Financial Literacy | How Financially Literate are You?

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Financial Literacy | How Financially Literate are You?

I didn’t get married until I was in my 30’s….so I had over a decade of time to work on my financial portfolio, goals and dreams. I used to feel so overwhelmed having to do that all on my own, but looking back, it actually forced me to become aware of all aspects of my finances, and educate myself in order to make sure that I was doing all that I could to stretch my hard earned dollars.

Life is so uncertain, and I had no idea what my future held back then, so I created financial goals that would protect me should I ever need to fall back on my savings or rely on my investments. I bought a house in my mid-twenties, and it was one of the best things that I ever did. Not only was it a very educational process to go through, but it also ended up being a great investment that became a large part of my financial portfolio and financial plan.

Once I met and married my husband, our two financial plans merged into one, and since we did get married later in life, we both had a pretty good knowledge of exactly what we were building together. I think this has been (and will be) really beneficial to both of us as we continue through life because we are both very aware of the ins and outs of our finances and we understand the investment decisions that we have made, what our goals are and what we will need to live out our lives as planned. It has helped me to realize how valuable it is to be financial literate and to have and understand your financial plans with your partner.

Do YOU have a financial plan? This is kind of a trick question because as we all know, we can only plan for what we know is certain (that we will grow older) but there is no way to plan for what exactly we might need, as situations change, and life is so unpredictable. So, the best that we can do is plan for those thing that are either certain (the fact that we will need stability and savings as we grow) OR what we hope for (our retirement goals, wishes and dreams). Check out this handy Genworth Retirement Income worksheet calculator to get a better look at your overall financial picture.

I truly believe that while I have always been pretty good about organizing my financial goals and sticking to my financial plans, I do get smarter as each hear passes, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I am always seeking out new information and advice. Here’s a pretty good article with some great tips on why and how being financially literate can help you to create a life long financial plan: Women and Finances: Growing Older Makes Women Better with Money.

Information for this post is sourced from Genworth Financial in partnership with the SheHeard Influencer Network. All opinions are my own and were not influenced by another.