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 21^st 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

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