There are people who have achieved great financial success without formal financial qualification. One can happily quote the examples of Bill Gates and even Ganesh discussed in our ‘Happy Road to be Rich’ program.
I have also come across many professionals with good financial qualification but just prodding along in life. What is the difference? What makes the ‘ordinary’ succeed better than even some of the highly qualified people? It is not luck nor hard work alone. In my opinion, the major factor that plays a role is ‘Financial Intelligence.’
Though most of us know what ‘Financial Intelligence’ is, it bears repetition. It is applying some of the basic principles in Personal Finance. We have been discussing most of these in our website. Let us recall a few of them: ’paying oneself first’, ‘power of compounding’, ‘need analysis of expenses’, ‘investing in education of the market’, ‘utilizing the services of a Financial Planner’,’ tax planning’ ‘having the right Financial Mentor’ and so on.
When you read the principles in the last Para, one cannot but wonder at the deceptive simplicity of these. That is the reason, highly educated people take them for granted and do not apply. The lack of application makes the world call them, ‘Financially mediocre.’ On the other hand, many of the people without formal qualification respect and apply these principles. They can be rightly called ‘Financially Intelligent.’ Some of those financially intelligent people are not just rich but amongst the richest in the world. What an interesting irony!
Now let us look at driving. One can be a great automobile engineer, but if he drives recklessly, he can create problems for many including him. On the other hand, there may be a person, who may not know where the engine of the car exists. He can be a safe driver, if he learns and drives carefully. This analogy is true for many areas of life.
I am so glad that financial intelligence is easy to achieve for anyone as long as the person is willing to a humble student of the basic principles discussed above. Let me bring one more interesting aspect on the attitude of people. A few years back, many people did not show much interest in the esoteric aspects of wealth, since those were not backed up by logic. Today in every ‘Happy Road to be Rich’ program, people not only enjoy our esoteric sharing but also have given high ratings for the same. This is true of most of the people irrespective of whether they have financial qualification or not. It is heartening to note that many are trying to be humble and willing to learn and practice these lovely concepts. Indeed, people are becoming intelligent. In summary, acquiring Financial Intelligence is easier and better in the journey to be rich and possibly in the journey to become richest also.
Enough of the serious stuff! Let us discuss the ‘intelligence’ of a person who won a lottery. For a 20 $ ticket, he won a prize of 10 million $. The authorities said they would pay 7 million $ after deducting tax. The man told the authorities,” You think I am not intelligent. Either you pay the entire 10 million $ or return the 20 $, I paid for buying the ticket!”
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