The most neglected life skill

The extent to which we human beings have great big blind spots never ceases to amaze me.  Some of these are fundamentally amusing (80% of men rate themselves as ‘above average’ drivers for example) but many such blind spots are actually properly harmful to our health and happiness.  
 
As Mark Twain allegedly said:

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.  It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so…”

In my experience, this phenomenon is particularly prevalent when it comes to finance given how neglected a life skill financial literacy is and given how many so called ‘cognitive biases’ we suffer when we think about things financial.

Four phrases that I hear time and time again in various different shapes and forms are:

• “You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar.”
• “Rent is throwing money away.”
• “Cash is king.”
• “The stock market is risky.”

At a basic level, these statements are simply misleading. I would go further, however, and suggest that they are all fundamentally incorrect and downright harmful to individuals and to society as a whole as a result.  The fact that so many people trot them out as accepted ‘fact’ is often ruinous to their financial situation and, by extension, their life more generally.