Literacy and Financial Literacy

I came across an article called The Importance of Literacy and Books in Children's Development by Denise von Stocken of IBBY that I really connected with.  I read it a few times and decided that not only was I going to paraphrase it a bit but I wanted to draw correlations from it to financial literacy.  There’s even a way for readers out there to help be an active part of literacy. 

Von Stocken starts out by defining literature and literacy as the human need to tell stories about oneself, others, and the world around us to better understand our existence.  She breaks literacy and learning to read out into four parts which I’ve summarized.

1. Learning to read is learning to see. When you are reading and interpreting all the time it affects how you experience the world.  It can make experiences deeper and richer allowing you the opportunity to see things you may otherwise miss.
2. Learning to read is learning to listen. Literacy creates better the ability for deeper understandings of content and context.  Listening allows access to deeper insight into what people are saying and the stories they tell.
3. Learning to read is learning to communicate. Reading creates dialogues between characters, environments, and the character’s story.  It also creates dialogue between the reader and the book. When you’re reading you are constantly internally communicating with what you understand as the story progresses and are constantly exposed to communication within the text. The more you are exposed to it the more efficient and profound communicator you become, practice makes perfect.
4. Books are objects. Books aren’t, necessarily, digital they are tangible.  You hold them, feel them, flip through them, and conquer them. There is pride in ownership and confidence that comes with being proficiently literate.

Now take those points and transpose them on to financial literacy.  Reading about financial literacy from many points of view is like chewing through great books.  It creates depth and understanding in a subject matter that is ever present and current everyday of your life. To see a little more about financial literacy specifically check out Financial Fitness: Financial Literacy for A New Generation. It's actually a workbook that I was a fan of that you interact with to create a higher level of financial literacy.

1. Learning to see. This same concept applies here only your focusing your vision to be aware of your personal finances and how money affects the world around us. Why wouldn’t you want to understand the driving forces that will get you to the lifestyle you are striving for?
2. Listening. The television news, print media, and internet are talking to you all the time.  Do you have the tools necessary to listen for the information that is actually relevant? It’s hard to filter when you have so much available information but, when you learn to really listen you can discern what’s important to you and then make better decisions from that information. Not just reacting to the last thing the talking TV heads scared you into. 
3. Communication. Communication allows you to accurately express what you want, your goals.  It allows you to interact with your environment and better understand what’s going on around you. Financially speaking, it makes you a more efficient consumer because you are better at collecting and interpreting information as well as conveying it. 
4. It’s tangible. Now money is tangible but financial literacy not so much. Because money is transitive this becomes a responsibility. It is human nature to want the best or to want to do the best you can given your level of resources. If you’re not absorbing and processing as much financial/economic information as possible you won’t be able to make choices that are the most competitive. Your ability to make competitive choices is what makes you responsible consumer and it’s the vehicle to help you reach your goals. That is what’s tangible about financial literacy.  You’re looking for the most efficient way to consume so that the resources saved can be put to things that will give you the life, future, or charity that you want. 

This is the part where you can help.  If you haven’t noticed I am a pretty big advocate for not only financial literacy but for getting books in the hands of kids and the importance of libraries. Literacy is important in young people because it helps them interpret the world around them.  It gives kids more vantage points to see from and gives them the opportunity to have richer experiences. It’s an old cliché adage but children today grow up to be the leaders and business owners later and the more depth they have as a person the better decision makers they become.  So, there’s the donate button in the left side bar, if you decide to use it your contributions help support Springfield Public Libraries and literacy programs of Western Massachusetts.  Help support your local young readers! Please.

Cheers!