Why Being Good With Money Isn’t Taught
Most of us grow up believing that if we were “bad with money,” that’s a personal flaw. A lack of discipline. A character issue.
In reality, most people were never taught how money actually works.
We learn math. We learn to calculate percentages, solve equations and balance abstract problems on paper. But we are not taught money systems. We are not taught how banks operate, how incentives shape behavior, how inflation quietly erodes purchasing power or how debt and investments interact over time.
School implicitly assumes that this part will somehow take care of itself.
For most people, it does not. It didn't for me - and if you are reading this, I am pretty sure it didn't for you.
Math Is Not Money
Knowing how to calculate interest is not the same as understanding why interest exists in the first place.
Knowing how to add and subtract is not the same as understanding how banks create money, why debt expands or why holding cash can be risky over long periods of time.
What’s missing is not intelligence or math skills. What's. missing is context and practical skills.
Money is a system of incentives, power, time and trust. Without understanding the system, individual financial decisions feel random, intimidating or moralized. People internalize outcomes without understanding the rules of the game.
That is a setup for confusion.
From Confusion to Avoidance
When something feels confusing and high-stakes, most people do not lean in. They step back.
They postpone decisions. They leave money sitting idle. They avoid investing because it feels “too risky,” while inflation quietly guarantees a loss of purchasing power. They outsource decisions entirely or follow advice they don’t fully understand. Let's be honest, a lot of women do this. And it's also a very comfortable and convenient excuse.
Over time, confusion hardens into avoidance.
The problem is not you or a lack of capability. It's a lack of education and confidence.
Financial Literacy Is Not Elite Knowledge
There is a persistent myth that understanding money is only for economists, traders or finance professionals. For guys who are good at math.
It isn’t.
Financial literacy is practical life knowledge. It sits alongside understanding contracts, nutrition or basic health. It affects where you live, how you work, how much freedom you have and how resilient you are when circumstances change.
Most importantly, it is learnable at any stage of life. And you have learned a lot already during your life. Probably without realizing it. Your first bank account, your first salary, your first time managing your own household financially, budgeting for rent and grocery shopping, saving for a car, managing regular payments. All of these things are financial skills. Learning how to invest is just adding another skill to the skill stack you already have.
You do not need to become a market expert. You need clarity. You need mental models. You need to understand the forces at play well enough to make calm, informed decisions instead of reactive ones.
Once you understand how money systems work, something subtle but important shifts.
Fear decreases, because you know what you're doing. Decisions slow down, because you know what questions to ask. Confidence goes up, because you see actual results.
You stop asking, “What should I buy?” and start asking, “What problem am I solving?”
You stop reacting to headlines and start thinking in time horizons.
You stop outsourcing responsibility for your future.
This is not about getting rich quickly. As much as I wish I had the secret to getting rich quickly - I don't. And I doubt there even is a secret, but that's a different topic. Learning to take responsibility for your future is about regaining agency in a system you are already part of.
Where Mystery Money Fits In
The goal of the Mystery Money course is not to overwhelm you with jargon or turn you into a day trader.
It is to close the gap that school left open.
To explain how money works, from first principles.
To connect mindset, incentives and systems.
To help you move from confusion to clarity, and from clarity to action. Step by step.
If you were never taught this, that is not a personal failure.
But learning it now can be a personal turning point.
✨ Want to build a calm, confident investment strategy that actually fits your life?
Join the Mystery Money course and learn how to grow your wealth — step by step, without panic or guesswork - or too much math headache.
