Personal finance

I recently started reading about some basic concepts related to finance, and I think I had been at it for less than five minutes when I came across something very interesting. From the outset, one might think that finance falls under a general concept, but this is not really the case, and it is understandable to even talk about the existence of several types of finance: corporate, public, international, and also personal finance.

It was precisely the latter that caught my attention because it basically refers to what we can directly do with our money: spend, save, or invest. I don't know why, but as soon as I read this, I automatically thought: Isn't this something I've been doing for a long time? I immediately reflected on how, even since my childhood, my mother would give me a certain amount of money and encourage me to save some in a piggy bank. Obviously, as children, it's hard to understand why I should save money when I can buy candy with it, but from that point on, we began to acquire and develop the concept of personal finance.

After adolescence, it wasn't my mom who gave me money, but when I started working, I also began to cover my expenses, treat myself to outings and meals, and save for future projects. Now I understood what my mom wanted to teach me as a child, and even though I didn't have a piggy bank, I did have a sense of responsibility not to waste money and to know how to manage it and make the most of it, especially when times of need arose or when I had to deal with an illness.

If I had been asked about this concept of finance before I knew what it was, I would have said that I had never done anything like that. Because it's like those situations in life where you do something but you don't understand the concept as such, and it all stems from something you've been taught or seen in your family. In fact, when I think about it more deeply, I believe that from our earliest years we are already applying this kind of finance on an individual level.

Does all this lead to an advantage or some benefit? I believe so. And although there must be many factors involved, I think it all comes down to conscious money management and how it can be projected based on each person's plans. I don't know if this fits in with what I'm thinking, but I relate it to what many people do to achieve short- or long-term goals, such as completing their studies, buying a house, or thinking about saving to start a business. If so, it seems logical and reasonable in these unstable times, when the financial decisions we make carry much more weight and are more important every day.

Learning a little more about this topic also leads me to consider what I can do now with what I can generate with my work, and this is where the topic of investing comes into play, as I see it as an opportunity to further grow the product of my work, knowing that with this investment I can contribute and help more. Of course, this would be another point to analyze, but I have no doubt that it is also related to personal finances. Lesson learned? Finances have always been there, and many of us have been involved without even knowing it or being aware of this concept.