Financial intelligence: how to solve money problems?

Many People have money problems. But what is the best way to solve this? A tip: not with strange business ideas. It's much more a question of mindset and approach.

When fate suddenly strikes

When I was five years old, I was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. As I understand it, I had a serious ear infection, a complication of my chickenpox illness. Although it was a frightening experience, I also hold dear memories of the love of my father, my younger brother, and my two sisters who stood on the lawn outside the hospital window and waved to me as I lay there in bed. Think Mother was not there.

She was at home, sick in bed herself, struggling with a weak heart. That same year, my younger brother was also taken to the hospital after falling in the garage and getting his Head struck. My younger sister was next. She needed surgery on her knee. And the youngest, my sister Beth, a newborn, had a serious skin condition that kept puzzling doctors.

How to deal with crises

It's been a tough year for my dad, and he was the only one of the six of us who didn't need medical attention. The good news is that we all recovered and went on to live healthy lives afterwards. The bad news was the medical bills that were piling up. My father may not have fallen ill this year, but he has been burdened with a crippling burden - a mountain dept for his medical care Family.

At that time, my father was a doctoral student at the University from Hawaii. He was a brilliant student, received his bachelor's degree in just two years, and dreamed of one day becoming a university teacher. Now, with a family of six, a mortgage, and hefty medical bills, he gave up his dream and took a job as an assistant principal in the small town of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. In order for him to be able to afford to transport our family from one island to another, he had to take out a loan from his own father. It was a difficult time for him and our family.

About burying dreams

Although he in Job enormous Success and eventually received his PhD, I suspect it pained my father to the end of his life that he never achieved his dream of becoming a university teacher. He often said, "When you kids aren't home, I'll go back to school and do what I love: teach." Instead of teaching, he ended up becoming the Hawaii State Department of Education's chief of staff, which means he worked in administration , then ran for deputy governor and lost.

Im Age of 50 years he was suddenly unemployed. Soon after Choice my mother died suddenly at the age of 48 from her weak heart. My father never recovered from that loss. Once again money problems piled up. Now that he was out of work, he decided to liquidate the savings intended for his retirement and invested in a nationwide ice cream franchise. With that he lost his whole life Money. As he got older, my father felt abandoned by his peers; his Career was over.

A lost identity

Without his position as department head in the Ministry of Education, he had lost his identity. He grew increasingly angry at his rich classmates who had gone into business rather than formally like him Vocational Training had set. He often complained bitterly, "I've lost my life Education dedicated to the children of Hawaii, and what do I get? Nothing. My classmates turned bigwigs are getting richer, and what am I getting? Nothing."

I'll never know why he didn't go back to university to teach. I think it was because he tried very hard fast get rich and make up for lost time. He pursued shady deals and surrounded himself with eloquent swindlers. None of his get-rich-quick ventures worked out. If it weren't for the few odd jobs and Social Security he might have had to move in with one of his kids.

A life full of money problems

A few months before he died of cancer at the age of 72, my father invited me to his bedside and apologized for leaving us children with so little. I held his hand and put my head on it and we cried together. My poor father had money problems all his life. No matter how much money he made, his problem was not having enough money. His inability to solve this problem caused him great pain until his death.

Tragically, he felt like a failure both professionally and as a father. Typical of academics, he pushed his financial Problems, as much as possible, and devoted his life to a greater cause than money. He steadfastly maintained that money wasn't an issue, even when it was. He was a great man, a great husband and father, and a brilliant teacher; but it was that thing called money that often set the tone, tormented him silently and, unfortunately, toward the end, was the measure by which he judged his life. Smart as he was, he had never solved his money problems.

Financial intelligence helps

My rich father, who started teaching me about money when I was nine years old, also had money problems. He solved his money problems differently than my poor father. He recognized that money matters, and so he made an effort to improve his financial Intelligence increase at every opportunity. For him, that meant tackling his money issues head on and learning from the process.

My rich father was not nearly as smart academically as my poor father, but because he solved his money problems differently and increased his financial intelligence, my rich father's money problem was to have too much money. With two fathers, one rich and one poor, I learned that we all have money problems.

Poor or rich - what money problems do you want?

My poor father had money problems all his life. No matter how much money he made, his problem was not having enough money. My rich father also had money problems. His problem was having too much money. What money problem do you want?

The money problems of the poor are:

1. Not having enough money.
2. Taking loans to help with financial constraints.
3. The rising cost of living.
4. The more they earn, the more taxes they pay.
5. fear of emergencies.
6. Bad financial advice.
7. Not enough pension

The money problems of the rich are:

1. To have too much money.
2. Keep it safe and well spent.
3. Not knowing if people like them or their money.
4. Needing smarter financial advisors.
5. Raising spoiled children.
6. Estate and inheritance planning.
7. Too high taxes.

Bad solutions to money problems

Learning early on that we all have money problems, no matter how rich or poor we are, was a very important lesson for me. Many people believe that if they had a lot of money, their money problems would be over. Little do they know that a lot of money creates even more money problems. One of my favorite commercials is for a financial services company, and it starts with rapper MC Hammer, who with beautiful Women dances, with a Bentley and a Ferrari and an extremely oversized mansion behind him. Luxury items are brought into the villa in the background. MC Hammer's one hit wonder “U Can't Touch This” is also played.

Then the screen goes black and the words "15 minutes later" are displayed. In the next scene you can see MC Hammer sitting on a curb with his head in hands propped up, in front of the same great villa, next to a sign that read "ZANGGSVERTEIGERT." The narrator says: »Life catches up with you quickly. We're here to help.” The Welt is full of people like MC Hammer. We've all heard of lottery winners who win millions and then a few years later find themselves in deep debt. Or about the young professional athlete who lives in a villa while he's playing and under a bridge when his playing days are over. Or the Boy Rock star who is a multimillionaire in his XNUMX's and looking for a job in his XNUMX's. Or the rapper peddling financial services that he was probably already using when he lost his money.

Money doesn't solve money problems: 3 examples

Money alone will not solve your money problems. Therefore, poor people's money problems cannot be solved by giving them money. In many cases, this only perpetuates the problem and creates more poor people. Take this for example Idea of social assistance. From the time of the Great Depression until 1996, the United States government guaranteed money to the nation's poor regardless of personal circumstances.

All one had to do was fill in the requirements for the classification poverty to meet in order to receive regular payments from the government. If you showed initiative, got a job, and earned enough to get above the poverty line, the government cut benefits. Of course, the poor then had others Costs related to work they didn't have before, like uniforms, childcare, transportation, etc. In many cases they had less money than before and less time. The System benefited those who were lazy and punished those who showed initiative. The system created more poor people.

1. Hard work doesn't solve money problems. The world is full of hard working people who have no money; hard-working people who make money and still get deeper into debt and have to work harder for even more money.
2. Education doesn't solve money problems. The world is full of highly educated poor people. They are called socialists. A job does not solve money problems. For many people, the letters JOB stand for just over broke - just before bankruptcy.
3. There are millions of people who earn just enough to survive but cannot afford to live. Many people at work cannot afford their own home, adequate health care or education, let alone set aside enough money for retirement.

How do you solve money problems? 10 tips

Financial intelligence solves money problems. Put simply, financial intelligence is that part of our overall intelligence that we account for Solution use of financial problems. Some examples of very common money problems are:

1. "I don't make enough money."
2. "I'm in deep debt."
3. "I can't afford to buy a house."
4. "My car is broken. Where can I get the money to fix it? ”
5. “I have $ 10.000. What should I invest in? «
6. "My child wants to study, but we have no money."
7. "I don't have enough money for retirement."
8. "I don't like my job, but I can't afford to quit."
9. "I'm retired and I'm running out of money."
10. "I can't afford the surgery."

Solving money problems makes you smarter

These and other money problems can be solved with financial intelligence. Unfortunately, if our financial intelligence is not sufficiently developed to solve our problems, the problems remain. They don't just disappear like that. Often times they get worse and result in more money problems. For example, there are millions of people who don't have enough money to spend on retirement. If you don't solve this problem, the problem will get worse as you get older and need more money for medical care. Like it or not, money affects lifestyle and people Quality of life – while enabling comfort and effortless decisions. The freedom of choice that money offers can mean the difference between hitchhiking, taking a bus, or traveling by private jet.

When I was growing up, my rich father said to me, "Money problems make you smarter...if you solve the problem." He also said, "If you solve your money problem, your financial intelligence will grow. As your financial intelligence grows, you become richer. If you don't solve your money problem, you'll get poorer. If you don't solve your money problem, that problem often leads to more problems.” If you want to improve your financial intelligence, you must be solution-oriented. If you don't solve your money problems, you'll never get rich. In fact, the longer the problem persists, the poorer you become.