FINANCIAL
LITERACY FOR ALL-FREEDOM & SECURITY
“Money makes
possible the enjoyment of the best the earth affords” George .S. Clason, Author
of the Richest Man in Babylon
As
I was putting this piece together, a Ghanaian Health Campaigner, Oheneba Ntim
Barima at Oman 107.1 FM in Accra was also sharing the awful and unjust
experience he had at the hands of Ghana Food & Drugs Board, (FDB) which got
him into Police cells for a night at the Ghana Police Heaaquarters in Accra. I
have been listening to him for some months now and as I write this, he has already
finished with part 4 of “Oheneba at
Police Cells” and the things he saw, heard there at the cells, you won’t believe,
but he is not the first person to have given a vivid description of what
happens at Ghana cells yet, day in day, year in year out nobody cares, things
are still the same yesterday and today. When will Ghana get civilized? I
strongly believe that Oheneba is one of the greatest human assets given to
Ghana and he should be allowed to have his freedom to help educate, cure and “liberate” the Ghanaian society and
the world at large.
Why
should a country like Ghana has its motto as “Freedom and Justice” written boldly on our Coat of Arms yet there
is never true justice for the innocent ordinary Ghanaian at all levels of our administrative, socio-politico and economic
and even religious setups. A Ghanaian, who would truly get justice, is the
Ghanaian who has the power to change the rules to suit his or her way(s), if
not then forget it. It’s hell. It has been so for uncountable years, yet nobody
seems to act on it. The society is full of injustice and there is no freedom
for the ordinary person in the street.
A
nephew of mine, who was a student at Bolga Polytechnic, innocently, got
rusticated for two years for no wrong done.
He
was attacked and stabbed at the loin and got injured seriously by another
student, whose elder brother is a lecturer at the Polytechnic. The student, who
stabbed my nephew, is still walking freely on the Polytechnic campus. My nephew,
who was the innocent victim, was framed up and got punished while the wrong
doer is going about on campus attending lectures freely. The committee that met
on the issue didn’t give my nephew chance to explain or even defend his part of
the story. The Doctor’s and Police reports were never used as part of the
committee’s investigations.
The Commission
for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) offices in Accra
and Bolga were informed officially and even some Human Rights Activists were
contacted and the story narrated to them, they promised to fight for the
innocent boy but up to now nothing has been done. No compensation whatsoever
for him. Stabbed free of charge? No
justice for the innocent boy yet. Is it because he does not have money to fight
for his rights, so he ended up getting punished?
There
are questions left unanswered by the Polytechnic, was the Doctor’s report used
as part of the evidence? Was the said Doctor contacted by the committee or the
Police? What was the Doctor’s response? Can the Doctor’s response be made
known? Where is the original Police report?
How
can we live in a country where only the advantaged
have the power and the “right” to
justice? Somebody, would ask, what has
this got to do with the topic under discussion?
It’s
a world wide platform.
There
cannot be freedom without justice. There cannot be financial freedom without
just financial education for the people. People are struggling to make ends
meet but still things are falling apart. Without financial knowledge in the 21st
Century and beyond, people will continue to enslave themselves for meager pay cheques that would not bring them
financial freedom.
There
is no complete meaningful life on earth without financial freedom and job
security alone without financial knowledge is like a pocket that is leaking and
the owner has no idea.
Freedom
is a complete world of fullness of every need and of every luxury and has no
limitations.
·
Financial
freedom enables man to get access to this world of fullness. Financial freedom
is only available to those, who are financially educated and financially
intelligent. They have the financial
knowledge to get what they want without cheating anybody.
·
I
want freedom all the time. I would only need maximum security if I were to become
the president, even there if I would have my own way I would walk to my people
freely without the aid of the security.
·
Financial
freedom allows one to get what one needs or wants without begging or even
working physically for it. Don’t be deceived if you are an employee and you
have millions sitting in your bank account now and you don’t make judicious use
of that money now, very soon inflation will eat it up for you and you would be
penniless. The rich don’t work for money, their money works for them.
·
If
you are financially free, you would not need a day’s job to survive life, you
would rather hire somebody to work for you, and then you pay the person.
·
You
buy what you want with own money. You can have the highest level of any type of
education from any place of learning in the world without looking for financial
scholarships. Financial freedom allows you to have enough time for yourself,
your family and your businesses. You can travel around the world with your own
money freely. Job security does not give you this, you need to ask for merited
permission to be absent else, you lose your pay, okay?
·
Financial
freedom means your money is working for you, whilst job security means you are
working for your money. If you are financially free, you can experience the
luxuries of earthly life without limit.
Security
is a bad world a world full of limitations. It is a world of no choices.
·
All
over the world, many people are fighting for job security, what they want is
maximum job security. They are like prisoners, who really need that maximum
security, so they don’t escape.
·
If
their company collapses, or if they are fired, they are in real trouble,
because they don’t have the financial knowledge or wisdom, boldness and
fortitude of making money as the financially free do.
·
Job
security means you cannot stay at home and be paid, unless you are on leave,
else you get sacked. You cannot freely buy what you want; your salary won’t be
enough for that and for you and your family. Luxury could be a mirage.
·
Job
security means you working to retire on a defined contribution person scheme,
(Social security in Ghana) i.e. 401(K) in USA, other countries have theirs. This
is likely going to be a peanut for you as you age and need more money for your
upkeep. You cannot necessarily meet your
old-age expenses with defined contribution pension schemes.
·
You
are likely going to depend on your children, if you have any and or the
government for support and where they fail you, then you get “imprisoned”. No freedom for you.
·
Job
security is good but should be backed by sound intelligent financial knowledge
so you know what to do with your earned income.
·
People
know how to go back to school get MBAs. People know how wickedly to fight their
colleagues in offices for positions. People know how intelligently to lobby for
positions in various places and people know how hard to study in order to pass
an exam, but many people have never made any attempt to study financial
literacy though they use money every day, yet they don’t know anything about
money. Like Ghana and other countries fought for political independence, so
must everybody fight for financial independence .i.e. financial freedom. You
need to work for it; you can’t sit down and expect it to come.
Financial Literacy
is not Finance neither is it Accounting. It’s a complete subject that teaches
everybody including Accountants and Finance Professionals real life financial
lessons when it comes to money. The Accounting and Financial Professionals, who
have just classroom Accounting or Finance knowledge, are NOT Financially
Literate. They
are taught to go and work as employees and this has no argument. It is plain
truth. I have been a student of Accountancy since O ’level and I have studied
both Accounting and Finance up to the professional level and NOT a single
lesson taught me real personal finance.
From
O’level to ACCA, I have been taught to go and work as an employee or a
self-employed.
I
have been learning Financial Literacy for over five years now and still
counting and the lessons I have learnt are not taught in any school, here in
Ghana yet. It’s not in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) syllabus,
but that is what we all really need when we are in school or when we finish
school.
Financial
Literacy goes beyond mere classroom Accounting and Finance and explores deeper
about the human financial life and aims at financial freedom rather than job
security.
“Money is the
medium by which earthly success is measured” George .S. Clason, Author of the
Richest Man in Babylon
©,
2012, Godwin-Xavier Ayeebo
Email:
gayeebo@gmail.com
Blog: WWW.g-xavierayeebo.blogspot.com