Would you work a few hours for a couple thousand dollars?

Of course we all would. "But the reality is that most people can," says Talbot Stevens, financial speaker and author of Financial Freedom Without Sacrifice. "It's legal, and you don't even have to take your clothes off!"

In this information age, what you know is much more important than how hard you work. Most people spend 2,000 hours a year to earn their money. "Doesn't it make sense to spend a couple hours learning how to keep it, and make it grow for you?", asks Stevens.

Let's say that Jane is 25 years from retirement and starts a "pay yourself first" plan, automatically investing $4,000 a year. v

She decides to learn how to be a little better consumer to save an extra thousand dollars a year, and how to be a little better investor to increase her investment returns by only 2%, from 10% to 12%. By doing this, she will end up with an extra $270,000 at retirement ($670,000 instead of $400,000). 

If learning these things takes Jane 10 hours a year over the 25 years, this works out to over $1,000 an hour for each hour spent learning more! For almost all of us, this is clearly the most valuable use of our time, often 10 or even 100 times more lucrative than any salary we earn.

"The good thing about knowledge is how readily available it is," explains Stevens. Today, sources of valuable information are everywhere, including newspapers, magaz­ines, books, radio, TV, seminars, financial advisors, and now the internet.

Stevens claims that anyone can achieve Financial Freedom Without Sacrifice, without lowering their standard of living. All it takes is a little common sense combined with a commitment to learn the opportunities that are available to all of us.

Talbot Stevens is the president of a London-based financial education firm providing employer-sponsored and public workshops, and has started a petition to make basic financial education a mandatory part of the school system. Anyone wishing to support this petition is urged to write their MPP and call Mr. Stevens at (519) 663-2252.

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Talbot Stevens is a financial educator, industry consultant, and author of "Financial Freedom Without Sacrifice" and "Dispelling the Myths of Borrowing to Invest". For other story ideas, visit the Free Resources menu of www.TalbotStevens.com. For more information, contact Judy Culford, Communications Director for Talbot Stevens, by calling (519) 663-2252, or emailing judy@TalbotStevens.com.