The two well-known emotions that affect our financial health are Greed and Fear.
Greed makes us take undue risks or go in for irrational investments. Fear, on the other hand, immobilizes us.
In both cases our financial health suffers.
However, in addition to these two basic emotions, there is another factor which can cause financial misery – and that is the FEAR OF NUMBERS, sometimes also referred to as Financial Phobia.
Most of us carry a misconception that we cannot comprehend numbers. Finance is some esoteric field that only experts can understand. Talking about money makes us anxious and uncomfortable.
And when we are not comfortable with something, our basic human tendency is to delay; to push it ‘under the carpet’. In today’s dynamic world, this can be disastrous. If the financial situation has changed and you have not taken appropriate action to deal with that change, you can end-up losing lot of money.
There is no reason why this fear cannot be overcome. The solution lies in getting yourself educated. The learning process becomes manageable and enjoyable if you keep the following points in mind:
1. You don’t have to become an expert. So all you need is a very basic understanding of how various investment options such as PPF, NSC, Mutual Funds, Insurance, Shares, etc. work.
2. Since investing is a life-long process, you have time on your side. You can patiently do your study over 3-6 months. Suddenly trying to learn a lot of new things will prove counter-productive. So just spend 20-30 mins/day on financial education. Within 10-15 days you will see the difference.
3. Play number games like Monopoly, Sudoku etc. These will help you to start loving numbers
Numbers can be a lot of fun. And of course very critical too, as far as your financial matters go. Therefore, break that mental block and join the exciting world of numbers and finance.
Greed makes us take undue risks or go in for irrational investments. Fear, on the other hand, immobilizes us.
In both cases our financial health suffers.
However, in addition to these two basic emotions, there is another factor which can cause financial misery – and that is the FEAR OF NUMBERS, sometimes also referred to as Financial Phobia.
Most of us carry a misconception that we cannot comprehend numbers. Finance is some esoteric field that only experts can understand. Talking about money makes us anxious and uncomfortable.
And when we are not comfortable with something, our basic human tendency is to delay; to push it ‘under the carpet’. In today’s dynamic world, this can be disastrous. If the financial situation has changed and you have not taken appropriate action to deal with that change, you can end-up losing lot of money.
There is no reason why this fear cannot be overcome. The solution lies in getting yourself educated. The learning process becomes manageable and enjoyable if you keep the following points in mind:
1. You don’t have to become an expert. So all you need is a very basic understanding of how various investment options such as PPF, NSC, Mutual Funds, Insurance, Shares, etc. work.
2. Since investing is a life-long process, you have time on your side. You can patiently do your study over 3-6 months. Suddenly trying to learn a lot of new things will prove counter-productive. So just spend 20-30 mins/day on financial education. Within 10-15 days you will see the difference.
3. Play number games like Monopoly, Sudoku etc. These will help you to start loving numbers
Numbers can be a lot of fun. And of course very critical too, as far as your financial matters go. Therefore, break that mental block and join the exciting world of numbers and finance.
