– How Financial Perspectives Have Changed –

The money talk is probably one of the most uncomfortable discussions to have. The first reason is that we lack any formal financial education in schools, and the second reason is that growing up, any serious and honest money talk is usually replaced by an entire spectrum of cultural attitudes and superstitions that run very deep in our society.
Also, a third reason, could be that on top of these biased and unscientific beliefs about money, financial education is hard because it is a truly complex subject. Financial topics often involve concepts like interest rates, investments, taxes, and budgeting, which can be difficult to grasp without a solid foundation.
That’s why we invited among us someone who truly understands money. We found the ideal candidate for our conversation in Andrei Jipa, a local entrepreneur, trainer, and investor.

A discussion that is immediately useful
Andrei has actual insight into how the banking and financial world works, but also has the experience of starting his own business, and, as a bonus, has been teaching financial education to young people.
We talked about how our financial behavior is very much influenced by emotions and how we could ever get to control these emotions and make more rational decisions in managing our own money.
In a quick show of hands, we could identify at least 6 sayings about money that are hard wired in our brains, such as “money don’t grow in trees”, or “money don’t bring happiness”.
We addressed the illusive notion of financial independence, what it really means and how it could be achieved, even from the position of a professional who loves their job and doesn’t want to pursue a career in business or in the financial area.
We tried to address the challenges of this new, post-pandemic financial landscape, where the existence of numerous online investment platforms makes it seemingly easy to buy any stock, or index fund. These platforms and their promotor influencers rarely warn against the possible risks of the modern investment space. Our lack of financial education, in combination with strong sentiments like fear of missing out that they often create, can lead to a slippery, even scammy environment that makes us take bad decisions and enter risky investments. On the other hand, our guest has laid out for us some base rules that we can follow alongside a diligent effort to educate ourselves.
We spoke about retirement, and not a moment too soon, in trying to understand what we could do, starting today, to enjoy a decent revenue in our retirement years.
And finally, we talked about the current economic landscape, where we are in the economic cycle and what could come in a short to medium timeframe. Could we expect an economic crisis? How serious could it be? What are the steps we can take to ensure an easier navigation through eventual economic turbulences?
Andrei was right to the point in addressing our questions, curiosities and worries. We are grateful for this conversation that, beyond its fun and relaxed tone, is immediately useful and applicable.

About our guest
Andrei Jipa is the founder and coordinator of Ludic.Joc si Minte, a local business that offers tailored training and team building activities. He has a background of 10 years of activity in the banking sector. As he says himself, he wanted to make a change in his perspective on life and work. So, he founded this project, where “ludic” refers to the game, but also to a way of being joyful and playful.
But he didn’t completely leave behind the field that formed him, and, also within Ludic, he channeled his passion for the financial field into financial education workshops for young people, among the many other activities and creative games he proposes.

What is Community Talks
After three years of remote work, we feel the need to, once in a while, get together and learn about inspiring stories from our line of work or from our community that are relevant to us.
With this idea in mind, we created a program called Community Talks. It is part of our larger discussion about tech storytelling and how to have better conversations in our everyday work.
Once a month, we want to invite somebody from outside RomSoft to share with us an inspiring story, or just to have an interesting conversation, be it in the technical area or anything else that we have a shared interest in.
Our guests will play the role of the Guide to any good story, helping us navigate through difficult challenges, acquire new skills, and understand where the opportunities lie in this rapidly changing world.