 Financial literacy, we're all taught how to earn a living. We go to school and get degrees for careers that are expected to equip us with the potential to earn money. We get jobs where we earn millions of Naira, but we're not taught how to manage or keep the money that we make. We're not taught budgeting, saving or financial planning. We're not taught how to invest or attain financial freedom. Only those who study business-related courses are taught this in school. Financial knowledge is so important that it should be taught in primary school to everyone. This omission is the reason why people struggle so hard trying to make money and sometimes end up in debt. Why people with well-paying jobs end up in debt. Why people end up in debt. Why lots of people end up in debt. Money. We're not taught that there's an abundance of money or that money can be made anywhere in the world. That we only need to focus on creating value because money can be exchanged for value. Discipline. Financial discipline is a must for anyone who wants financial freedom. You must discipline your mind to see money as a means to an end and not an end in itself. Financial discipline is a choice that every adult must make if they aim to attain financial freedom. Discipline is why it's easy for one person to save money diligently every month and another person will spend their entire month's salary in two weeks. Discipline is a habit that can be learned. Robin Sherma says, new habits become old habits when you do them every day. Budgeting. A budget is a plan prepared before income is earned. It details exactly where the earnings will go. A budget will help you determine if you will have enough money to spend in a month. A budget helps you to balance your expenses with your earnings. It helps you identify gaps and surpluses so you can adjust your plans when required. If they don't balance and you spend more than you make, you will have a problem that can lead to debts. Budgets are not only useful when you have debts. If you utilize properly, a budget can help you put aside a healthy emergency fund for the rainy day. Savings. Savings refer to money that is set aside from earnings to be used at a later date. Savings is a deliberate act. It should happen whenever you earn an income. And this does not apply to only salary earners. Setting money aside in a savings account or an emergency fund can be a life saver and the lack of savings can rob you of the ability to make decisions that can improve your life. The reason why most people have issues with saving a portion of their income is that they believe their income is not sufficient for their needs. The truth is that no matter how much you earn, your needs will keep rising to meet your earnings. Financial literacy is needed by everyone. And today you decided to break the table. You smashed it, you broke it. Interesting that we're discussing this. I remember that personally for me, a few years ago it was a major struggle. Let me pretend that it was because you know how we speak positive these days. But I really truly like the idea that this is something that you're talking about. Because I remember that back then I kept on asking questions that who will teach me how to really make money, keep money, save money, build a lifestyle that I really wanted. And that quest got me engaging a financial advisor and saying, you know what, what do I do? How do I actually plan? Okay, so this is my monthly income and everything. But there was something you said about how we're not taught. And I remember that my layman's space. I remember I hated accounting as a subject in secondary school. I just thought to myself that it was evil. That maybe we actually might have been taught in some way but the presentation of it was as a subject to be passed and not as a way to save our lives. I don't know. But then I mean it's sad that as an adult I have to come back to that same space that I really hated and I ran from considering that my mum was an accountant. But I must applaud you TT. Why would I do that? Because I'm an accountant and I belong to several accounting institutions but it didn't occur to me to actually come out and start advocating for the financial literacy. On that table, I'm not on that table. I'm an avid saver. I invest. The last time I had an emergency I realized that I had over 15 different investments and I liquidated it and I was more than buoyant. But I'm an author of children picture story books and I have two books of financial literacy for children because I personally believe that if you want to breed responsible adults, I'm sorry, but my colleague is not the channel to adults. I breed younger children. Everything I know, I point into my children. Everything I know that makes me who I am, I point into children around me. So to that extent, my children are savvy and they understand that saving is critical. Investment is the next level to saving. They understand that you can't just spend at the spur of the moment. So for me, I'll align with you and I'll say, forget secondary school accounting. At that age, you're distracted. Promise me. Catch them. I'll break it down. Yes, I completely agree. I was just going to say that I have two kids, one is six and one is three. And as little as they are, they have their piggy bank. So every time someone gives them any cash, they know that, oh, that one is going straight into their piggy bank. And so on, was it yesterday? I needed cash. I didn't have any cash. Mommy, mommy, mommy. We didn't want this to go in. Can I say it to her? Make sure you pay back the interest. $2,500 from me. And she goes, yes, mommy, you're going to pay, but you're going to pay with some more money on your account. That's a good girl. It's very important that they understand money from a very young age. They know that you don't spend as you receive. They know that you save. They know that you can even make money so it's really, really important at a very, very young age. That's true. And I remember when we got married, one of the things that shocked myself and my husband, that we suddenly realized that we had to pay bills. That's a rude shock for a lot of people. At the point they had to call my parents and say, daddy, you broke your ass. How did they know that? You didn't explain to me that. We're buying gas. We're paying electricity. We're doing this. Bro, you're not the man of your house. You have to raise up. So I think they left it till too late. Yes. We need to start it now. True. We need to start it from the grassroots. They need to understand. I was having a conversation with my son and he said, oh, mommy, I can't wait till I go to America and start to earn money. And I said, come. Call your brother. Call your brother. And I said, money is here. In Nigeria. There's money in Togo. There's money all around us. You just have to find value. Give people value, you will get money. There's no scarcity of money anywhere. There are billonettes being made here. Every day. I just felt like, okay, I've left it a little too late. I need to start that right now. True. And I think one of my founding courses was the family wholeness and wellness. This professor came into class. I went to Bacock, so it was a Christian school. And he was talking about parenting. And I was like, oh really, let me listen about parenting. And one thing I took away from that because I will never forget, I keep telling parents and mothers is that the professor said, for you to be a good parent, you must pour yourself into your child. As you're going through life, your challenges, your children, your business, your emotional imbalance, your children, oh, check my post. I have 2,000 naira. Oh, we can't buy ice cream today. We have to buy yam in the house. Let us keep 2,000 naira. We should just buy the small ice cream, 100 naira today. Next time we can go to cold stone. Now my children will tell me, Mom, don't worry. We don't need 2,000 naira ice cream. Just buy fun ice cream. It's 200 naira. We'll go to the pharmacy and get it. We can ensure that we can actually carry our children along. We can pour ourselves into them. And of course, we have to have that financial habit before we can pour it into the child now. Because if you don't do it, they would pick it up still. So be deliberate about it. Oh, true. When everything falls apart and they realize that oh, they need to manage their finances better, then they will pick it up. Up next is TT. Stay with us.