I see work as an absolutely wonderful gift.

The gifts of work are limitless.  Recently I surveyed a group of colleagues and »»]]>

What is the value of work?

I see work as an absolutely wonderful gift.

The gifts of work are limitless.  Recently I surveyed a group of colleagues and students, mostly aged between 18 – 22, with a few older up to 40 and 50 years old.

Responses included:

• Understanding the time and effort traded for the particular item so the value of money
• Understanding over time that it is better to receive a higher amount per hour for less effort and this usually requires the sacrifice of further education
• Coming to understand the parents sacrifice and point of view
• Learn skills
• Increase self-esteem
• Sense of achievement
• Prepare you for later in life
• Learn how to handle and mishandle money (use or abuse)
• Opportunity to earn own money so can give gifts to others
• Time management such as being punctual or getting the sack! Working to a deadline
• Doing things you don’t want to do
• Taking responsibility
• Being able to buy yourself rewards

The above is from the Notes from Interview  on Financial Intelligence on ABC Radio, Goldfields, Western Australia – Part 2 of 2

With Lisa Van Oyen, Saturday 16 July 2011, 7.15am

for Part 1 CLICK TO FIND OUT What is Financial Intelligence?

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Examples from a recent session

Some trendy 20 year olds had on some nice jackets, you know the padded ones with fur trim.  We had just done an activity where we heard that in Australia the hourly rate for teens for part-time work is between $8 – $10.  I gave a price to their jackets and asked “How many hours would you need to work to buy this jacket?”  Someone yelled out 10 (which by the way was not correct made the point even better!)  So I asked the students “Is this jacket worth 10 hours of work?”  The class were shocked and there was a resounding “No.”

I have been relief teaching to help support my passions of writing, blogging, speaking and coaching.  As most of my students are supported financially by their parents I have them consider how many hours their parents needed to work to pay for their further education.

Each session I hold ends with a time of reflection and review.  Participants are asked to reflect using the following patterns:

“Today, I liked…”

“Today, I learned…”

“Today, I am grateful for…”

Following the above mentioned session, some reflections were:

“Today, I learned to be be grateful to my parents for the sacrifice they made for me.”

“Today, I am grateful to my teachers and the managers, who gave me more chances to change my attitude from a lazy, bad student to a good student.”

“Today, I liked to understand how I have been selfish and how I can change that to consider others.”

… and people wonder why I do what I do, that’s easy.  For people to change their lives they need to change their mindset.  I am fascinated with why we think what we think and also how we can change what is not working for us.

“To make a difference in the world, it is by making a difference in one person’s life so they can then make a difference in another person’s life.”

~ Cathy Elliss~

Your thoughts?

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Cathy is available to speak or run workshops with small and large groups on a variety of topics.  Particular passions of hers include: Financial Intelligence; Emotional Intelligence; Relationship Skills; Personal Leadership; and Study Skills.  Although she does do some pro bono work, she is a professional and part of her commitment to integrity and teaching Financial Intelligence is to be paid for her services.   Email her at cathy@cathyelliss.com

Financial Intelligence is being number smart and acknowledging that those numbers have a monetary value.  Basically it is about how to make money, keep money and grow »»]]>

Financial Intelligence is being number smart and acknowledging that those numbers have a monetary value.  Basically it is about how to make money, keep money and grow money.

According to Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame, Financial Intelligence is 10 % technical skills and 90% Emotional Intelligence.

Why should this interest you?

As we get older we know that we must look after ourselves ie we cannot expect our families or government to pay our bills.  So by learning basic principles we can look after our future.  Eg In the classic book ‘The Richest Man in Babylon’, we hear about the golden slaves, and those slaves having their children and grandchildren for us.  In modern terms that is compound interest.  Even low interest rates allows our money deposited in banks to grow, and that compound interest is added to the principal, so the growth is exponential.

Then there is active income versus passive income.  Most of us either work for others as an employee or have our own small business where we are self-employed and we trade time for money.  This could be as a brickies labourer or a doctor. Our time is limited so our income is limited.  The goal that better benefits us is passive income where rather than working for money, our money works for us.  This is most commonly investing in property or shares.

Is there an age you believe is good to start learning about money?

I have come to believe it is never too early to learn about money.  Eg Recently I was visiting a girlfriend and her six year old daughter had helped her mum grow some plants.  She had a small stall selling these plants.  We had a play at her shop and agreed on a price.  I then gave her pretend money as is usual when playing games with small children.  She got upset then her mother explained that she really does sell them.  Her mum negotiated a new price, equivalent of $1, and we were both happy with the sale.  Initially I had been shocked but then I thought “Why not?”

Another example could be children or teens designing their own rewards system in the home.  Household chores can be exchanged for tokens which equal whatever the desired currency. Eg cleaning the toilet + doing the dishes every night for a week = 1 special stationary item, or a certain number of hours playing the chosen game.  Again teaching children and teens the concept of trading time and effort for rewards.

These questions and answers form the Notes from the interview on ABC Radio, Goldfields Western Australia – Part 1

With Lisa Van Oyen, Saturday 16 July 2011, 7.15am

CLICK HERE for the next post – Gift of Work which is Part 2

Your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree?  Start a conversation on this important topic by commenting below.