Sounds like a funny question does it not? Do you have a child in school (or due to start)? This article highlights what smart parents will help their kids learn outside formal school, to better prepare them to achieve financial independence in adulthood!

Schooled and Unschooled Persons Can Own and Operate Bank Accounts.

Hopefully, the above is stating the obvious. All you need to have is enough money.

Most of us can easily think up a few known names of wealthy people who never even stepped into a school. For different reasons they “missed” getting access to formal schooling, but still went on to achieve financial fortune, and in certain cases major fame.

I’ve always been intrigued by such people. In studying them (via reading and observation) I found they succeeded mainly via mastery of some unique skill or vocation.

Examples are readily found in fields like trading (buying/selling), sports, entertainment, hospitality, business/entrepreneurship, and even science and technology.

By choice, or force of their unique circumstances, these people developed unique skills and abilities to a level that enabled them acquire wealth.

Many unschooled persons who find fortune this way, usually have to be helped to open a bank account, and taught to use cheque book etc.

No one tells them “Oh you need to get a degree certificate before you can open a bank account Sir/Ma.”

Imagine telling a street kid turned multi-million dollar earning Football star, that not knowing how to read or write disqualifies him from opening an account?

No smart bank would do that. Instead, they always find a way to help that “loaded” customer make use of their banking facilities.

When You Have the Money, The Bank Will Help You Find a Way

I certainly do not qualify to teach anyone how to use the bank or a cheque. My purpose here is simply to provide a background on which to discuss this further.

To issue a cheque, the owner writes recipient name, and amount of money in numbers and letters. Then most importantly, s/he signs and dates it.

Writing a cheque is easy. But successfully exchanging it for the equivalent of cash written on it requires presenting it at the relevant bank – which should also be easy to do.

However, if there’s no money in the account on which the cheque is to be drawn, that “normally easy” task can become difficult.

Such a cheque would not be “valid” for clearing at the bank!

That’s when bank officers write on the cheque you’re given acronyms like “DAR”…meaning Drawer’s Attention Required. I’ve not seen one of those is A LONG while, but if I recall correctly, some people call that kind a “Bounced Cheque”…:-)

Now, even a rich person can issue a cheque that bounces. It could be due to an error, or a change of mind which makes him instruct the bank not to pay after giving it out. Or there may be no money in the account (maybe he’s broke, or used the wrong bank cheque

But the most important point I wish to make here is this:

Old, illiterate mega trading women in Lagos state of my home country, Nigeria, are actively courted by bank officials, to open accounts with them.

These bank workers are often degree holders who can rarely boast financial resources comparable to what these mega trading market women own.

But they are smart enough to know that getting those accounts in would boost their bank’s performance. For this reason, when the women object that they cannot read etc, the bank officers assure them they have other means to help them authenticate transactions e.g. thumbprint identification etc.

And when the women need to pay others from their accounts, the bank makes special arrangements to ensure nothing goes wrong. They simply confirm there is money there.

In other words, as long as you have money, people – be they schooled or unschooled – will be willing to look beyond your lack of formal schooling, to give you what you want.

Final Words: To Have Money, Alternative Income Earning Abilities Are Essential

In my Parenting Articles, I strongly advocate that parents avoid letting their kids receive only conventional schooling.

You need to strike a balance.

Identify your child’s natural interests, talents and abilities, which can be developed to enable him/her earn useful income. Do this while s/he attends formal school.

Do NOT make the common mistake of wanting to “wait till s/he finishes” schooling!

Let him/her get used to making money using that ability before then. That way, it will add a useful income stream if/when s/he starts job hunting.

What’s more, when s/he gets a job, it can be used to earn additional income that can only boost progress towards financial independence.