Being financially literate means possessing the skills and knowledge that allow someone to make informed decisions regarding their money. This includes debt, budgeting, saving, and investing. Some people learn these skills from taking classes in school, experiencing real life situations, or, like me, having learned everything they know from their parents. Being financially literate sets you up for success in life because it teaches you how to manage your money, so you will never have to struggle to make ends meet.
The greatest lesson my parents have taught me in regards to making informed decisions about money is to always have a plan to financially support myself. This is an idea that has been on my mind a lot this past year since I am currently deciding how I am going to afford college. My parents have educated me to find solutions so that I won’t be in terrible debt my entire life. To do this, I have picked a college that isn’t awfully expensive while also having everything else I need. I also plan to enroll in a work-study program in college so that I can make money to help offset the cost while I’m there. My goal is to work every summer that I’m home to do this as well. I am also taking out loans so that I won’t be struggling as much in the next four years. However, I hope to be able to pay for most of my expenses by applying for scholarships like this one so that I won’t have to worry about paying them back. I have made it a point to submit an application for every one that comes my way, but I will have to wait to see how much financial aid I will actually receive. Since I plan on attending dental school after college, my parents have also explained to me how loans carry over throughout your schooling. Knowing this, I feel much better about my financial situation because I won’t have to pay them back until I’m actually making a decent salary.
Growing up, my parents also showed us different techniques on how to save our money. First of all, every time we got paid for helping out our grandparents or received some cash for a holiday, my parents instructed us to put a quarter of it into savings. This either meant the money went to their safe, where our designated savings jars were, or it got put in our piggy banks. From doing this, we learned to never spend all of our money at once in case we came across something that we wanted. Today, I know this habit allows me to have a safety net for my future expenses as well as unplanned financial needs. These past few years, I have also learned how to budget. After I started working at the Greene County Country Club, I started splitting up the paychecks I was given. I would immediately mentally calculate how much gasoline would cost me and subtract it from my total. Then, I gave myself a range of money I could spend from then until the time I got my next paycheck, setting some aside. By doing this, I was never running short on funds because I wouldn’t let myself go over my limit, even though I still had money saved in my account. So, all in all, I’ve learned some great lessons about saving, budgeting, and planning ahead that have helped me become financially literate.
There are many lessons I have learned over the past few years when it comes to money. That may sound peculiar for a 21-year-old college football player to say, but it is true. In the fall of 2019, my mother passed away in an accident. This left me with 1/3 of her assets (split with my siblings). That is a lot of money for a 17-year-old to get their hands on, and I decided to use it on my schooling. I had a partial scholarship to a school in Billings, Montana, but no college fund, so this was my way of avoiding student loans until graduate school at least.
However, looking back, I wish someone had been around to help me know where to put my money until I needed it. Whether that be a high-yield savings account, CDs, or investing some in the stock market during the crash caused by COVID, I missed out on a ton of "free" money because no one throughout my life had ever taught me those things, or maybe they also were not educated on them. It was actually through social media that I started to learn about financial literacy, and now I have some of the tools I so desperately needed when I was a scared 17-year-old.
It is easy to look back and have a lot of what-ifs. What if we hadn't sold my mom's house in 2019 and waited? What if I had immediately invested all my money in a high-yield savings account? What if I had found this information sooner? I have to not let these questions creep into my head, because there is nothing I can do now but do better in the future. I can do better for my 12-year-old brother by educating him and my father on where to put that money. I can do better for my future family by knowing how to invest my money into retirement and gain financial freedom. I can educate my friends and teammates on these things and encourage them that it is never too early to take your finances seriously. These are the things in my control.
There are money lessons everywhere we look, especially in this day and age with all of the social media platforms and websites we have access to. The biggest lesson I have learned about money is to educate myself on it. There are experts to learn from, videos to watch, and tools to use. There is no longer an excuse to be in the dark, and I never will be again, for my mom, for my brother, and most of all, for my 17-year-old self.
