Amazingly, the single biggest skill that can make or mar our financial success is not taught in school.
Despite the fact that everything in our lives is linked in one way or the other to money; that money either enhances or inhibits what we can do or have; that money affects the quality of our lives, majority still go about learning about money only by trial and error. We would never learn to swim or drive that way. So, why don’t we take as disciplined approach to learning about basic money skills?
If we can’t change the educational system, the least we could do is to effect change by being at the pinnacle of it. That is the reason behind EQUIP 360’s SMART financial literacy project.
“To equip Nigerians to take full ownership of their financial life by teaching them to be financially intelligent while providing them with practical strategies to do so”.
SMART is curriculum based and has different structures for different target audience. There is the SMart Kids Grow Rich, SMart Students Finish Rich, Smart Employees Retires Rich amongst others.
Smart Students Finish Rich is designed for secondary school students in Nigeria and teaches basic financial intelligence to help students gain requisite financial skills to give them a strong financial head-start to life so that they can grow up to become confident and competent adults. It is not everything in financial intelligence but more than enough to give them strong financial foundations in formats that are relevant and accessible.
It teaches students some very important principles upon which financial success is built. Such as the concept of Savings, Paying yourself first, Spending plans, Spending Less Than You Earn, Passive income, and Leverage amongst others. They also get to gain a basic understanding about money and how it affects us, earning power and several legit ways to earn, differentiating between assets and liabilities, cash flow quadrants, Smart Goal settings, differentiating between needs and wants, and other simple money concepts.
There is a training workbook designed for the participant with exciting activities for each concepts and modules to get the students engaged and also to test their understanding as the training unfolds. There is also a session where students get to watch a 9-minute video on financial intelligence. We also have question and answer seasion, group discussions and interactive sessions just to make the training come to life as much as possible.
Financial Education is definitely one of the greatest bargains of life.
#EQUIP360 …enhancing qualities under-developed in people.
# SMART …financial education for all.
#SmartStudentsFinishRich workshop @ Obafemi Awolowo University International School on the 9th of December, 2015.
Some of the students in a group photograph after the workshop, holding their workbook in their hands
BODE ARAOYE 