And I love this question… because it’s the same thing Mama Ngozi once asked me one Sunday afternoon after church.
She said:
“My pikin, I no go lie to you o… anytime I hear ‘financial literacy’, I dey fear. Abi na only people wey study accounting and economics fit sabi this thing? Na book people work?”
So, I broke it down for her with a simple story.
Imagine Mama Ngozi is cooking soup. She didn’t go to culinary school. She doesn’t have a “BSc in Cooking.”
But after years of trial and error, sometimes burning food, sometimes oversalting, sometimes cooking watery soup, she now knows how to cook Egusi wey fit make anybody lick plate.
Her knowledge didn’t come from a certificate.
It came from practice, experience, and wisdom.
That’s exactly how financial literacy works.
Let me go deeper…
Financial literacy is NOT about having a BSc, Master’s degree, ICAN, ACCA, CFA, or even a PhD in Accounting or Economics.
Those certificates are good, they can get you a job. But they don’t automatically make you financially literate.
Because financial literacy is not about theory. It’s about your ability to turn your earned income into portfolio income and passive income.
Earned Income = the money you work for (salary, wages, hustle).
Portfolio Income = money you make from investments (stocks, bonds, real estate, ETFs).
Passive Income = money that flows even while you’re sleeping (dividends, royalties, rental income, etc.).
The day you understand how to make that transition, that’s the day you become financially literate.
Now let me shock all of you:
Not all accountants are financially literate.
In fact, I can tell you for free that some of the poorest people on earth are accountants.
Why?
Because many of them are so busy balancing other people’s books that they never balance their own.
They help companies make billions, but their personal finances remain in chaos.
This is not me insulting the profession. No. I respect accountants deeply.
But records don’t lie, the majority of practicing accountants end up middle class.
The few who break through are the ones who step beyond accounting into investment and entrepreneurship.
The rest? They stay in the rat race until retirement.
Here's the Lesson:
Practicing accounting is not bad. But as you practice, also apply that wisdom to your own life.
Because school will never teach you this.
Now let me be clear:
90% of the things I share here on Facebook never came from the classroom.
They came from real life. From failures. From mistakes. From trying and falling and rising again.
School only gave me foundation.
But my scars gave me wisdom.
In fact, when I was writing exams, my real life experience made it easier.
Why?
Because when I opened the textbook, I already had a living example of what the theory was trying to explain.
I wasn’t just reading words, I was scanning and connecting them to life.
That’s why I always tell people:
Don’t assume that just because someone is an “Accountant” or “Economist,” they understand financial literacy.
Ask them simple questions like:
What is a portfolio?
How do you turn your salary into passive income?
How do you protect your wealth from inflation?
Many will be blank.
That’s because financial literacy is not “paper.” It is practice.
And the truth is this:
Financial literacy is not about passing exams.
It’s about passing knowledge and wealth to the next generation.
It’s not about having certificates.
It’s about having clarity with money.
It’s not about what you studied.
It’s about what you apply.
So, my answer is simple:
You don’t need to study financial accounting or economics to be a financial literacy advisor.
What you need is:
The hunger to learn.
The humility to practice.
The discipline to apply.
And the courage to teach others.
That’s how wealth is built.
That’s how freedom is built.
That’s how nations are changed.
Because at the end of the day, financial literacy is not about the certificate in your hand.
It’s about the results in your life.
If Mama Ngozi can become wise without a degree, what’s stopping you from learning financial literacy today?
My name is Iking Ferry, a Financial Literacy Advocate on a mission to raise 1 million financially FREE Nigerians.
Founder Pulseford Business School
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