Forget Grades, Chase Assets: Why Financial Literacy Beats a Fancy Degree
Hey there, future millionaires! Terezie Dikeledi here, ready to drop some knowledge bombs about money that your school probably never taught you.
I’ve got a friend—let’s call him Dr. Debt—who graduated top of his class, went to a fancy medical school, and now makes a fat salary as a heart surgeon. Every year, he gets a big bonus, buys a shiny new car, and boasts about how much money he’s making.
Sounds impressive, right?
Here’s the problem: Dr. Debt is drowning in debt. Every time his salary goes up, his spending goes up even more. He’s got a giant mortgage, a mountain of credit card debt, and his kids are going to graduate college with more student loans than I have TikTok followers. It’s a mess.
And it happens because Dr. Debt doesn’t understand one simple thing: the difference between an asset and a liability. He’s spent his life chasing high income, but has no idea what to do with it once he earns it.
Now, let me tell you about my Uncle Mothusi.
He never finished high school, but he understands money better than almost anyone I know. He buys small apartment buildings, rents them out, keeps his costs low, and reinvests the profits. He drives a beat-up old truck, lives in a modest house, and never brags about how much money he’s making.
But he doesn’t have to.
Because Uncle Mothusi is quietly getting rich.
See, my friend Dr. Debt thinks a house is an asset, because that’s what his parents and the real estate agent told him. He thinks a new car is an asset, because that’s what his banker lets him list it as on a loan application. But he’s wrong. Dead wrong.
An asset, as my rich dad always told me, is something that puts money in your pocket. A liability is something that takes money out of your pocket.
Here’s what Dr. Debt missed:
- His house is a liability: Every month, it sucks money out of his pocket with a mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, and an endless parade of repair costs. The more bedrooms it has, the more doodads it has, the more money it takes to own it.
- His new car is a liability: That shiny new ride loses 25% of its value the minute he drives it off the lot, and keeps costing him money with car payments, insurance, gas, and parking tickets because—let’s be honest—Dr. Debt thinks those parking rules are for other people, not someone as important as a heart surgeon.
- Even those vintage baseball cards are a liability: They don’t pay rent. They don’t earn interest. And every time he buys and sells, the government takes a cut with capital gains taxes.
But my Uncle Mothusi? He’s got it figured out.
His little apartment buildings are assets: every month, they pump money into his pocket with rent payments from tenants, who also pay for the water and electricity. He keeps his expenses low, buys more buildings, and lets that money compound over time.
That’s financial intelligence. It’s the skill that Dr. Debt spent his whole life ignoring.
Now, let’s talk about why we get this so messed up in the first place.
When I was a kid, all I heard was, “Terezie, study hard, get good grades, so you can find a safe, secure job with a big company.”
I believed it. In fact, I wanted to be a cotton candy maker, because—let’s be honest—what could be better than getting paid to make that sweet fluffy stuff all day long? I’d eat it all day, my friends would be impressed, and I’d be rich!
Or, at least, that’s what my nine-year-old brain thought. But that’s the problem: School doesn’t teach you about money. Schools focus on scholastic and professional skills, but not on financial skills.
We spend years learning how to write a resume so we can find a good job. But nobody ever teaches us how to write a financial plan so we can buy those good jobs.
And that’s why Dr. Debt is struggling, despite all those fancy degrees. He’s never learned the most important lesson about money: It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you don’t know how to manage it.
So what’s the answer? How do we wake our financial genius up?
First, forget that old idea of “Get a good job.” Instead, get good at understanding money. Learn the difference between an asset and a liability. Start building an asset column that puts money in your pocket, whether you have a job or not.
It’s a skill that will serve you for life, and one that nobody else will teach you.