There is a phrase most of us are familiar with which says, ” I learnt it the hard way”. And through the course of life, we learn many lessons the hard way! Through honest or silly mistakes, uninformed or rush (emotional) decisions, we all in some way resemble a baby touching a burning candle only to learn that it isn’t something to play with! Indeed through all sorts of experiences we learn, somewhat valuable lessons.

Interestingly enough though, for many of us that is not the case when it comes to money lessons. Most of us make (earn) our money but still find ourselves making the same financial mistakes over and over again that cost us a great deal of our hard earned money. Countless times we, unlike that baby playing with a candle, keep getting our fingers burnt, yet we surprisingly never learn!

We find ourselves stressing about how our income is not enough, the escalating amount of debts, the overdue bills we are failing to keep up with and I can go on and on, but we never really sit back and examine ourselves to see if there is anything we are doing wrong.

I think the main reason most of us don’t learn from our experiences when it comes to money is because we don’t even think we are doing anything wrong! As a matter of fact we are financially illiterate!

We don’t know how to manage money ( or if money is to be managed at all), how to control ourselves when it comes to spending, how to save, how to invest (or where and what to invest in)!

We are so financially dull..

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How not to be dull

As offensive that might sound, but it still remains true. So instead of clenching your fist, you can just face it and admit your dullness. Anyways, if you admitted how dull you are, now here are some ways you can deal away with it.

1.Pick up and start reading a few books on personal finances

I know you are probably already booing me right now…I know how much many of us don’t like reading…and even worse…who reads about finances, right?
Well.. let’s face it! If you wanna be financially literate, it wont happen by watching every match of the premiere league or 23 episodes of whatever series you are watching right now…you have to be intentional about it.

There a number of books online written by some of the most successful guys out there, which are simple and even fun to read! You can start with “Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

2. Listen to podcasts

Well, you can learn quite a great deal from listening to podcasts on personal finances as well. And most of them are available online and for free. You can start by searching for the following…

• So money podcast
• The Dave Ramsey Show
• Planet Money

3. Read blogs or articles

There good blog sites and articles out there…and am sure mine will soon be one of them (So make sure you keep following). I personally find articles on a site “media.com” quite useful. The site has various topics but you can just choose the topic you want, in this case “finances” and educate yourself. Also “CNBC MakeIt” puts out some useful tips. But… there is just a countless sites out there, just google , will you!

But yes, those are just a few tips on how you can become less dull with your personal finances!

I hope you will be wise and seek to learn from your money mistakes!

Thank you.

Mike Chapuma