I’m fascinating by the different ways in which people learn things -especially by the way that the internet has made it possible for people to become expert in quite difficult things in a very short time.
Of course there is a downside to e-learning, you wouldn’t want your best friend performing open-heart surgery on you after seeing an operation on youtube. But in general, the internet is making everything from choosing a workplace pension to tackling a broken tap within the compass of the lay-person.
If , as I am sure will be the case, we see major changes to the way that people manage their financial affairs – it will be web-based learning that will achieve most in changing people’s behaviours.
Yesterday I was speaking to a major training organisation about how we can engage- educate and empower people to take smart decisions for themselves without recourse to expensive and often unnecessary advice.
Engage
There are many sources of help for those who need it which will kick-start you on the journey to financial self sufficiency.
If you are lucky enough to have a boss who pays for financial education in the workplace, you may get the impetus there. If , as reported yesterday, the Government are planning to make it easier to deliver advice and guidance at work- good – our submission to the FAMR asked that they did just that.
But even if there isn’t a financial education program at work, you can ask questions , no matter how dumb you think they are, to the Pension Advisory Service. And if you are over 55 you can even get a face to face session of formal teleconference with Pension Wise.
If you want to get pension wise, you don’t need to spend a lot of money getting started and – like jumping into a swimming pool, the hardest part is standing on the edge!
Educate
Financial education is at hand, it’s everywhere you care to look, from the Money Advice Service to Martin Lewis’ http://www.moneysavingexpert.com. If you don’t know what to do- ask. The internet is full of people like me who enjoy helping wherever they can. People who have the knowledge will often share and the self-help groups on linked in, Facebook and in the web-pages of many national publishers will give you access to information you need on everything from Pension Input Periods to how to avoid having to take out a payday loan.
You aren’t a muppet for asking, you’re a muppet for not asking!
