Money Illiteracy – The Hidden Pandemic

Ron Malhotra - The CEO of Ron Malhotra International and Managing Director of a Wealth Management firm, believes  that money education should be a mandatory field in every educational institution. After all, what is the point of attaining a professional education that leaves majority of people in a state of confusion, lacking clarity & confidence about their financial affairs?

Ron Malhotra claims that the underpinning assumptions that form the basis of traditional education worldwide are that:

1. IQ equals total intelligence and should equip an individual to deal with varied situations and challenges in life, business and career.
2. Academic excellence should result in an individual’s financial success somewhere down the track.
3. Professional skills are sufficient for an individual to achieve financial security.

“Of course, these are implied not explicit assumptions. If they were not implied, why would millions of people decide to go through the traditional education system and put future generations through it as well, given that majority of people are unable to achieve sufficient wealth to last them an entire lifetime. The fact that most workers are not able to accumulate sufficient income-producing assets through their working life to create a retirement income stream that lasts an entire lifetime without some form of financial dependency on their families or the government is a consequence of generations of people not having the skills to manage money and grow wealth.”

Ron asserts - “I am not suggesting that there is no merit in academics. I am simply saying it’s not sufficient to train people to make an income, but not train them on how to use that income to create wealth that lasts them a lifetime. Even better, let’s teach people that one doesn’t need to inherit money to create inter-generational wealth by providing them with a proper understanding of planning, prudent investing, and risk management. Wealth creation doesn’t need to be complex or technical. In fact, it can be made quite intuitive once people comprehend the fundamentals, behaviors and habits that drive wealth creation.”

Ron Malhotra believes that wealth education should no longer be the exclusive domain of people who already possess investable assets.

According to him, it has become more important than before for the emerging middle class to become serious about accumulation of assets due to longevity and inflation risk. “As people live longer and face the very real prospect of running out of money at retirement due to increase in the cost of goods and services, depending on children is no longer a good plan. Most children will be under tremendous financial pressure because of balancing career pressures, mortgages and concerns around their kids education.”