The Best Money Lessons I Learned in High School Happened Outside the Class

Why do schools drill us on math formulas and business ledgers yet skip the one thing that shapes our entire adult lives—money?

We’re prepared to be good employees, but not to be financially free. Isn’t that the one skill most of us wish we’d learned earlier?

No one ever sat us down to explain how to track spending, save consistently, budget wisely, or invest for growth. We were expected to just figure it out. And for many of us, that meant expensive mistakes and painful trial-and-error.

My first real financial education didn’t come from textbooks. It came from survival.

Not in a business class, but in the crowded dormitories of my high school.

I learned money the hard way—trying to stretch Ksh1,000 across 6 to 8 weeks so I wouldn’t end up drinking sugarless black tea with no escort.

And those lessons? They stuck with me long after the exams ended.

Desperate Times...

I’m the firstborn in a family of seven. My parents, both primary school teachers, worked hard—but the money never stretched far enough. My father, a polygamist with three wives and nearly 20 kids, meant school fees and household expenses were divided thinly across many mouths.

Primary school was manageable. But when I qualified for a provincial girls’ high school far from home, the real test began. For the first time ever, my parents entrusted me with Ksh1,000 for personal use, plus fare. My mother warned me to use it wisely until visiting day—six long weeks away.

At first, I felt rich. “Ksh1000? No way I can finish this before visiting day,” I thought.

Two weeks later, it was all gone.

Not stolen but just recklessly spent on snacks, “escorts,” lending friends money, and playing generous host. By week three, I was broke and borrowing—from classmates, even the school nurse.

When visiting day finally came, my parents gave me another Ksh1,000 and sternly warned it had to last until the term ended. I was terrified of confessing my debt. So I quietly began to figure things out.

That’s how my real money lessons began.

The Turning Point

The following year, I approached money differently—not from wisdom, but fear.

I still received the same Ksh1,000, but this time I learned to divide it into weekly portions: Ksh200 per week for six weeks.

I cut unnecessary costs. Snacks weren’t a daily entitlement, and friends’ expenses were not my responsibility. Borrowing? Off the table—after one ugly fight with a classmate over debt almost got me expelled.

Slowly, I noticed a shift. By one visiting day, I still had Ksh350 untouched. That tiny leftover felt like a victory. My first taste of saving.

What School Never Taught Me

When I finally started working, I found it easy to manage my finances because the same money habits I picked up in high school were the ones that kept me afloat in adulthood.

The circumstances were different, but the principles were exactly the same.

Budgeting

As an adult earning Ksh50,000 net salary at my first job, I applied the same method as I did in high school. I split my money into multiple envelopes to cover rent, food, transport, and extras. This made me conscious of my expenses.

Tracking expenses

If I spent Ksh. 300 daily on lunch, I wrote it down. At the end of the week, if lunch had swallowed more than Ksh.1,500, I knew I had to cut back and maybe start carrying food.

Prioritizing needs first

Paying rent (a must) before buying new shoes (a want). If my salary were strained, luxuries could wait.

Building an emergency cushion

I set aside Ksh. 5,000 every month into a money market fund. Over a year, that small money grew into Ksh. 60,000, which became my actual safety net for unexpected bills.

Consistent savings

Even if I couldn’t put aside Ksh. 10,000 in a good month, saving Ksh. 3,000 consistently mattered.

Here’s an example of how savings work:

Saving Ksh. 5,000 monthly in a money market fund at 8% annual return compounds fast.

• In 1 year → Ksh. 65,000.
• In 3 years → roughly Ksh. 196,000 (your actual contributions total Ksh. 180,000, meaning you earned Ksh. 16,000 in interest).
• In 5 years → about Ksh. 370,000 (with contributions of Ksh. 300,000, the rest is interest working for you).

My high-school survival tactics trained me to be financially disciplined in adulthood.

The Roadmap to Financial Freedom

School curriculum doesn’t teach you this. They prepare you to work, but not to be financially literate.

And while that’s unfortunate, you have to learn, sometimes the hard way.

These are the areas you must focus on if you’re serious about financial freedom:

• Start earning. Build a reliable main income (job, business).
• Save consistently. Automate at least 20–30% of your income every month.
• Invest smartly. Begin with liquid, low-risk funds (MMF, Sacco), then expand to assets that generate cash flow (stocks, rentals, bonds) instead of liabilities.
• Multiply streams. Add side hustles, digital assets, or small businesses to reduce dependence on one paycheck.
• Always diversify income. Spread your investments with some in liquid (MMF), some in medium-term (Sacco, Treasury Bonds), and some in long-term (land, real estate).

With this system and discipline, financial freedom becomes practical.