Why I Believe Financial Literacy Matters More Than Ever

I’ve come to realise that the traditional 9-to-5 model no longer sustains the way it once did. The cost of living has far outgrown wage growth, and for many people, myself included, working harder no longer guarantees getting ahead. Even in well-paid professions, the gap between income and expenses continues to widen — and that reality is becoming harder to ignore.

As a software engineer, I’ve watched the goalposts shift in real time. What was once a clearly defined role has expanded significantly. Today, you’re not just writing code. You’re expected to think like a product manager, communicate with stakeholders, understand business metrics, mentor others, manage technical debt, and absorb responsibilities that used to be dedicated to specific roles. Despite doing more and wearing more hats, the demand for results remains the same — or higher — while compensation growth often fails to reflect the added scope.

What makes this worse, in my experience, is the role of management. Many managers are not in a position to push back or set strong boundaries. Some lack real control, some avoid taking firm positions, and others default to being people-pleasers. A lot of them speak in corporate language, caught between executives and delivery teams, and are themselves in positions where they cannot afford to be unemployed or say no. As a result, pressure flows downward, expectations quietly expand, and unrealistic workloads become normalised.

This dynamic doesn’t relieve the problem — it amplifies it. Engineers are expected to absorb more responsibility, move faster, and deliver the same outcomes, all while the underlying structure remains unchanged. Over time, this erodes autonomy and turns the 9-to-5 into something far less sustainable — and, in my view, dangerously close to a form of modern wage dependency where people feel trapped by financial obligations rather than supported by fair systems.

This is where the limits of linear income become impossible to ignore. A job, no matter how skilled or demanding, still ties earnings directly to time and availability. There is a ceiling. Meanwhile, living costs, expectations, and pressure continue to rise. Relying solely on wages in this environment feels increasingly fragile.

That’s why financial literacy has become so important to me. It changed how I think about money entirely. Instead of seeing income as the end goal, I now see it as a tool — something that must be used intentionally. Understanding cash flow, investing, compounding, and risk showed me that long-term security doesn’t come from effort alone, but from how effectively money is managed and grown over time.

I don’t see financial literacy as an escape from work or a rejection of having a career. The 9-to-5 can still be a foundation. But without financial knowledge, it’s easy to become locked into a system where responsibilities increase, leverage decreases, and financial progress fails to keep pace with reality.

For me, financial literacy is a response to the world as it exists today — not how it used to be. When wages lag behind living costs, roles continuously expand, and organisational structures push risk downward, understanding money becomes a form of self-protection. It’s how I create options, reduce dependency on a single income, and work toward a future that isn’t defined solely by trading more time for the same outcomes.