Picture used for illustrative purposes only.

We live in today's advanced hi-tech globe and are enticed to buy chic and appealing items that we want but later on, realise that we should have not wasted our hard-earned money. Personally, I am on the verge of closing my loans and I even ping my wife to avoid splurging. 

Yes, life is a provocation and the cost of living is getting on everyone's nerves and so is everyone's frustration and stress leading to health concerns. But if we spend discreetly we will not have to cry or weep later. There is a lot of bashing and chit-chat with the latest top brand cellphone that has hit the stores and the people these days spent plenty of time and money hopping into shopping malls, and peeping into online websites all to look trendy and upbeat. Sadly, when I see the letters "EMI" I pause. All thanks to the flashy ads, colourful credit cards, and banking products available to offer us a huge credit limit. Our knowledge of banking should not be naïve ending up taking loans, and credit cards, and never paying them back on time. Each of us is accountable to manage our budget. However, there is a big question behind this. Why do we need all this?

Financial education needs to become a part of our national curriculum and scoring systems so that it’s not just the rich that learn about money – it’s all of us. As my parents always reiterate and reiterate we might need a huge amount of money during an emergency at some point in time.

Mathew Litty,

Dubai