Financial education is your best investment.

“If someone believes the cost of education in investments is high, i strongly recommend experiencing the weight of ignorance.”

Do they delve into the distinct nuances between a balance sheet and an income statement?

Can they enumerate the necessary steps of due diligence before exposing capital to a new investment?

And equally, do they clearly distinguish the act of investing from simple gambling and understand how these choices affect financial gains?

Inexplicably, the crucial skill that can make or break a person’s financial success is not taught in school.

After all, one can earn a four-year college degree without learning a single thing about personal finance or investments.

Doctors and lawyers can set up their own clinics and law offices without any clue about reading financial statements.

Business owners and investors can, unfortunately, remain dangerously ignorant about the tax laws governing their activities.

The truth, undeniably, is that financial literacy is the crucial skill to develop if one aims to build wealth and achieve the much-desired financial security. There is no escape or alternative to this.

In fact, the most advantageous investment one can make lies in oneself and in one’s financial education.

This is the obvious premise for beginning the wealth accumulation process.”

Why? here are the reasons:

It provides lifelong dividends, immune to any external action.

It increases your earning potential.

It maximizes the return on your investments.

It enhances the quality of life and financial health.

It secures your retirement.

It protects your portfolio from unnecessary losses.

It offers peace of mind regarding money.

This list of advantages is extensive, but what about the disadvantages?

Why don’t everyone master these essential skills to invest and develop their financial literacy?

Because it requires time and effort—and they are too busy.

That’s it. There are no other disadvantages.

If you are willing to invest your time, you can enjoy all the advantages that come with becoming financially literate.

All you need to do is dedicate yourself, and a lifetime of benefits will be within your reach.

This is one of those “obvious” choices that are easy to understand but hard to implement.

After all, what do you prefer: dedicating yourself now for a lifetime of financial security, or allowing procrastination and evasion now for a lifetime of financial mediocrity?

It’s not a particularly difficult decision, but surprisingly few people make the wise choice.

Financial education is one of life’s great bargains: it costs little, involves no risks, and offers grand rewards.

It is, undoubtedly, the best investment you can make.

The sooner you start, the more valuable it will be for you. The longer you delay, the more it will cost. Which path will you choose?

Next, we will examine each of the reasons why financial education is your best investment, allowing you to make a profitable choice.

Most investment advice is a dangerous half-truth

Have you grown tired of all the financial and investment experts with their conflicting advice?

One expert says to diversify to reduce risk, while another claims it only guarantees mediocre results.

One recommends paying off all debts because they are harmful, while another suggests leveraging good debts to build wealth.

One says the stock market is the key to wealth, while another argues that more millionaires come from real estate than any other source.

How is one supposed to learn to invest money when the so-called experts can’t even agree?

It’s enough to drive you crazy! Who can you trust?

Each authority speaks as if there is only one correct answer, but each financial expert offers different and often conflicting investment advice.

It doesn’t make sense! It’s frustrating. I get upset when so-called financial experts make dogmatic and overly simplified statements as if they have the only correct answer.

True experts know that most financial truths are more subtle and complex, so they don’t insult your intelligence with simplified and direct investment advice.

Even the most basic investment ideas, like buying and holding stocks for the long term, are too complex to be adequately explained in a soundbite or brief article.

The reality is that each piece of conflicting investment advice above is partly true and partly false—depending on the situation.

There are times when it makes sense to leverage with good debt, just as there are situations where it may be equally correct to pay off existing debts.

There are times when “buy and hold for the long term” is a good strategy, while at other times the risk is not justified by the reward.

Each one is a dangerous half-truth.

One of the reasons financial education is necessary is to understand the subtle shades of gray behind all the half-truths about investments you hear.

It is crucial to process this information intelligently to make profitable investment decisions.

You must be able to discern when a conditional truth applies and when it should be disregarded, as blindly following simplified advice can cause financial problems.

For example, do you understand when buy and hold is a smart investment strategy and when the risk is not justified by the reward?

Do you know when to leverage debt to increase wealth and when it makes sense to pay off debts?

What is the best wealth-building vehicle—paper assets, businesses, or real estate—and why?

These questions have the potential to make or break your financial future.

Learning the assumptions and reasons behind the investment half-truths is one of the reasons why financial education is necessary.

It is the only way to know who is right, who is wrong, and why, in a world full of conflicting and contradictory investment advice.

One size does not fit all investors

Despite what all the investment experts selling seminars and courses want you to believe, there are no secrets to investing.

As John Bogle of Vanguard Investment fame said, “The secret is there are no secrets.”

There are many different ways to invest profitably and many sources where you can get information.

No marketer has the magic bullet to teach a specific investment strategy.

If you don’t want to pay thousands of dollars to an expensive guru for their training or seminar, you can probably find very similar information for less than a hundred dollars at your local library or online bookstore.

However, what you won’t find at the bookstore or with most gurus is the real key to financial security: discovering which of the many available investment strategies will work for your personal situation.

Their investment advice is generic, but you need it personalized.

Not all investment strategies are suitable for everyone, but there is a right solution for you.

Your job is to find it so that you can achieve financial security.

You are a unique individual with your own skills, background, experiences, and perspectives on life.

You have a unique risk tolerance and preferences, timelines, and goals different from everyone else.

So, what are the chances that a weekend investment seminar or a week-long training teaching a specific investment technique will be the right fit for your unique needs? It doesn’t make sense.

The hidden assumption behind most investor education is the “one size fits all” approach.

This doesn’t work with clothes, relationships, or sunglasses, and it certainly doesn’t work with investment strategies.

Everyone has a unique gift to bring to the world, and financial success results from an investment plan that capitalizes on that uniqueness.

The way you retire early and rich will be different from everyone else you talk to or associate with.

That’s why pre-packaged advice, investment seminars, and generic computer solutions that spread static financial “truths” can never match the personalized education that helps you find your own truth.

Therefore, the second reason financial education is necessary is to learn enough about yourself and the various investment strategies out there to develop a personalized wealth-building solution tailored to your unique skills, values, and resources.

Overcoming conflicts of interest in investment advice

The only person 100% committed to your pocket is you.

Everyone else has a conflict of interest.

Even an authority like Alan Greenspan has declared to Congress the need for Americans to better educate themselves on managing their finances and promoting greater financial education in schools.

Greenspan emphasized that financial literacy can help young people avoid making poor financial decisions that can have long-term consequences.

It’s crucial that you learn to invest your money because no one will ever care about it as much as you do.

No one else will be making financial decisions in your life without any conflict of interest except you.

You are the only investment advisor for your portfolio who has your best interests at heart.

Everyone else is in the business to serve their own best interests.

The ability to separate fact from fiction in investments is essential to avoid conflicts of interest.

This is the third reason financial education is necessary: to empower yourself to be skilled enough to identify and handle conflicts of interest in investment advice.

You can delegate authority, but not responsibility

Many people have the illusion that their advisors will take care of important financial matters like retirement, college savings, and wealth planning on their behalf.

They believe they can simply delegate these matters to a professional advisor and not worry about learning on their own. However, this is nonsense!

Whether you hire financial experts or decide to invest independently, you remain responsible for the results of your investments.

Every choice you make is your decision, and therefore, the responsibility is yours.

You decide which investment expert to hire and which investment to acquire.

If you are not satisfied with your investment results, there is no one to blame but yourself.

Even if you delegate authority to others, you cannot delegate ultimate responsibility.

The only way to consistently make smart investment decisions is to learn what works, what doesn’t, and why.

If your investment decisions are not based on knowledge, then what are they based on?

The charisma of a salesperson, the charm of a speaker, soundbites from the media, confidence, or blind faith?

None of these bases is a reliable recipe for investor success.

There is no substitute for knowledge.

It is contradictory to have responsibility in mind for your financial future but not act by educating yourself on how to make smart investment decisions. Anything less is irresponsibility.

Prioritizing your financial education is the key to becoming self-responsible for your financial future.

This is the reason why financial education is necessary.

Learning, gaining knowledge, and making informed decisions are essential elements to taking responsibility for your financial success.