Gaining Financial Literacy

         One of the greatest things you can do for yourself is to become financially literate.  When we look at our own wellness wheels, we often forget to train ourselves to become more financially secure. Becoming financially secure can allow more time and energy into physical pursuits and preparing good, nutritious food. Now, you're probably asking yourself, "Hold on here Ryan, what are you talking about?" I am talking about a specialized stream of education where you learn about how to manage money, invest money, spend money wisely and most importantly, how to make money wisely. These are some big terms to juggle around in our minds everyday so the question is, where do we start? How can we become financially literate?
        Recently, my brother in law (who so happens to be a chartered accountant) introduced me to a series of  the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" book series. I read one book titled, "Sales Dogs" and the latest one titled, "The 8 New Rules Of Money", which basically outlines everything you need to know to prepare yourself for your future in terms of basic financial literacy. In this book, the author emphasizes that we need more financial education growing up. We need to be taught in schools not only how to pay our bills, add on GST and HST, be able to multiply and divide correctly, etc, we need to be taught what the terms deflation, inflation, debt, bonds, recession and depression really mean. The author states that we must reform the educational system to teach these financial terms and skills to our kids so that they can lean how to better prepare themselves for the real world.
        Now, as an educator, this is a utopian idea. I agree with the author for a more creative approach to economics and a better tackling of the term 'financial literacy' in education. However, we do not have adequate resources, funding, time and employed teachers to do so. If we are to increase our young peoples' financial literacy, we are going to need more support from the government instead of being suppressed under tight budgets, lack of resources and properly paid and employed teachers.
        I firmly believe after gaining financial literacy through these books and other resources that it is essential to our wellness wheels. Money and talk of money seems to drag people down emotionally, cause relationships to struggle, and even lead to a loss of interest in exercising (the "all hope is lost" principle). For the sake of our social, emotional, physical and spiritual wellness, we all must brush up our financial literacy in this information age in order to try and alleviate our financial burdens and focus on our overall health.

Ryan Fahey
B.A Human Kinetics
CPTN Canada
Canfitpro FIS, PTS
NCCP