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What Is Financial Literacy?

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Bonnie Charron
What Is Financial Literacy?

Financial literacy is about knowing how to responsibly manage your money so that you can comfortably afford and grow it. Financial literacy helps people prepare for retirement by giving them a realistic expectation about how much they will need in their golden years. It also helps people plan for emergencies with helpful tips on how to avoid financial emergencies in the first place. However, financial literacy is useless unless people take proactive steps to fight back against credit fraud. Here are some tips on how to fight back against credit fraud:

Be Prepared - Most people are financially literate because of their regular jobs. Because of this, it's important to be prepared before an emergency strikes. If you're a regular paycheck-to-paycheck worker who has regular hours, it's easy to plan for an emergency fund. However, if you're self-employed or do-it-yourself, it may be harder for you to prepare for a sudden crisis because you won't have access to an emergency fund.

Check Your Credit Report - A large number of people are victims of credit card fraud, most of whom don't even realize that they've been the victims. Financial literacy means being able to identify fraudulent activity, such as a bank account in your name that you never opened, charges that you didn't make, and credit cards in your name that you didn't use. This means that you need to check your credit report for mistakes or errors to make sure that you are not a victim of fraud.

Contribute - Don't be stingy when it comes to contributing to your retirement or emergency fund. Some retirees and small business owners only contribute half of what they actually need. Others contribute nothing at all. Financial literacy means having adequate money set aside to live on in the event of an emergency. If you are a financially literate person, then you won't need to worry about whether or not you'll be able to survive during an emergency.

Minimize Credit Card Balances - Another area where financial literacy is most needed is in managing your credit card balances. People who are financially literate understand that credit card balances can quickly add up, especially if you are living from paycheck to paycheck. Therefore, managing your credit card balances is important. It's also wise to keep a good track of your credit utilization, since overusing your credit cards can lead to higher interest rates and overall debt levels.

Be a Spender - Lastly, the financially literate person makes smart financial decisions. When money is tight, a good strategy is to make purchases using cash or credit where applicable and to pay off credit card balances as soon as possible. By doing so, you will maintain good credit utilization rates and therefore keep your credit score in good shape.

Cover photo by Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels

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Bonnie Charron
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