She founded The Happyness Project, a non-government Volunteer organization focusing on feeding malnourished children in the country.
She is also a Board of Director of JCI International - Perlas Pasay, a community service and leadership organization and Toastmasters International - El Presidente, a public speaking and leadership organization.)
As much as we all love the sun, sand and the sea, June comes in and everyone’s attention shifts to school. I love the idea of learning, of growing and of becoming a better person but there is something about school that gives education a different meaning, like a limitation of some sort. Don’t get me wrong; I am an advocate of education, but never in the comforts of a four-cornered room.
I believe in lifelong learning. That one has to continue acquiring new knowledge, developing oneself and expanding horizons. I had mixed feelings when the K-12 basic education program was introduced to the Philippines. Good, because it gives the young more skills to ready them for employment even without a college degree but do we really want the next generation to be skillful employees and not leaders who can do critical thinking and innovate and design new things? Are we just thinking short term of making sure the next generation can look for a job with average pay than develop entrepreneurs who can provide more jobs for other people? Do we really want them to be eligible to work abroad and be employed by other nationalities or help them realize their worth and assist in building the Philippines become a first world country? As a former college professor, I am forced to think, to ask: What is our intention of sending the young to school? Will an additional two years equip them with what they really need to survive in the ever-changing world?
I may be gathering mixed reactions from whoever will be reading this post, but with an open mind, may I encourage you to ask: So what kind of education then, do we need?
Financial education: This teaches us how to handle money, how to expand it and how to make the most out of it. True, money is not the most important thing. It is what money can give that we all crave: Time to spend with the ones we love, health for our family, the ability to contribute to our church or a cause that we believe in, and yes, including education for our children. Isn’t that the reason why we work hard anyway? Why we want a good job in the first place? Why more and more people take up their graduate studies, MBAs and higher education?
The thing is, money was never really taught in school. The concept of accounting and finance, yes, but not something that is tangible enough for most of the people to grasp and apply in their life. The thought of introducing basic skills to young minds is not bad at all, I believe it can also help, but I do believe it is not enough. Learning to become financially literate helped me more than what I learned getting my engineering degree.
Allow me to share what I hope I learned in school:
1. The financially successful don’t work for money; they let money work for them.
I realized that investing is much better than saving alone. Investment grows our money while saving can be affected by inflation and economic turmoil. Working as an engineer, I worked for money. The earning was good, but if I stopped working, the earning stopped as well. With the K12 system, why are we training the young to work hard for money when we can educate them to have money work for them?
2. Passive income is much more important than active income, no matter how big your active income is.
Passive income is money you earn without having to work, it is money earned from stable businesses and assets. Passive income gives financial and time freedom. When I was working, my dilemma was, when I have money I don’t have time. If I don’t work, I have time, but I don’t have the money. You see, you can have both – enough money to live the lifestyle you desire and the time to spend with the people that matters most to you. Why not have both?
3. Assets are what put money into your pocket, liabilities takes money out of your pocket.
People seem to be living in the age-old belief of finish school, get a good job, save money and buy a house and a car and live happily ever after. I have nothing against a house and a car, but do happily ever really do exist for everyone? Perhaps for some and I am happy for them but what about the majority of people who struggle every day to make ends meet? Of people who choose to leave the family and work overseas just to have food on the table. In my travels, I meet Filipinos who would want to go back home and be with the family, but who can’t. What are you trying to build?
4. Mindset is much more important than skill.
Skill is important, but skill without financial knowledge leads to a lot of skilled, overworked yet underpaid employees. There is nothing wrong with working, as long as you work to learn and not just work to earn. Then, apply what you have learned to do business. I am thankful when I understood that without the proper mindset, things would not fall into place. In business, for example, having all the capital, skills and contacts won’t give you the same success as having the right mindset. What kind of mindset are we teaching the young these days?
5. Information is more important that capital.
A lot of people are stopped because they do not have any money, when in reality ideas alone can go a long way, especially if it is coupled with financial literacy. People these days become billionaires from scratch. It does not take money to make money, anymore. The industrial age is long gone. Take the courage to swim with the tides, employment skills are not enough, you have got to learn how to create your future and not just rely on a 15-30 salary. Be open, the next big information might just be around the corner.
Robert Kiyosaki once said, it is not how much money you make, it is in how many generations you keep it.
The times have changed. It’s the information world now and information travels faster than light. I am worried that the young generation may not be fully equipped to set the world into new heights. Let them build a future that they deserve with the right education. School should not be the end of learning but a beginning. Allow yourself to develop, to grow and never be fixed with what you already know. Attend seminars. Find a mentor. Read books. Listen to audiobooks. Keep on learning. Our mind is like an umbrella; it works best when it is open.
I am off to another seminar and am ready to learn new things and eager to apply them. May you also find the wisdom in growth and life-long education! Happy learning and I’ll see you in all the beaches of the world.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
