"Forever Learning" Is Exciting…

As I proceeded through college, I recognize now, many years later, that it was there that I learned how to learn.  The subjects were generally helpful, but innovations and technology have out-paced most everything I was taught at the university. What I really received from my education was a desire to learn and the how-to behind learning.
An example from my university education that shows how technology has made specific subject matter obsolete was the way I was taught to program Fortran at the university, a computer language  that was recognized by a computer in 1975, by punching holes into a thick card.   The computer Fortran worked on was as big as an entire room!  And you had to keep the cards in the right order, or nothing worked.  I remember having to learn how to flow-chart my simple mathematics problem on a piece of paper, then transfer that to a key-punch typewriter to create the program.  Today, all of that technology is more than obsolete. But what I learned by doing this new programming 40 years ago that remains as relevant and fresh today as it was then, was to “flow chart” my ideas first, then input the data.  I have used that principle many times since — getting my idea in simple terms in front of me first, then working on the rest of the details to complete a project. The computer programming language may be gone, but the powerful organizational principle behind it remains. This is what I mean when I say I learned “how to learn” from these educational experiences.
Such experiences have set up a “forever learning” attitude in me. If we do not continue to read books, go to continuing education classes, check out search engines and explore on our own, we will be ineffective at solving the problems of today.  For example, my mother is age 93.  She has never had a desire to have an email address, or do social media.  However, we children purchased her a smart phone and she loves looking at all the pictures posted onto Instagram by all her grandchildren.  In a sense, even though she has resisted modern technology to some degree, she is benefiting from embracing a “forever learning” attitude by allowing herself to take advantage of new opportunities for information distribution. If my mother at age 93 can use a smart phone, certainly the rest of us can take advantage of all the tools and technology available to us to continue our search for knowledge.
A few years ago I became familiar with www.Kahnacademy.org, www.mooc-list.com, and many other Web sites that have free training on tons of subjects from highly accredited institutions like Harvard, Yale, Northwestern University, etc.  The resources available for anyone who has access to the Internet is nothing short of a miracle.
Now, when it comes to financial education, there is certainly no excuse these days for ignorance, since we have access to so many information resources. As Money Master Principle 5 teaches, you must know the rules of the financial games you are playing. If you don’t know the rules but the other people who are playing the game with you, such as credit card companies, mortgage lenders, and banks, you are going to be taken advantage by them and you’re going to get burned.
There are all kinds of information sources out there that make it easy to get knowledgeable about your own personal financial situation. You do not need to know everything, but you do need to know something, and that something is how you are dealing with your spending, borrowing, savings, and taxes. If you do not know how to manage your spending, while at the same time getting out of debt and saving for the future, all while reducing your taxes, then you need to get that knowledge. Contact me if you want to learn more because each of these four areas must work together at the same time. If they don’t, it won’t matter how much you learn, you won’t be learning the right things, which is the same as not learning at all.
I read a bumper sticker that said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”  This is so true.  It is so important to keep learning and growing and trying new things.  New-found knowledge and abilities can add a lot of zest and excitement to your life.