Why Education to become Rich?

There are so many ways to become rich:   

1. Winning a Lottery 
2. Buying a Potentially rising Stock 
3. Getting married to a Rich Guy / Girl
4. Investing in those Rich Investments etc

All of the above means make you rich and there are many more. The question here is that how long would you remain rich and keep on adding to your wealth. The world is full of opportunities for people who can see them. The problem with most of us is that we see things only with a perspective of immediate relevance. The education system that brought us up did not do a very good job in teaching us about money and its power. Result is very clear. We have good grades but don’t know what to do with them. The increase is the pay check never seems to keep up with rising prices in the markets.

Just how many times we must have wondered that the rate at which prices go up we should be on the selling side and not on the buying side. But have you heard what the sellers have to say. They say the same things when they go out in the market to buy stuff. We realize that it’s a vicious circle. If they are not getting richer and even you are not getting richer with the increasing prices, the question is why does the price rise? And who benefits from it?

Well to be honest that’s a pretty difficult question to answer? I don’t have the answer but I know where to find the answer for sure. Let us look at education slightly more in detail before we go on to secrets of getting rich. Generally there are three types of Education that all of us are exposed to:

1. School Education: People like you and me wake up in school. What I mean to say is that our farthest memory back in time takes us to school days. Schools are supposed to be fun in the lower standards because they add fuel to our imagination and quench our thirst of curiosity. As we move higher through the grades the no of subjects and the weight of our back packs keep on increasing up. Somehow school system has in its fundamental belief that money is the root of all evil. So we learn everything about carbon cycle, water cycle but school system fails to teach us money cycle.
2. College Education: After our school gets over, we are in to decide a career path for ourselves with knowing much as to what lies ahead in which stream. Most of our decisions are based on parental pressure or peer pressure. Somehow we manage to land in the college to realize that the subjects taught here are rarely used in real life or even if they are used they are used in a very different way than in which they are being taught to us. We reach at a point where we start questioning ourselves, where will this subject help me in life? Or why the hell am I studying this? Here is where we get exposed to a little bit about money. Why? Because now we realize that money is required for our needs and expenses. But that is all about it. College system may have thought that if money is taught in college then it might so happen that people would lose focus from the academics.
3. Business School: We get professional education by going to a business school. We have projects to complete, presentations to make and lectures to attend. Our horizons of thoughts widen. We start learning some hi-fi and flashy stuff. We start talking business language. We give rational arguments and present logical thoughts. Our words and actions are backed by facts, figures and statistics. “Credibility” becomes a style statement. What about money? Money has no place even in business schools because sad but true that business schools have become factories doing the mass production of professional people who are walking talking data processing machines.

There is also a fourth type of education that we are not exposed to:

4. Financial Education: This is the subject of money that real life teaches us. Do this reality check. Ask a banker if he would lend you more money or money at a lesser interest rate because you topped your school consistently or you were one of the toppers your B School? You immediately realize that real world works on money. Everyone wants to become rich but most of us do not know how. Don’t confuse financial education with a specialization on finance in your B School or a CA / CPA. What I am talking about is an education that can make you rich.

To put is simply, money is a subject that you would have to (L)earn. Money will never be taught. The reason is because, after all, you are responsible for your success and also for whatever goes into your head. Most people ask me that which is the best way to make money. Well that’s an easy question. To make more money you need to put more money. The difficult question is where to put money, how much and how long? The only place which gives you infinite return on your investment or what is popularly called as ROI, is investing money on you.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about cosmetic investments on you. I know you’ve had enough of your dough spend on you looking good, people knowing you, getting a good image in the society etc. Nor I am talking about spiritual investment for purification of your soul by donations to a church. All this is necessary, and that’s the reason why you are doing it all but there is one vital place where you need to put money and that is your MQ (Monetary Quotient).

I know by know you are feeling that you know it all and you really don’t need financial education. Well let’s do some reality check once again. Answer the following questions truly to yourself:

1. Who takes care of your day to day financial responsibilities? (for eg balancing your passbook, updating your personal expenses, looking into your investments, filing your tax returns etc)
2. Do you have enough life, health and property insurance? Do you understand all the concepts of insurance and are confident enough to explain them to a near and dear one?
3. Do you know where your banker or a financial consultant put your money? What return it generates? What is the risk? How quick can you liquidate it if in case of need?
4. List down all the major events expected to happen in the next five years? (for eg. Marriage, planned vacation, buying a house or a car etc) Have you thought where money will come from for all of these?
5. When do you retire? I know that’s far. But my vital question is “Will you be able to pay off all your existing plus future loans before you retire”

I sincerely believe that if you have accurate answers to all the above questions, you are already on your way to become rich. The reason why you are reading this is because only successful people generally understand the value of success and continuous improvement. To end today’s confession I am leaving you with this one thought.

Most people who are rich still look out for secrets to become rich. They simply know what it takes to become rich and more importantly just to be there.