Ignite Your Financial Literacy

3/29/2024

April is Financial Literacy Month, which is a nationwide, collaborative endeavor marked by a variety of activities and events across the country. The 2024 theme of Financial Literacy Month is “Inform, Inspire, Ignite.” The goal this year is to spread the message that financial empowerment begins with learning, and teachers start the spark of learning that pays dividends in the long term. April is a chance to reflect upon your spending and improve your finances.

Financial Literacy Month is a great opportunity to check in with and promote your financial situation and skills. Take this opportunity to review your finances and gradually make small changes to improve them. Whether you’re new to earning money or you’ve been earning for some time, it’s always a good idea to reflect upon your current spending habits.

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INFORM yourself about financial literacy

When informing yourself about financial literacy, it’s important to first understand what financial literacy is. Financial literacy is understanding financial principles to manage your money in a wise and effective manner. Financial literacy covers concepts like making a budget, saving, paying bills on time, managing debt, planning for home buying, investing for retirement, and being aware of financial fraud. Becoming financially literate means learning these basic concepts so you’re able to make better-informed decisions about your money and work toward your financial goals.  

Achieving financial literacy can help individuals stay informed about their finances and avoid making poor financial decisions. It can help them become self-sufficient and achieve financial stability. Financial literacy is a must for making thoughtful and informed decisions, avoiding unnecessary debt, helping family members through complex financial decisions, and having adequate income in retirement.

Read More: Beginner's Guide to Financial Literacy

INSPIRE your financial literacy

Without a proper understanding of personal finance, and the skills necessary to manage money effectively, financial success becomes extremely uncertain. The financial decisions you make, or don’t make, can potentially threaten your financial security. When you understand every aspect of your finances, you’ll be able to successfully set short-and long-term goals and avoid putting a strain on your finances. So, become inspired by your financial goals by gaining knowledge on important aspects of financial literacy:

• Budgeting
  • A good budget can provide you with a solid financial foundation. It offers insight into how much money is entering your household each month, how you tend to spend your money, and how much money you need to cover necessary expenses. You can learn how to create a budget here. 
• Debt Management
  • If you have debt, you’re not alone. In fact, 340 million Americans are in debt. A big part of financial literacy focuses on understanding how the time and money people spend on paying off debt hurts their ability to invest. You can learn about different debt payoff methods here. 
• Saving
  • Having debt makes saving money much harder. However, it’s possible to do both at the same time. Start by saving an emergency fund, a little at a time. Having an emergency fund will help alleviate the financial stress of uncertain life events and help keep you out of debt. If you don’t have an emergency fund, don’t panic because you can learn how to start one here. 
• Investing
  • Investing is the process of buying assets that increase in value over time and provide returns in the form of income payments or capital gains. Investing can also be about spending time or money to improve your own life or the lives of others. There are many different options for investing. You can invest in a retirement fund, stocks, real estate, and much more.

Read More: Financial Education in Schools

There’s always time to brush up on your financial knowledge if you think you’re not up to par. There are a plethora of resources available to help you become financially literate, and many of these resources are free. If you have a busy schedule, but still want to improve your financial literacy, try listening to a money podcast. You can listen while you’re on the go and they’re free! There is an abundance of different financial podcasts that focus on varying aspects of personal finance. You can listen to Navicore’s podcast, Millennial Debt Domination, here.

IGNITE your financial literacy

Now we know what financial literacy is, why it’s important, and the different aspects of it, we can ignite our financial literacy. Once you feel confident in your own financial literacy, pass the knowledge you’ve learned on. If you’re a parent wanting to teach your kids about finances, start the conversation. Financial education is a lifelong process and it’s never too early to start talking to your kids about money.

Once you start talking to your children about money, you need to keep the conversation going through their young lives. At each new phase of your child’s life, you’ll want to approach the teaching of financial literacy differently. By taking the initiative to educate yourself about personal finance, you’re in turn helping your family’s financial future. You’ll be able to guide your children regarding their own personal finances, providing them with the financial knowledge they’ll need to thrive later in life.

Read More: Teaching Kids About Money

Financial Literacy Month is a month-long campaign about the importance of financial literacy. However, it’s important to keep the conversation going throughout the year. There are a lot of things outside of our control that impacts our finances. Actively seeking information and continuing to build your financial knowledge has huge advantages. If you want to lead a financially stable life, understanding how money and finances work should be a high priority. From budgeting to saving, every piece of knowledge you gain is a tool that will help you make stronger financial decisions. If you find it difficult to manage your finances, consider a credit counseling session with a certified counselor. It may be the motivation you need to get your finances back on track. Any improvement in financial literacy will have a large impact on you and your ability to provide for your future self. Becoming financially literate when mastered, can ease life’s burdens tremendously.

 

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