Financial Literacy Essay

As a young teenager, I was over curious and as a result had a habit of asking plenty of questions. One day my father left the door to his office open and the flickering of lights drew me into his office as he sat in front of his computer. It was as if I had been hypnotized, my mind was perplexed as the screen raced from green to red and back to green again… like nothing, I had ever witnessed. It had to be some sort of game he’s playing I thought to myself. “Why is your computer flashing?” “What game is that?” “What do those colors mean?” My dad annoyed with the onslaught of questions yapped “No son, I’m investing so I can retire rich” that four letter word was all I needed to hear. I wanted to learn about finance and investing so I started

My dad was a great help at the beginning of my journey, He had bought me a few books that he wanted me to read, and I devoured the material. My favorite of the books I read was Rich Dad Poor Dad, because the main points of the book were simple to understand. Increase your financial intelligence by seeking mentors and achieve financial independence by acquiring assets that put more cash flow into your pocket than you spend. I was able to grasp those concept of acquiring assets which ignited my passion for the subject. I was obsessed with personal finance and investing, I started watching CNBC and the Bloomberg financial networks on TV. I soon found a mentor who had made millions investing and picked his brain absorbing every bit of information I could. I started asking more complex questions regarding to stocks (A claim of ownership rights of a corporation), Options (Which are agreements between a buyer and a seller in which the buyer of the contract has the right to buy or sell a particular asset at a later date at an agreed upon price) and Real Estate. I’ve been able to meet people with expertise in all of these

My mentor had always stressed that saving money is powerful and that I must learn the value of saving early on in life if I wanted to be a successful investor. When I had my first job I was encouraged to save and budget my money so I could invest as much of it as possible. I was taught how to read a financial statement and in doing so I figured out a way to view the price of everything I bought in a different way which truly helped me. What I did was instead of looking at the price of things in dollars I valued them as the amount of time it took me to make that money. Once I realized that the chipotle burrito's I ate everyday cost me one hour and only satisfied me for 5 minutes I kicked my budgeting into high gear. I downloaded personal finance apps that tracked how much I was spending, I slashed my expenses left and right. As a result of that discipline to save and invest after just 3 years, I was in the 86th percentile for total net worth for the age bracket of 18-24 based on data from the federal reserve in