Financial Illiteracy – Improving What You’re About

Coaching is built around what people need to know and do to improve whatever it is they’re about. Simple.

The trouble is that, regardless of income, education, status, position in society, race or religion, many/most people don’t know what it is they need to be doing. Further, they don’t even know that there is something missing.

Don’t believe me? Look at the last four Prime Ministers in Australia. Despite all their achievements, they exited by being overthrown in one way or another.

Yes, I’m being apolitical here as I don’t want to get into an argument about their achievements – and I’m sure they all achieved something (actually, I’m not sure at all but I’m being polite).

When you work with me, we undertake three forms of coaching. The first involves you telling me what it is you want/need, the second is helping you to identify what it is you don’t know, the third step is then taking the steps necessary. Simple.

A great example of this in action is Curtis Carroll.

Many thanks to Intelligent Tuesday for highlighting this for me:

https://www.intelligentchange.com/pages/intelligent-tuesday

Watch Curtis. His TED Talk is absolutely brilliant.

It’s 11:03 minutes long. The brilliant bits? All of it. Especially:

‘Financial illiteracy really did rule the world and I was a child slave to it. Following the bad guy’.

And particularly at these minute marks:

3:38 – 4:59

5:56

6:08 – 6:30

6:56 – 8:30 including ‘Financial illiteracy is a disease that has crippled minorities and the lower class in our society for generations and generations and we should be furious about that’

9:17 – 9:50

And the end: ‘I could show you how much money it costs you every time you get emotional’.

I didn’t mention that in 1996, at 17 years old, Curtis committed a robbery where a man was killed. He turned himself in and ended up an illiterate teenager in prison with a 54-to-life sentence.

I would add that financial illiteracy cripples more than minorities and the lower class. Sure, this is where the effects are probably mostly felt through the insidious ripple effect that Curtis demonstrates.

Apart from the youngest of children, everyone knows when they can’t read. People may not even know they are financially illiterate. That an invidious illiteracy.

Not working with a coach? What are you missing? It’s likely that you may not know.