles;
• 3rd question – discount of 1,500 rubles;
• 4th question – exactly 6%.

Did you manage? If yes, congratulations. You are great. If not, then urgently improve your literacy in handling money, because the questions were not simple, but very simple.

You can find many such tests on the Internet. There are foreign ones, and there are domestic ones. Big and small. You can train as much as you like. The main thing is to learn to apply the acquired knowledge in practice.

Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Sergei Storchak in the Izvestia newspaper on October 5, 2017 announced the results of an international study. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) measured the level of financial literacy of participants from 20 countries. Russia is in 9th place. The leader, France, was only 2 points short. Not a bad result at all.

And the results among schoolchildren are even better. Over the course of 3 years of research, our Russian students rose from 10th to 4th place. They are ahead of the USA, the Netherlands and Australia. So our financial future is not dark at all.

Ways to eliminate financial illiteracy

Where to start improving your education level in finance? There are several methods, choose the one that seems optimal to you:

• Reading specialized literature. For example, I did good selection.

When I was preparing material from books, I had to read them all. I don't regret the time spent at all. Today, my husband and I have already developed a family strategy for saving money for short-term and long-term goals. We opened a deposit, invested part of the funds in a mutual fund, and part in an individual investment account. We will replenish deposits every month.

• View online lessons, paid and free.

By the nature of my activity, I rotate among information businessmen who organize similar courses. When choosing free classes, you must clearly understand that the main goal of any trainer is not to enrich you with their knowledge and experience, but to attract you to paid training. I'll be glad if I'm wrong.

• Personal consultation.

The consultant will develop for you a personal financial plan, savings and savings strategy, and much more. The services are not cheap. I looked at the price list on Vladimir Savenok’s website. He is the first independent financial consultant in Russia, who has written many books on this topic. I would be happy to schedule a consultation with him.

• Independent study of available materials on websites and blogs.

I’ll tell you more about trustworthy web resources in the next paragraph.

• Personal experience.

Not the best good way, but probably the most effective. This is the way to analyze your own mistakes. Personal experience is priceless, but is there time to get it?

Resources to Improve Your Financial Education

There is a lot of information on the Internet and in print publications on filling gaps in matters of handling money. There are thematic websites, blogs, YouTube channels, online courses and entire schools.

It’s easy for those starting to learn the basics of finance on their own to get confused. Let's look first at proven sources of information, which were created either with the support of government agencies or well-deserved financial institutions. organizations:

• Fingramota.org

An educational website created with the support of an expert group on financial education at Federal service on financial markets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. It publishes a lot of useful material on finance. There are articles, videos and presentations.

• Banki.ru

The information portal publishes news, ratings of banks and banking products. You can select debit or credit cards based on your options. There are convenient calculators for calculating interest on deposits and loan payments.

• Fgramota.org

Finnish educational portal literacy with the support of the Russian economic school and the Citi Foundation. Knowledge of financial management is presented in game form in the form of a game, online book, tests.

• ABC of finance

The name itself contains the basic principle of the portal - studying the topic of finance from the very beginning. There are examples of drawing up personal financial plans for families with different income levels. The valuable advice that experts give can be applied to creating your own plan.

• School of primary financial education FinStart

The school was created by Andrey Paranich, a member of the expert council on financial literacy and protection of the rights of consumers of financial services of the Bank of Russia. You can access the Program for free on the website. distance learning FinStart.

It is designed for 2 months of daily classes at a time convenient for the student. The topics are quite interesting. For example, “Personal finance planning”, “Loans”, “Investments. The beginning of the journey”, etc.

Don't forget about the official sites:

• Bank of Russia,
• Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation,
• Federal tax service and etc.

More details about online education are discussed in the article about financial literacy courses.

Financial literacy for pensioners and schoolchildren

As part of the article, I would like to talk about such categories of citizens as schoolchildren and pensioners. Why is it so important to turn Special attention on older people and involve them in learning the basics of financial literacy?

1. Pensioners are more likely than others to become victims of scams, ranging from fraud with bank cards to being lured into dubious credit institutions.
2. They are generally conservative in their views on saving and have no investment skills at all. Therefore, large sums of money often lie at home, under the pillow, or, at best, in a bank under very small percentage, gradually losing its value.
3. They do not receive information about benefits on taxes, utility bills, changes in pension reform. Only word of mouth works.

For example, my mother accidentally learned information on social networks from other users about the exemption of pensioners from paying property taxes. She went to the tax office, they confirmed it, and my mother wrote an application for benefits. But no one will return the money she overpaid for previous years. Like this…

And this is far from an isolated case when information is spread by word of mouth. The same disgrace is happening with the calculation of pensions. Someone said something, the pensioner rushes to Pension Fund, they confirm that recalculation is due, etc.

The pensioner himself must know and submit an application and documents for recalculation of his pension. No organization is responsible for informing pensioners. It is a disgrace on the part of the state to profit from pensioners’ ignorance of official sources of information.

We live in the age of information technology. Is it really impossible to make the necessary information more accessible? Social banners on the street, distribution through social networks from official government accounts. authorities, advertisements in banks, post offices, shops and clinics. Or is it possible to save the state budget only on pensioners?

A program of assistance in studying financial issues for pensioners must necessarily include the following points:

1. Informing in all possible ways about tax benefits, utility bills and the required recalculation of pensions, about changes in tax and pension legislation.
2. Free seminars and online courses on financial literacy, where you should spend time on issues such as:

• rules for proper use of debit and credit bank cards;
• ways of deceiving citizens by financial fraudsters;
• Internet scammers and how to avoid falling for their tricks;
• paying for purchases and bills via the Internet;
• methods for calculating risk when lending;
• modern tools for preserving accumulated money from inflation and increasing it for your children and grandchildren.

I think it’s a simple excuse that it’s difficult to convey the necessary information to pensioners because they don’t know new information technologies at the proper level. Everyone has mobile phone, many communicate on social networks, postmen with pensions, social workers and doctors from the clinic come. Everything can be done if there is a desire.

With schoolchildren, no excuses work at all. These are the people who are most accessible to obtain information.

First of all, we, parents, need to understand one simple idea - you need to teach your child how to handle money from the very beginning. early age. It is not necessary to start doing this when he has his own funds (for example, a gift from his grandmother). Conversations about the fact that you can’t thoughtlessly spend everything you earn on buying an expensive toy or fashionable sneakers, like Petya’s, should always be held in the family.

Many people don’t understand me, but I pay my eldest daughter money to clean the house. She never had pocket money. But there are gifts from grandmothers for the holidays and hard-earned cash. And in the summer she already worked as a copywriter under my strict guidance. Do you think she spends money on fashionable things? Only for the most necessary. For example, to buy a phone. The rest is saved in a bank deposit.

Give your child the book “Mani, or the ABC of Money” by Bodo Schaefer to read. He, together with the heroes, learns how to earn, save and how to increase money.

When preparing the material for this article, I studied many sites that offer online lessons at home or at school. They were created with the support of our banking structures and government agencies. They are absolutely free, the benefits are obvious.

But what do I see in the examples of my daughters’ schools (they study in different educational institutions)? There is absolutely nothing. Why? What prevents students from applying and conducting lessons online? The answer is indifference.

There are several interesting resources for concerned teachers:

1. Project “Online financial literacy lessons. Financial market professionals will come to every school.” Project organizer – central bank RF. Together with him, classes are taught by more than 50 lecturers from banking organizations, insurance companies, universities and government authorities in real time. Ask questions and answer questions from students.
2. Very interesting project“Be Friends with Finance” is implemented by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The partners are the Bank of Russia and the largest banking organizations. For children, information is presented in the form of comics, videos and tests.

Conclusion

Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation S. Storchak called the lack of discipline and responsibility for risks one of the problems of our population. And I agree with him. No amount of education will help if the basic rules of handling money are not regularly followed: keeping track of your own income and expenses, planning a family budget, saving. Developing these skills is not difficult, but understand why you are doing it.

Vladimir Savenok wrote in one of his books that in 99% of cases he knows why people save money:

• to live on interest;
• not doing what we are doing now;
• do what you love;
• protect your capital.

I'm definitely one of those 99%. And you?

Welcome, dear reader, to our website! As sad as it is, let's start with the less pleasant. We have depressing news and we are sadly forced to report that the financial literacy of the population of our country is at a very, very low level, and what is even worse is that not only ordinary people are financially illiterate people, but even many of those entrepreneurs who are already running their own business. This unsightly situation has arisen due to the lack of training programs in educational institutions for even basic, let alone more complex principles of personal financial management.

In order not to be unfounded, in confirmation of the above, we bring to your attention interesting information. In November 2015, the international rating agency Standard&Poor’s examined the level of financial literacy in different countries. And it turned out that according to this most important indicator, Russia is on the same level with Madagascar, Cameroon, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Belarus (Russia ranks 55th in the ranking of countries with a financially literate population; in our country, only 38% of the adult population is financially literate). We were ahead of not only Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, but even Senegal, Mongolia, Zambia and Zimbabwe!

And this needs to be corrected urgently, and we hope that we will be able to make our modest contribution to this good cause. By starting to improve the financial literacy of our readers in this article and subsequent articles that will be published on this site. From the same article, you will briefly learn about what finance is, as well as where you should start learning financial literacy, what basic financial literacy every entrepreneur should master, what financial literacy skills every sane person, and an entrepreneur in particular, should have.

So, let's get started, but let's start with the term, the definition of what finance is.

Finance is a collection economic relations arising in the process of creation and use of funds (centralized or decentralized) funds used for the needs of the state and to provide conditions for the expansion of production. The emergence of finance is associated with the presence of such conditions as regular commodity-money exchange and the need of the state to attract additional resources. There is no one correct definition of finance enshrined in regulatory documents However, there are several definitions of the concept of “finance”, which are united in one thing: finance is associated with the formation, distribution and use of monetary funds and the purpose of their existence is to perform the functions and tasks of the state. However, you can find out what finance is from such public regulatory sources as: Civil, Labor, Tax, Budget, Family Codes.

In Western scientific and educational literature general definitions Finance is usually not given; finance is interpreted quite broadly. It is usually specified what kind of finance we are talking about: public, corporate or personal finance.

What is finance from a household point of view?

If we consider the term finance from an everyday point of view, then first of all this concept refers to money - both cash and non-cash (cash in bank accounts and in the form of securities). The origin of the term "finance" is due to French, in which the word “finance” has a literal translation as “cash”. And although the definitions finance mainly formed around money, Finance itself may include other assets, including: gems, metals, enterprises, real estate, road transport.

Considering the term finance from a broad point of view, it is necessary to take into account the following components: government “public” finance and personal finance, the global financial system and international financial relations, financial market and credit relations, commercial and civil finance, etc. The narrower meaning of the concept moves to the sphere of direct monetary circulation at the stage of formation and use of funds aimed at solving the problems of state management, mainly budgetary funds. The financial system also expresses the relationship between individuals and legal entities.

What is financial literacy?

Financial literacy- this is a person’s ability to manage his income and expenses, accept right decisions on distribution of funds (live within your means) and wisely increase them. In other words, this is knowledge that allows you to achieve financial well-being and remain at this level throughout your life. Financially literate people do not live from paycheck to paycheck, and take out loans only in cases where they are confident that the loan taken will bring profit in the future. They do not give in to panic even during an economic crisis, since they have a “reserve fund” in case of various force majeure events.

Unfortunately, the population of our country cannot be called financially literate, since most of them grew up in a completely different era and are simply not used to thinking about financial well-being in the future and planning cash receipts and expenditures on a long-term basis. The generation of Russian citizens who grew up during the Soviet era cannot teach children and teenagers all the nuances of the world of finance, because they themselves know practically nothing about this field of activity. There was no stock market in the USSR, money could only be kept in one bank, and the only legal source of livelihood was salary. And this is evidenced by the following facts:

• Almost half of the residents of our country keep money the old-fashioned way at home. We are not used to increasing our capital, and numerous collapses and crises have only strengthened distrust in financial institutions.
• More than half of Russians do not use all kinds of financial services. And not because there is no such need. People just don’t understand how it all works and don’t even know about their existence.
• Less than half of the Russian population knows about the deposit insurance system.
• Most of the population does not understand how the pension system works (but we are offered to invest in it in order to receive a decent pension in the future).

In the modern world, it is simply necessary to learn how to handle money correctly. There is an expression - money loves counting. This means not only counting paychecks or counting change. This is taking into account all your expenses and planning them, one might even say planning your life, because everything in it is sold and everything is bought. So we gradually got closer to learning. basics of financial literacy.

Where to start learning financial literacy?

Of course, first of all, we recommend our website, where we regularly publish articles with up-to-date and verified information on the following most popular topics: finance, business, investments, lending, insurance, mortgages, taxes and forex.

1. Reading specialized literature on the basics and principles of financial literacy.

Speaking of specialized literature, we do not mean academic textbooks in the “Financial Management” format for students of economic universities, but books with approximately the following titles: financial literacy for beginners, accounting for personal finances from scratch, the basics of entrepreneurship, taxes - it’s easy, etc. .

List of books on financial literacy - TOP 20 books

For those beginning to understand the basics of financial literacy, books by the following authors are required reading: Bodo Schaeffer, Napoleon Hill, Vladimir Savenok, George S. Clason, Robert Kiyosaki.

TOP 10 books on financial literacy for beginners

1. Daniel Goldie and Gordon Murray "The Investment Response. How to protect your financial future."
2. Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko "Your Neighbor is a Millionaire."
3. Daniel Kahneman "Think slow, decide fast."
4. Carl Richards, The Psychology of Investments. How to stop doing stupid things with your money."
5. A. Goryaev, V. Chumachenko “Financial literacy”.
6. Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin, Monique Tilford Trick or Treat? You control money, or Money controls you."
7. Eker Harv "Think like a millionaire."
8. Benjamin Graham "The Intelligent Investor".

1. A book that should be on every entrepreneur's desk: The ENTREPRENEUR'S GUIDE - 24 concrete steps from startup to sustainable business by Bill Ohlet.
2. A book that is also from the category "must be": Bill Shay "UNSTOPPABLE - intensive for future entrepreneurs."

But in essence, these two books are useful not only for beginning entrepreneurs, but also for experienced businessmen. Simply put, these two books should be reference books not only for those starting their own business, but also for entrepreneurs who have been running small and medium-sized businesses for a relatively long time.

TOP 10 books on advanced financial literacy

For a more advanced level of financial literacy, the following literature is recommended:

1. Edwin Lefebvre, Memoirs of a Stock Speculator.
2. Peter Lynch The Peter Lynch Method. Strategy and tactics of the individual investor."
3. Robert Shiller, Irrational Optimism.
4. Peter Bernstein "Against the Gods" Taming risk."
5. George Soros "The Alchemy of Finance."
6. Warren Buffett, Essays on Investing, Corporate Finance, and Company Management.
7. Charles Mackay "The Most Common Delusions and Follies of Crowds."
8. Michael Lewis "Liar's Poker"
9. Charles P. Kindleberger “World Financial Crises. Manias, panics and crashes."
10. Andrey Paranich “Personal financial plan. Instructions for compilation"

2. Attending seminars, courses and webinars to improve financial literacy

If it is easier for you to perceive information “live”, then you can attend an introductory seminar, course or training to improve the level of financial literacy. Fortunately, there are currently plenty of similar courses and seminars, the main thing is not to get into some kind of pyramid seminar or hype lecture (a fraudulent project similar to an investment fund with high returns), or an explicit advertisement for a broker, insurance company, or financial advisor. To do this, you need to pay attention to which institution or company provides financial literacy courses. For example, seminars with similar names from some brokerage companies and banks have the real purpose of attracting you as a client and selling you their specific products, so they should be treated with caution. But financial literacy courses organized by universities and independent financial advisors can be extremely useful. Especially if you don’t just listen to them, but start applying the tips and recommendations in your everyday life.

It is also very convenient to take advantage of various online courses and seminars.

3. Develop good financial habits

For many people, developing just four healthy financial habits may be enough to change their financial situation for the better. These are 4 good habits:

• Start keeping track of your income and expenses. Plan your expenses for a month in advance.
• Avoid debts and loans - live within your means.
• Always immediately after receiving income, save and invest at least 10% of the amount received. And from the remaining money, pay for your usual expenses, starting with the most important ones.
• Be sure to consult with professionals before investing in any investment project.

We highly recommend using this advice to improve your financial literacy. It is not as simple as all the previous ones, as it requires more real effort from you and changes in your usual lifestyle. But you will immediately observe the effect of it: your well-being will increase along with the level of your financial literacy.

Fundamentals of financial literacy that every entrepreneur should master

Below is a list of 5 basic skills that every entrepreneur should master.

The right approach to money

First of all, this is, of course, the right approach to money. You need to change your attitude towards money from a consumer one (“what you earn, you spend”) to a managerial one. You must realize that you do not have personal money, but that you have personal finances. You must strive to get rid of the financial dependence that is present in the vast majority of people, and make sure that it is not money that controls you, but that you control money. Believe me, this is not only more correct, but also much more promising. We repeat once again, get rid of money dependence as soon as possible: it is not money that controls a person, but he controls money.

Financial planning and accounting

You need to start keeping track of your income and expenses every day. (good modern technologies made this task much easier), master planning and accounting of personal finances, you must learn to draw up and plan an enterprise budget, personal and family budgets, keep records of all finances. And all financial transactions must be planned and taken into account, creating “accumulation funds” and capital for investment. This is necessary in order to always be aware of your financial results, rationally use available financial resources, create savings and capital for investment.

And be sure, for security reasons, in case of force majeure, you need to save a fund, the size of which should be enough for 6-12 months of your usual standard of living in the event of loss of business or job!

Cooperation with financial institutions

A prerequisite for financial literacy for both ordinary people and entrepreneurs is mastering relationships with financial institutions. Today, in order to become successful and rich, you need to be able to establish relationships with banks, insurance companies, brokers and other participants in the financial market, use tools for effective financial management, saving and increasing money. Every year more and more people understand the effectiveness of working with financial institutions.

You need to learn how to competently use all the opportunities provided, try to make the bank your financial partner and conduct mutually beneficial cooperation with it, know the rules of working with banks. You should also understand that loans in most cases do not promise anything good, and living on credit means gradually sliding into a financial hole, but deposits are a relatively reliable financial instrument for storing savings and capital. Thanks to the large selection of various programs and services that are available on financial market, today you can start earning income with the most minimal investments.

Additional sources of income

The financial literacy of the population continues to remain at a low level also because the vast majority of people perceive paid work as the only possible way to replenish their personal or family budget; entrepreneurs invest all their money only in their enterprise. Therefore, when mastering the basics of financial literacy, you must understand that not only active earnings are possible, but also passive income, that ways of earning money should be diversified in order to better protect the enterprise budget, personal or family budgets from force majeure situations. (for example, in case of bankruptcy of an enterprise, if you are an entrepreneur, or in case of dismissal, if you are an employee).

And be sure to allocate some part of your income to improving your own qualifications and self-development. This is an investment that will definitely pay off in the long term!

Investments

In general, it would be very correct to introduce the subject of “personal investments” into the compulsory school curriculum, or if not into the school curriculum, then certainly into the curriculum of any university.

Every person needs to know, regardless of whether he is engaged in entrepreneurial activity or not, that money can create other money, and it can not be eaten, but can be forced to work and generate passive income. It should be understood that investments are always associated with risks; these risks must be managed and diversified by investing in different financial instruments.

If our educational establishments If we included these simple five topics in our training programs, the financial literacy of the population of our country would be at a much higher level. Well, since time is lost in the context of school or university training of financially literate individuals, you can only improve your financial literacy on your own, by studying specialized literature on finance, attending courses, seminars, webinars dedicated to improving financial literacy, as well as visiting thematic sites, for example, like ours.

What financial literacy skills should everyone have?

Be able to maintain a balance between consumption and investment

Living well today while saving and investing enough money to ensure a comfortable standard of living in the future is not an easy task. If you don’t save anything for the future, then a miserable, miserable pension from the state awaits you. If you save and invest to the maximum, and now live from hand to mouth “on bread and water”, you run the risk of not living to see that very “bright future” or paying too high a price for it - in the form of a hated past. Therefore, it is very important to adhere to the “golden mean”, which will allow you to live comfortably now and no worse in the future.

Be able to effectively manage personal finances, plan income and expenses in advance

Nowadays, there are various services for tracking income and expenses, for example: Easyfinance, Homemoney, Drebedengi, Zenmoney, etc. All of them allow you to literally enter information about expenses and income from your phone screen in just a couple of minutes a day. If you do not want to trust this kind of information to various third-party services, you can use regular Excel.

It is important to plan expenses for the next month, as well as conduct analysis and compare planned indicators with actual ones. 30 minutes a month devoted to planning and analyzing your personal budget allows you to find holes in the budget, determine where exactly the money is flowing, and make the right decisions to increase the amount of money in your wallet.

Be able to set clear financial goals and successfully achieve them

Who among us doesn’t like to dream about an expensive sports car, a house on the seashore, a yacht or financial independence. A goal differs from a dream in that it has specific deadlines for implementation, cost, priority and a lot of other parameters.

For example, “I want a house by the sea” is a dream, but “buying a two-story house with an area of ​​150 sq. m. meters with a garage and a swimming pool, two blocks from the sea on the southern coast of Spain, worth 250 thousand euros in 15 years” - quite a specific financial goal. And if we start saving monthly right now and investing in reliable tools on stock market at 598 euros with a very moderate average return of 10% per annum, then in exactly 15 years we will achieve our goal and buy a house for 250 thousand euros.

Plan your future 10-30-50 years in advance and follow your personal financial plan

If you don't have a plan to become rich, then most likely you are planning to be poor. You just don’t realize it.” (R. Kiyosaki)

Personal financial plan (LFP) is your best friend and assistant in realizing your financial goals. Those people who follow a personal financial plan are guaranteed to achieve financial well-being. Work with physical therapy is carried out in several stages:

Analysis and assessment of the current situation: Income and expenses, Assets and Liabilities.
Setting goals and determining specific actions for their implementation.
Choosing the right ones financial instruments for every purpose.
Implementation of the plan.
Annual analysis of progress towards goals and adjustment of the plan.

Use different financial instruments to achieve different goals

These days, there are hundreds of different financial instruments available to a wide range of people. All of them have different properties and parameters, such as profitability, reliability, stability, liquidity, recommended investment period, entry threshold, etc.

Obviously, it will not be possible to solve short-term financial problems with the help of long-term instruments - for example, if you know that you will need money within 3 months, you should not rush to buy an apartment or invest it in shares of a particular company - for short-term investment it is better to use bank deposits because they have maximum liquidity.

Be able to diversify sources of income

Having just one source of income these days is very dangerous, especially if not only you, but also your loved ones depend on this source. In this case, you are putting yourself and your family at too great a risk. When a person has several different sources of income, his life is much more comfortable. The feeling of stability, security and confidence in the future of your family is priceless. The benefit of creating new sources of income is evidenced by the fact that with the increase in the number of different sources, the amount of money coming to you regularly increases, and, consequently, the standard of living and well-being increases. Financially literate people try to create at least 1 new source of income every year.

Now you know all 6 essential skills of financially literate people, which means you can implement them into your life and quickly increase your financial literacy.

On our website you have the opportunity to learn the basics of financial literacy absolutely free, and this is a prerequisite if you want to live happy life, a wealthy person. With proper application of the acquired knowledge in practice, you will certainly be able to significantly improve your financial situation and begin the path to financial independence, as the highest state of personal finance, in which a person becomes absolutely independent of money!