If you are at school or at university that means you are at least preparing yourself to be valuable for a company or to a small business to hire you. Did you notice, I didn't say "to get a job" but "to be valuable". People who have or are seeking a job tend to forget, a healthy business is measured mainly by the numbers on Balance Sheet, Cash Flow and Income Statement, lets's called them "3 things" . These 3 things are some kind of indicators.
What? Are you not interested in the last 3 things?
Let me tell you a short story.
"Once upon the time, there was a person (or more than one) and he had an idea which he strongly believed it's going to work. After some study, he starts to work on his idea. His first goal is to get the first customers and prove that he offers some value in the market. Two years have passed and he has worked hard to have enough customers to sustain the business and a few people to help him in logistics, legal issues etc. An other two years have passed and he is profiting more than he imaged. For him, it is the time to hire more people to help him in promoting the product or service he sells and expand his business. For that reason, he seeks for investors. The investors evaluate the business based on the 3 things to feel confident their money is in good use and are going to multiply in the long run. Now, the person, or so called businessman, use the money to expand and create jobs. Then people start to appear with impressive skills, experience and with a promise that they will do an excellent job."
The above story is over simplified but holds some truth.
William Ackman does a very good job at explaining very simply the 3 things.
Usually, and I say "usually", when you apply for a steady job you do not want the company to declare bankrupt after 2 - 3 years. That happened when the financial crisis started, people lost their money or/and their jobs in companies that invested or work for. Companies that went bankrupt, most of them could not manage their debt.
I do not care if you are planning to work for your granny's bakery or set up your own or to create your own path as a youtuber, a steemer or whatever your mind gets excited, you need to know about numbers.
A stock market is a good place to begin for starters. I know you may scare of it, maybe because your parents lost a lot. It is important to understand business decisions, numbers and psychology of people. You do not have to invest just watch and learn.
Photo by Andrew Robles