Financial education is one of those things everyone talks about, but almost no one has actually received. The results are clear for all to see: people who work hard, even earn well in some cases, but live in constant anxiety, with no margin for error and no clear direction.
The problem is not a lack of commitment… it's a lack of financial education.
Try to follow me carefully in the next lines because I will try to make you understand how it can help you make the difference 😉
📌 INDEX
1️⃣ What financial education really is
2️⃣ Why financial education is lacking (and who benefits)
3️⃣ What happens when you have no financial education?
4️⃣ Real-world examples: situations you can relate to
5️⃣ Financial literacy and freedom: the invisible link
6️⃣ Where to start: The Progetto Libertà method
✉️ Conclusion
1️⃣ What financial education really is
Financial literacy isn't a technical subject, nor is it something reserved for those who "deal with money.".
It is a basic skill that concerns everyday life, even if we often don't realize it.
Having financial education means understanding How money interacts with your choices, not just how much you earn.
It means knowing what happens when you sign a contract, take out a loan, invest, save, or simply put off a decision.
Without financial education, you live by reacting to unexpected events, bills, payments, and emergencies.
With financial education you start to foresee, to make less emotional and more conscious choices.
Another fundamental aspect of financial education is the ability to distinguish between:
- spending that impoverishes you
- shopping that simplifies your life
- investment that builds the future
Those who lack financial education lump everything together; those who develop it, on the other hand, begin to read the flows, not just the numbers.
Finally I would add that financial education is not just about money, but also has to do with our time and energy.
Because every economic choice is, in reality, a lifestyle choice:
Choose how much to work, who to depend on, how much freedom to allow yourself… In this sense, financial education is certainly one of the first steps to stop being subjected to the System and start steering your own path towards your own horizons.
2️⃣ Why financial education is lacking (and who benefits)
When it comes to financial education, many people think of a simple “lack of information.”.
Actually, it's not just that.
Financial education is lacking because it has never been a priority of the educational and social system (and hasn't been for a long time).
If you looked at history, you would find that the pattern applied is always the same:
people are trained to work, produce, obey rules… but rarely to understand how money, debt, and economic power work.
School yesterday and today: lots of theory, little real life
At school you learn many useful things, but among these, it is difficult to come out well-versed in:
- how to manage a salary
- What does it mean to sign a mortgage?
- how inflation works
- because debt can become a cage
This was true 30, 50, 100 years ago… and it is still true today.
The result is that millions of people are entering the workforce totally unprepared, and they learn “the hard way”, often by making mistakes that can be very costly.
Don't get me wrong... I'm absolutely convinced that making mistakes is useful; it's an experience that shapes us and often allows us to rise above ourselves.
From here to pay some prices always very high A lot of water has passed under the bridge: years of stress, forced choices, dependence.
Financial education and control: an uncomfortable connection
A person without financial education is easier to manage, not because he is less intelligent, but because it depends 😅
It depends on:
- a salary
- a contract
- an employer
- a debt system
And whoever depends economically is also more blackmailable.
Here is the connection to a centuries-old strategy"“divide and conquer” it becomes evident (I talk about it better in the dedicated article: Divide and Conquer and Bread and Circuses – How the System Weakens the People)
If people:
- they don't understand how money works
- they live month to month
- they are afraid of losing their jobs
then it's much simpler:
- divide them
- put them against each other
- impose disadvantageous rules
A recent example that many remember
In 2020, this mechanism became evident to many people.
Regardless of personal opinions, one thing was clear: those who did not respect certain conditions he couldn't work.
For those who had:
- a single source of income
- zero savings
- no alternative
it was certainly put to the test.
This is a concrete example of how the lack of financial education and economic autonomy makes people vulnerable to external decisions.
It's not an ideological question... it's a question of structure.
The pattern repeats itself over time
If you go back in time, you see the same script:
- economic crises
- sudden changes in the rules
- reforms that affect those with less margin
Those who have no financial education:
- undergoes
- it fits
- accept to lose
Who has it:
- read first
- he is preparing
- has alternatives
And this is where a clear division is created between the two parties: who is economically aware And who doesn't.
Financial education as an antidote to divide and conquer
The strategy divide and conquer It works even better on people who:
- they are afraid
- they depend
- they have no margin
A person who lives with financial anxiety:
- accepts labels more easily
- he sides against others instead of looking at the System
- defends its own survival, not its own values
Financial education does not eliminate problems, but dramatically reduces fear and risks.
And that means:
- more clarity
- less division
- greater capacity for dialogue
- less financial yo-yos
- more stability
The key point
Financial education is not lacking by chance or because there are poorly prepared individuals at the head of the Ministry of Education... it is lacking because a population that understands how to create abundance and prosperity is less controllable.
For this reason, developing it is an act of responsibility, not rebellion. Stopping outsourcing the building of our financial freedom, in our opinion, is the only way.
In the next chapter, we'll look at what actually happens in everyday life when financial education is lacking, through real-world examples that are easy to identify with.
3️⃣ What happens when you don't have financial education?
When financial education is lacking, the consequences don't all come at once.
They are coming slowly, silently, and for this reason they are even more dangerous.
The first thing that happens is that you start living in reactive mode.
You no longer make decisions calmly: you react to unexpected events, deadlines, emergencies.
Money becomes something to chase, not to manage.
Then comes the stress normalization.
Living with financial anxiety becomes “normal.”.
Making it to the end of the month by struggling, making payments after payments, always putting off important decisions seems inevitable... and when something seems inevitable, you stop questioning it 😅
Another obvious consequence is the loss of decision-making freedom.
When you have no financial education:
- you can't afford to say no
- you can't afford to stop
- you can't really afford to choose
Every decision is influenced by the fear of losing your only source of income or the precarious balance you've built for yourself.
Finally, without financial education, you become more vulnerable to manipulation.
You accept conditions you don't fully understand, you sign contracts without really reading them, you follow narratives that promise immediate security in exchange for future freedom.
Not because you're naive,
but why apparently you have no alternatives.
And this is where we come full circle with what we saw earlier: a person without financial education is more tired, more fearful, and more easily divided. This is the ideal breeding ground for certain dynamics to continue repeating themselves, year after year.
In the next chapter, we'll look at some real-life examples. See if you recognize yourself in any of them.
4️⃣ Real-life examples: situations in which you (maybe) recognize yourself
Financial literacy seems like an abstract concept until you see it in action in real life.
Below you will find some common situations that clearly show what happens when it is missing.
📄 The contract signed "is standard anyway"“
Mortgage, financing, employment contract, insurance.
Read quickly, maybe skip the fine print, and sign.
Not because you don't care to understand what you're doing, but because you don't know what to look for.
Without financial education:
- you don't distinguish risk from protection
- you don't understand penalties, constraints, hidden costs
- you only notice problems when it's too late
The result is a constant feeling of being “trapped,” even if you are formally in compliance.
🧾 Rising bills and total helplessness
A higher bill than usual arrives.
The reaction is almost always the same: anger, frustration, resignation.
Without financial education:
- you don't know how to really read a bill
- you don't know if you're paying too much
- you don't know what alternatives you have
You simply pay, absorb the blow, without fully understanding how much this could weigh on your end-of-year budget.
📉 The "consultant" who decides for you
You rely completely on someone else: bank, promoter, insurer.
“They take care of it, I don't understand anything about it.”
The problem is not delegating.
The problem is delegating without understanding.
Without financial education:
- you don't know how to ask questions
- you don't know how to evaluate whether a proposal is right for you
- you can't distinguish your interest from that of the person selling you something
When something goes wrong, you feel betrayed, but in reality it is the consequence of accepting to totally delegate your power to others.
🧠 The forced choice in critical moments
When a crisis arrives, big or small, those who lack financial education often find themselves faced with not very convenient choices:
- Accept worse conditions.
- Giving up opportunities.
- Conforming for fear of losing everything.
Not because it's the best choice, but because there is no margin.
And it is in these moments that we understand how financial education is not theory, but concrete freedom.
📉 The salary that is never enough
You have a fixed salary, come in on time every month.
You're not in extreme difficulty, but at the end of the month the feeling is always the same: you're short, you have little room for maneuver.
The problem is not that you spend badly… it's that no one ever taught you how to read money flows.
Without financial education everything seems the same:
- expense
- consumption
- investment
In reality, they are completely different things, and as long as you don't distinguish between them, you might even earn more... but still remain stuck in the same situation.
💳 “Normal” debt”
Cars on installment plans, phones on installment plans, appliances on installment plans, vacations on installment plans.
It's so common it seems normal.
The problem is that, without financial education, debt is perceived as a solution and not as a future cost.
By doing so, you are simply anticipating your lifestyle, paying for it with your time tomorrow.
With financial education you start to ask yourself a different question:
Does this installment make me freer or more dependent?
And that's where many “normal choices” begin to change.
🧠 The "I'll think about it later"“
“When I earn more.”
“When I have more time.”
“When the time is right.”
This is one of the most expensive sentences in existence.
Because he always puts off the only thing that matters: learn to manage what you have now.
Financial education teaches you that the right time doesn't magically arrive.
It is created, starting right from where you are, even with small steps.
Those who procrastinate always find themselves in the same place at the end of the year.
Whoever starts, even slowly, also changes his trajectory.
🔁 The common thread
In all these examples there is a common element:
Lack of financial education takes away decision-making power.
It doesn't make you poorer right away.
It makes you more dependent over time.
And that's precisely why developing it radically changes the way you experience money, choices, and even crises.
In the next chapter, we'll see how financial education becomes the practical foundation of freedom and where to start to truly build it.
5️⃣ Financial Education and Freedom: The Invisible Link
So far we've talked about money, choices, addictions, concrete examples... but there's a deeper level that needs to be clarified, otherwise the discussion remains incomplete.
Financial education alone is not enough 😉
Just as personal growth, if it remains disconnected from material reality, risks becoming abstract.
The real point is the meeting between the two.
Freedom begins when you stop feeling like a victim.
The first step to freedom is not earning more money.
AND become aware that you are the creator of your reality.
As long as you think that:
- “the problem is the system”
- “the problem is the others”
- “I can do little”
Even the best financial education will be misused or not used at all 😅
The Way of Love It starts right here:
acknowledge where you have delegated your power, without guilt and without judgment.
When you become responsible, not in the sense of feeling guilty, but in the sense of being present and aware that you have all the keys, everything changes.
Financial education as a tool for alignment
In this context, financial education ceases to be a series of technical notions.
Become one alignment tool between what you are inside and what you build outside.
When you begin to understand how money works:
- fear decreases
- increases clarity
- choices become more intentional
And when choices are intentional, life ceases to be a sequence of reactions.
You are no longer “suffering” work, bills, other people's decisions.
You are creating your new reality which can be made of joy, abandonment and prosperity.
The Way of Love: Unlocking Your True Potential
In the group The Way of Love we are working on this very point:
dissolve the internal blocks that prevent people from expressing their potential.
Fears, limiting beliefs, self-sabotage.
All this, if left unseen, is also reflected in your relationship with money.
When an individual:
- reconnects with one's own value
- stop seeking approval
- start to really listen to yourself
naturally becomes stronger on the outside too… and this is where financial education becomes super effective, because no longer encounters internal resistance.
When something inside is unlocked, outside becomes simpler.
I realize that when you put it like that, it might seem like magic… but if you think about it carefully, everything I say also has a certain logical coherence.
When you stop living in contradiction with yourself:
- make clearer decisions
- you can set boundaries
- choose better where to invest your time, energy and money
The path to financial freedom doesn't become "easy",
but it becomes lighter, because you are no longer “fighting against yourself”.
Financial education and personal growth, together, bring you back to a natural position:
that of those who consciously guide their own life, not of those who suffer.
In the next and final chapter, we will draw the conclusions of the entire journey and close the circle, bringing financial education back to its most authentic meaning: a tool at the service of life.
6️⃣ Where to start: the Progetto Libertà method
At this point one thing is clear: understanding the importance of financial education is fundamental, but it's not enough.
You need a method that takes you from where you are today to greater freedom, step by step.
The method Freedom Project It was born precisely for this reason:
not to offer you shortcuts, but concrete tools, adaptable to different people, with different times and resources.
It's important to understand that everything we share with you is primarily for ourselves and our families.
Oh, important point! Gabriele and I only share what we've personally experienced.
A key principle: there is no single way
One of the most common mistakes in the world of finance is to think that there is the right solution for everyone.
For us it is not like that.
– There are those who have little time but can study.
– Those who have capital but little experience.
– Those who are starting from scratch and need to build a margin first.
– Those who are blocked by fears and limiting beliefs
The case studies are almost infinite.
For this in Freedom Project we work on more levers, combinable with each other, always with a gradual and I dare say even “tailored” approach.
Creating margin and liquidity: the first step
For many people the initial problem is just one: I don't have money.
Every euro is essential to survival, and every unexpected event weighs heavily. Therefore, we often aren't in a position to make any "missteps.".
In these cases tools such as the Matched Betting they become useful because they allow you to:
- create extra liquidity
- without structural financial risk
- following a mathematical and controlled method
It's not a “forever” solution, but a initial accelerator, useful for breathing and taking the first steps.
If you'd like to learn more, I've prepared a dedicated article, where I also give some practical examples:
SAFE EARNINGS ONLINE: Truth or Utopia?
(18+ | Play responsibly)
Building assets: Self Publishing
Once you have created margin, the next step is build something that lasts over time.
The Self-Publishing allows you to create digital assets that:
- they work even when you don't work
- they require skills, not large capital
- they grow over time
It's not immediate and it's not "for everyone", but it's a great example of how financial education means shift the focus from time to the value created.
If you'd like to learn more, I've prepared a dedicated article that explains our method even better:
SELF-PUBLISHING: Your Gateway to Financial Freedom and Professional Success
Protecting Purchasing Power: Physical Gold
Another often underestimated pillar is the protection.
Earning more is of little use if your purchasing power is eroded.
This is why in Progetto Libertà we also talk about physical gold accumulation plans.
Gold is not a speculative instrument.
It is a stability tool, useful for:
- protect value over time
- reduce exposure to inflation and instability
- create a solid foundation on which to build
Here you can also find a dedicated article, which explains its true function well:
GOLD: FROM ANCIENT HISTORY TO ITS IMPORTANCE IN THE MODERN WORLD
Making Your Capital Work for You: Forex and Crypto Trading
For those who have already developed a basis of financial education, there are more advanced tools such as the Forex and Crypto Trading.
Here the approach is clear:
- method
- risk management
- discipline
Not promises of easy money, but probability and statistics, with the awareness that the risk exists and must be managed.
If you want to learn more, here's an article dedicated to the topic:
AUTOTRADING IN FOREX: HOW EAs WORK AND WHAT ARE THE RISKS
Creating Real Income: Affordable Real Estate
Finally, one of the historical pillars of financial freedom remains the Real Estate, but in an evolved version.
We are not talking about buying houses worth millions, but about innovative and accessible models, which also allow small capitals to:
- participate in real estate transactions
- create cash flow
- diversify
Brick thus becomes a modern lever, not an unattainable dream.
I talk about it better in this article:
REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS – Earn Money With Short Term Rentals
The common thread of the method
All these tools have one thing in common: they don't promise you results without awareness.
The method Freedom Project unites:
- financial education
- diversification
- protection
- personal growth
Because only in this way can growth and change be sustainable.
Avoiding the risk of always returning to the starting point 😉
In the next chapter we will close the circle, bringing everything back to a simple but powerful question:
What kind of life do you really want to build?
✉️ Conclusion
Financial education is not a luxury for the few: it is a competence of survival in today's world.
You don't need to know everything.
You need to know enough not to get hurt.
Today itself:
- watch how you manage your money
- ask yourself how much you depend on a single source
- start studying, even if it's just 30 minutes
Financial education doesn't make you rich overnight.
It sets you free, one step at a time 😎
Thanks for being with me.
Now you know where to start.
David Bottero
Co-Founder of Freedom Project
English 
Italian