Financial literacy was the focus of the first day of the Lumina Festival, when those attending were told to take control of their financial freedom.

High-powered speakers on Friday included interim chief financial officer of the Bermuda Hospitals Board, Craig Bridgewater, the guest in the opening keynote interview by Jasmine DeSilva. He was involved in the one-on-one interview before a crowd of high school students and adults of various ages at Dockyard.

Mr Bridgewater holds elite senior professional accounting designations, Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant and Fellow Chartered Accountant. His varied career has included top posts with banks, Polaris Holdings and PeerForward Bermuda.

He is a former group chief financial officer of the publicly listed Butterfield Bank, a former audit and advisory partner, and chair of various boards or board committees.

Those gathered heard Mr Bridgewater on a number of points, including about a key facet of financial literacy, personal savings and investments.

The experienced financial executive also left the crowd with some food for thought: “Sometimes, swimming against the tide, doing the things that other people don’t want to do, is where the real opportunity lies.”

But he said that the earlier that people make decisions towards planning for the future, the better.

Later, he told The Royal Gazette: “There is no time too early to begin investing, whether that is investing in yourself, investing in a business, some property or investment markets.

“The earlier people begin making those decisions the better, even if it is small steps in investing.”

Mr Bridgewater said that for those who did not make those decisions early in life, the next most important time to do it is right now.

“Even for them,” he said, “it is never too late to start.”

He was mindful of the daily interest of teenagers, but made it clear that investing would be among the most important decisions of their lives.

“You don’t always want to hear that when you’re young,” he said. “You have other things to do. We’re all guilty of doing that.”

“You can go from having a job, to being a manager to being a mentor.”

Workshops at the summit allowed those attending to focus on banking and debt, budgeting, entrepreneurship, investing, real estate, creative business, digital finance and generational planning.

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