The UNFAIR ADVANTAGE: The Bottomless Iced Tea Story

http://www.ca2020.net/profiles/blogs/the-unfair-advantage-the-bottomless-iced-tea-story

Article of my brother in Business, Coach Vitt Encarnacion

One time while I was a moderator during a CASHFLOW 101 WORKSHOP conducted by our group I shared with the participants in our table how financial literacy now is a must since we are living in an age where people who are financially literate have an unfair advantage over people who are not. One of the participants then clarified if I’m implying that the rich get richer because they are taking advantage of the poor people who are not financially literate. I immediately clarified that this is not the case since rich people does not necessarily have to take what the poor have because riches or resources is abundant. The idea that you cannot be wealthy because all the wealth is already with the affluent is what we call a limiting belief - a belief that can limit you in achieving your potential.

Let’s say a person named Max goes in a restaurant for the first time and ordered iced tea not knowing that it's refillable. At the same time, Lito, who goes to this restaurant often also ordered iced tea and knows for a fact that the restaurant’s iced tea, by default, is bottomless. What do you think will happen next?

Lito will drink his iced tea and have it refilled again and again while Max would not. Now when Lito is maximizing his bottomless iced tea does it necessarily mean he's taking the share of Max? Of course not, iced tea in that restaurant is abundant it just so happens that not all the customers are availing of this privilege. Max just did not know that he is also entitled to have his iced tea refilled whenever he wants while Lito is maximizing what he paid for. Now you cannot really blame Lito for making the most of his entitlement can you? This is the same entitlement Max has that he can only use as soon as he learns it. The example may seem trivial but so is the money game for someone who is financially free, someone who is financially literate.

Whenever a businessman makes more money it doesn’t necessarily mean that he is taking something from other people. Wealth is abundant; it just takes a financially literate person to take advantage of this fact. Being financially literate is key, this can be your advantage also.

Being financially literate is an ongoing process, something you cannot really learn enough of especially at this age and time. But you have to start somewhere. Make that decision today to invest in your financial literacy. Financially free people were not born financially literate.