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Your financial phrasebook

Wilson Luna

As the old saying goes, 'Money talks'. And if you want to make sure that you know enough about the language of money to say more than 'goodbye' to yours, you're going to need to know the quickest and easiest ways to start picking up a few key phrases!

There’s a great story from 1963 about President John F Kennedy accidentally referring to himself as a jam doughnut while making a speech in Germany – ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ was a great sentiment, but if he’d stopped to find out a little more about the language and culture, he would have deprived history of a great moment by discovering that ‘Berliners’ are doughnuts, not people from Berlin!

One of the great things about being in a foreign country is having a go at the language – and making a bit of a fool of yourself while ordering food in a restaurant, or trying to get directions! But the best thing is that with a little bit of practice, you really can get a lot of it right. And the same thing is true in the metaphorical journey that leads to financial freedom. If this is a trip you’re intending to take, the first thing you’re going to need to do is get your financial roadmap in order (which we discuss in our article, Born to Be Financially Free), but once you’ve worked out where you’re going and how you want to get there, it’s important to learn a little bit about the language and culture so that you can really make the most of your trip.

The great news is that learning financial language is actually a lot easier than learning French or German – because you know most of the words you need already! Finding out how to speak the language of money like a native will enable you to get a lot more out of your financial journey, and you’ll be able to enjoy yourself much more on the way.
 
Learning a language is fun, but it can sometimes be hard to know where to start, so here are a few ideas to help you become fluent in finance:

•   If you were headed to Italy, you’d probably pick up an Italian phrasebook, and maybe a couple of books on Italian culture. Since you’re headed into the financial world, it’s a good idea to check out some financial literature. There are a lot of great personal finance books out there (including ours!), as well as online articles and magazines, and if you’ve ever enjoyed working out what’s going on in the foreign language movies on SBS you’ll probably get a kick out of watching the financial news – and you’ll be able to pick up the plot a whole lot faster as well!

•   No matter how good you are at picking up languages, there will always be a few words you don’t know and there’s nothing more irritating than getting to the end of a sentence and realising you’ve forgotten the noun you need! A good financial dictionary will help you pick up the terms you don’t know. Investopedia is one free online option, but there are others out there, and it’s really a matter of finding out which one you like the look of and is easy to understand.

•   Nothing helps you learn a language better than talking to someone who’s already fluent. It’s a great way to practice what you know, and they’ll be able to fill you in on the little quirks of the language – and you might be surprised how often something that is grammatically correct in a foreign language will still make the locals giggle. When it comes to finance, the experts you want to see are financial advisers, and whether you head off to get some independent financial advice, or take advantage of financial advice services offered by your bank, having a chat with a financial adviser will help you to have a better understanding of the financial world and how to get all of the help with money that you need.

•   As the saying goes ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ … but fortunately, these days that doesn’t mean you need to wear a toga! What it means is that you should immerse yourself in financial culture by talking about money with your family regularly. You don’t need to obsess about it every minute – there isn’t going to be an exam, after all – but by making money something that you and your family can talk about openly, you’ll get used to using the right terms and find it easier to develop a good financial mindset.

Follow these simple steps and you’ll find that you’re financially fluent in no time – and if you do make a mistake, just remember that it’s nowhere near as bad as giving a historic speech and accidentally calling yourself a jam doughnut!

If you liked this article you might also be interested in these other articles about money management:

Four common mistakes people make when choosing a financial adviser

Some (financial) new year's resolutions

Want more? Take a look at the rest of our money management advice articles.

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Author's Biography

Wilson Luna is an author, wealth adviser and founder of Your Family Your Money. Your Family Your Money’s goal is to simplify traditionally complex financial strategies, demystify financial jargon and debunk common financial myths, becoming every family’s first stop for financial advice, information and inspiration.