Dear Financial Voice Reader,

Dear Financial Voice Reader,
I created the Financial Voice section of this paper many years ago because I know as a community we are very saavy when it comes to money. But also because I felt a community, campaigning paper of such importance should have a vehicle for its advertisers that was as relevant to its audience as is the financial content.
So in my capacity as Consultant Editor of these pages, do let me know what you would like to see more about. Financial literacy, financial education is so very important to me that my very first book was written specifically for the Indian community.
My dedication to ensuring the community is financially literate then became a mainstream crusade as I started a weekly Financial Times column and Bloomberg TV show. After all, are our needs any different to those of the mainstream? We may of course have a gold heavy portfolio, but are we otherwise different? Sure, we may save more than most, but that’s just a sub-group of the mainstream.
So in all these years what is the best advice I could give my community in the best traditions of a campaigning newspaper – in this case campaigning for the best financial education and literacy in our community – because wealth brings independence and choices and opportunities and freedom.
First, teach your children about stocks and finance from a young age. Schools will not do this. Our schools are poor educators of finance. I’ve been asked to speak at Eton College on financial literacy – I want the readers of this paper to have the wisdom Eton College is going to get from me.
Second, give them some money – even just £100 – and let them invest it through an online account – in shares. Nothing will increase their appetite to learn, than doing. They will be excited, intrigued, fascinated and teach themselves better than you ever could.
Third, teach them about the differences between assets – between bonds, and stocks and index trackers and commodities and what is diversification and why it is good, and when it fails.
Fourth teach them why clever people recommend index trackers and Exchange Traded Funds over individual stock picks.
Fifth, teach them why fund managers although experts should not be revered as better than a ten year old child when it comes to performing well on the stock market.
Finally, give them confidence in finance that they treat the language of money as something they own – they are the experts, because in finance there really are no experts. If there were there would never have been a credit crunch or economic cycles and crashes. There are guesses with imperfect information and a lot of people swimming without trunks – who will be in trouble when the tide goes out!