(ZBIN Financial Literacy series part 2)
The greatest fraud to ever take place on the continent was the non involvement of Africans in the development of the educational syllabi. So education was an off the shelf package delivered and Africans grabbed it with open arms without critiquing it.
When you went to college, did you have a lecture of why you were studying certain subjects, who had developed the syllabi and why? Did you cover the future relevancy of the syllabi?
Did you also cover the African educational system; the advantages and disadvantages?
So we didn’t ask critical questions and now we sometimes get excited of fancy financial terms and yet they have been in existence for thousands of years and our forefathers had perfected it.
Lets keep this post short,
Financial literacy is all about financial freedom. The focus is on acquisition of assets and minimising acquisition of liabilities. You do not put all of your eggs in one basket but spread your assets acquisition in different areas such as;
Real estate, Stocks,Entrepreneurship,Money market,And others,
One shock affecting any sector will not mean you immediately going belly up.
What is an asset: Anything that creates value or add money into your pocket.
Liabilities: Anything that takes money away from your pocket.
Controversies;
The home that you live in is classified as an asset in accounting terms but because it does not bring income, it is not an asset! Is it? One can argue that your primary residence saves you rental costs but the big picture is on acquiring more properties and earn rental income and capital gain!
Is your car an asset or a liability? If it is a truck and you can hire it out, if It is registered on ZBIN Ride or registered with a car rental firm, then its surely an asset. But if not then your car is a liability as it siphons money from your pocket through fuel and operating costs. Throw in sentimental issues and you can have a debate that lasts for weeks.
Is your rural home an asset? If you can use it for farming then why not? Of course in accounting, we do not put much value in this land.
The National Problem:
The economy was structured to encourage liability spending by the majority. Many compete in buying cars (check the value of Ex Jap cars imported over the last 2 decades). Our nation spends more money on imports and most of our problems can be traced to this single cancerous disease.
So are we oblivious to these facts? We surely know but if some are selfishly benefiting from imports, who can stop them? Can we add corruption to the list of liabilities? Yes we surely can….
Liability Acquisition Culture:
We celebrate and honour liability acquisition….At church those with the biggest liabilities get the top posts. Even during courtship, those with more liabilities come first. Some job promotions are based on liability acquisition grounds. In politics, those who cannot showcase their liabilities will get the least votes. Every facet of life in Zimbabwe is anchored on liabilities-even at family level, Mr and Mrs Liability maketh all the decisions.
Its now a sea full of liabilities and it is coming at a huge opportunity cost. Our forefathers and mothers had developed a strong educational system anchored on Ubuntu Values and clearly it was biased towards assets acquisition. We were less corrupt too….
Now the question is how do you survive in a liability acquisition culture when you possess an assets acquisition mindset? You need to be strong as you will experience ridicule from every quarter. Are you willing to build a resilient and sustainable business model? Then hang around the few people with the same mindset ….
