Why did I switch from NGO to Wealth Management?
I thought money was synonymous with evil
If you had met me back in college, no one would have ever imagined me going around and educating about personal finance today.
Genuinely, never.
I was determined to focus my entire life in non-profit. I was young and idealistic. It took me five years working in various causes to realise that the values prevailing in the field didn't match with mine.
Dodgy business ethics, egocentricity and mismanagement to name a few.
Switching to business was a must to survive. From luxury to consulting firms, I took all the opportunities offered to me. Still, I couldn't identify myself evolving in the corporate world aligned with my core principles until I landed in finance.
Yes, finance, the apogee of capitalism!
Within the first couple of months in my new role, I found out the two following astounding gaps which soon become my raison d'être:
Financial literacy gap is real: only 3 out of 10 adults worldwide are financial literate1. This study gives you an overview, but omits the ones who do NOT financially plan despite knowing (or not knowing) the financial jargon.
Financial behavioural is overlooked: basically the psychological biases which make you taking (or not taking) any financial decision-making. "I should save more","I should invest"," I will do it before age X"… If you catch yourself saying one of these, you're most likely to have underlying issues, rather than a simple I-have-no-time answer.
As you're reading this page, you're somewhat already sensitive to the subject. Unfortunately, we are not as rational as we would like to be, that's why we take poor decision choices, even though we are aware of it. We all know that we should actively plan for our future, but most of us have not - including my old self.
So, why is that?
I was lucky enough not to worry about my medical bills, nor my retirement until I moved abroad. For most Europeans, it is quite common to “trust” the government to take good - or partially - care of its people; so for a long time, I blamed the system for making me an assisted person, but... I was wrong. That was not the reason for my inaction.
The truth is that I grew up thinking that anything related to money was associated with source of conflicts, family issues, evil and greed. Yes, wanting money was making me a terrible person!
Fear of money, chronic procrastination, the Dunning-Kruger effect, carpe diem, bon vivant, hedonism, etc. are all excuses we give to ourselves for non planning.
Money is a loaded topic in our culture. So loaded, in fact, that it is the world’s most impolite subject.
by Sarah Newcomb
It took me a while to convert my awareness into action, but once you know a couple of tricks, you can hack your mind, witness the changes, and from there, everything unfolds.
Financial services are still full of stigma in our society. Wealth inequality has increasingly widened for the past decades. Wary consumers have developed a growing scorn towards banks, salespeople and more generally consumerism. I do understand the colossal challenge to close the two gaps, but well, who said I like things to be easy?
Sophie Hau
NB. This post was published on LinkedIn initially on September 11, 2019.
S&P Global FinLit Survey (2014)