Make Money Better | Laura Diaz Zea
Featuring Laura Diaz Zea, Financial Health and Inclusion Lead and PRB Implementation Support Coordinator on the 2023 edition of our Q&A series ‘Make Money Better’ where we spend five minutes with each of our judges, capturing their insights into the world of money awareness and inclusion.
What makes you interested in better understanding how money works? If you had an “A-ha” moment, please tell us about that.
My uncle is a financial coach and started teaching my cousins and me how to manage our money from early on (in my case it was in my teens). Since then, I’ve had a passion for learning about personal finances. I guess it was because I really wanted to leave the “rat race” as soon as possible (he taught it with the game Cashflow).
Where do you learn most of the important things you feel you know about money and finance? Online, specific books, from family members?
In my case, family members, books and Youtube. I especially enjoy a channel called Arena Alfa from a Colombian finfluencer.
What makes you want to help other people better understand money?
I see the difference it can make in someone’s life to not have to stress about money. Sometimes it’s because they don’t have access to the knowledge, sometimes it’s because they don’t have access to the right tools. I love seeing things click in their minds and then seeing them take action to improve their lives by improving their finances. The happy tears, the “thank yous”. Just them realizing their lives can be better, makes it all worth it.
Is there one group or community you feel deserves particular support to understand money better? Why them?
Rural communities and the digitally illiterate. They are continuous targets for scammers. Most digitally illiterates are the elderly and people in rural areas. It puts them a such a disadvantage to be able to use financial services correctly to improve their situation and keep themselves safe. Also, the financial health and inclusion of the rural population are consistently lower than that of people in urban areas. I feel we all have a historic debt with rural communities.
Is there one book, influencer, academic or other sources of financial education material that you would recommend more than others?
Arena Alfa, as I’ve mentioned. I also like Rich BFF on Insta. Aside from this, Tony Robbins with Money master the game and Ramit Seti with I’ll teach you to be rich, are my favourites. I wish we could have contextualized versions of those books for every country in the world as these are very American-oriented.
Is there one money-related tip you would share more than any others? What is it?
If you can’t explain something you want to invest in your non-tech-savvy grandmother, then you are not ready to invest in it. // If it costs you your peace of mind next month when the bill arrives, it’s not worth it today.
Has there been a single event you can look back at and say that definitely understanding money and finance led to a much better outcome in your life?
Because I was passionate about personal finances I was asked to create a financial education program for rural communities at the Foundation I was working for. That program has now grown into a multiplatform program with incredible results in strengthening the financial skills of people. Because of this, I was asked to develop the organization’s financial education strategy and then the financial well-being strategy. This led to me leading those strategies and then joining to UN to help banks everywhere create that same impact all over the world. I would say, knowing about personal finances allowed me to make the quantum leap into my dream job.
Last, but definitely not least, do you have a guilty pleasure, something that you spend a little more money on than you think you should, but from which you also derive a lot of joy?
Flying business class and take out (Rappi or UberEats). But then again, I’m frugal. So there are many things I don’t spend as much money on as other people. I wish we had those amazing credit cards with travel rewards in my country as they are available in others.
You can connect with Laura on LinkedIn. You can also email us at michael@www.maiawards.org.