The term financial literacy isn’t something I ever heard growing up. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, the household I grew up in very rarely spoke about money. This is a common symptom for households where money isn’t an easy thing. Money can be stressful, it can be emotional and because of this, talking about money can often be avoided. The flow-on effect of not having healthy conversations around money are innumerable.

However, it’s not all bad news. Just by reading articles on websites like Tomorrow Money and by doing a bit of research, we can hugely boost our financial literacy. This is extremely important for young people in particular, as we face different challenges to the generations that came before us, so it’s important to forge our own path.

Learning the language of money

First off, it needs to be stated that, financial literacy isn’t a skill that you’re just born with. No one is born speaking a language fluently, yet it’s something that we pick up inexplicably over time from our family and those around us. This also means that we learn to form some of the same speaking patterns and habits of the people who taught us. In both of these ways financial literacy is just a language around money. Because of this, it’s very important that we get a solid understanding of that language and that we take time to hone our skills and learn better ways of communicating and picking up information.

Learning to use financial literacy for yourself, and for your specific needs is the most important aspect of the learning process, as not all information is going to apply to all people. Nor is all information that you receive going to be relevant to the problems and solutions that characterise your generation, or your community.

Age and generational differences

Age can be a huge challenge in growing your financial literacy. If you’re lucky you will have people who speak to you about things like investment and financial stability. However, there are massive difference between the older generation and young people now. For example, the opportunity to own a home is no longer the same, university and career trajectories work very differently and in general information is much more readily available.

All of these aspects are part of the reason you can’t just take any information as relevant to us. Creating financial literacy is about reading and having conversations with a broad spectrum of sources and individuals, to help find out what feels relevant to you.

This is why it’s also really essential that we share with other Mob the things that we have found beneficial, the things that make a difference to us and that maybe aren’t the same pieces of information that you hear every day.

In reality, financial literacy is one of the most important languages you can learn as it not only lifts you up but those around you, breaking the cycle of frustration and silence that I know was part of my family’s experience with money.

Like every article on TomorrowMoney, this is not personal financial advice. If you need help with debt, you can always call the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.