1
   

How did you learn about money?

 
 
Reply Thu 18 Aug, 2005 04:09 am
It isn't something you're taught in school (at least not in the UK) and I think its safe to say that many people don't know much about money and finance.

So how did you guys learn about it?
  • Topic Stats
  • Top Replies
  • Link to this Topic
Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 1,493 • Replies: 17
No top replies

 
Region Philbis
 
  1  
Reply Thu 18 Aug, 2005 04:22 am
i can not make the claim that i ever learned anything about it Laughing
but i did have a couple of economics classes in high school...
0 Replies
 
material girl
 
  1  
Reply Thu 18 Aug, 2005 05:03 am
I learned that if I spend it quickly , I end up with none left, therefore I must prioritise and budget.

Money is good if you have it and horrid if you dont.

Money is not the root of all evil,peoples greed is.

Try to shop around and get good prices for the same things.I have never sen the point in paying full price for something if I can get exactly the same thing cheaper somewhere else.Or wait for the sales.You getmore for your money.

Dont believe in designer labels, they pray on your insecurities and charge a fortune just so you can feel a bit more secure.


I love money, if had alot i would spend it very wisely.I accept cheques and credit cards.
0 Replies
 
Phoenix32890
 
  1  
Reply Thu 18 Aug, 2005 06:09 am
Funny, I was talking about this to someone only recently. When I was very little, (in the late 1940's) children were able to open bank accounts through their school. They could make a deposit of as little as 25 cents.

This was a wonderful way to teach a child thrift, and the value of money.

I grew up before credit cards were widely available. Oh yeah, there were American Express, gas cards and department store cards, but enclusive cards like Master Card and Visa were non-existent.

I erroneously thought that there was a difference between a charge card and a credit card. As a result, as a young woman, I assumed that I had to pay off my charge card at the end of the month. Therefore, I never overextended myself, and paid off everything when I got the bill. With that mind set, I never got into the financial difficulties that many young people find themselves in!
0 Replies
 
fishin
 
  1  
Reply Thu 18 Aug, 2005 03:14 pm
They did the bank account thing when I was in grade school too Phoenix! We had a "play" investment account too. Played the stock market for a year.

I was also fortunate that my father was an accountant and he did a fair job of explaining things like bonds and other investements. The rest of it has all been through trial and error.
0 Replies
 
Sturgis
 
  1  
Reply Thu 18 Aug, 2005 03:23 pm
My mother started me on a frugal allowance when I was a child. I received ten cents per week and that was for me, church tithe, gift buying. A few years later it increased to a quarter (twenty-five cents) and eventually as a teen I was elevated to two dollars weekly until I found part time work paid even more. The allowance was my first lesson at learning about saving, spending, budgeting.

When I was 15 my mother sat me down at the start of a summer and for the summer I wrote out the checks for the various expenses and kept them recorded in her check registry, she of course signed the checks.

When I was 16 I had a high school economics class and in my Senior year of high school I had a course in Consumer Education, which taught about percentages, inflation, budgets, etc.

Later I went off to work and for years worked in the accounting field learning more and more about numbers and balances.
0 Replies
 
flushd
 
  1  
Reply Mon 24 Oct, 2005 09:07 pm
As a kid, I had to save my own money from chores to get 'treats' (even a pop!). I saved up and bought a pretty dress and I was sooo proud and happy.

My Godmother helped me open an account when I was 12. She put 50 bucks in it and it seemed like a fortune! She said I could do whatever I wished with it but sat me down and showed me how interest accrues! I liked that. I learned how to use a bank for good at that point.

It was drilled in my head in my teens (by my stepfather, a very smart and sucessful man) to only buy what you have the money to pay for. Credit cards are not free money, etc.! I only have a credit card...to build credit and for emergencies. I have the money in the bank before I use it. ALWAYS. That includes large purchases.
The result......I have never been in debt and have excellent credit wherever I go (this includes borrowing cash from an aquaintance).

Basically, I grew up where everyone had to work their azzes off to get anything, so I was taught to be grateful will little. That was the best lesson of all. Having a place with running hot water is a beautiful thing in itself.
0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Mon 24 Oct, 2005 09:11 pm
We didn't have any money as a young child, so I must've learned it after I started earning some. Four years in the US Air Force was steady income, but I was poor all the time. Wink
0 Replies
 
jespah
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Oct, 2005 04:18 am
Allowance -- both for frivolous stuff when I was very little and, when I was older, for clothes. I used to get $100 per quarter for clothes when I was a teen, from about 14 through 20. I had to buy everything from that, although if I recall correctly, I think my Mom would step in if I needed underwear.

I recall I bought $100 boots one quarter. My mother was shocked. That was my entire allowance! But they turned out to be good boots, I wore them for two or three years, almost every day except when it was really hot out. So they were a good investment, which was a lesson to learn, along with economizing and staying within a budget.
0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Oct, 2005 10:52 am
jespah, I've always told my kids "you get what you pay for" in clothes. I remember as kids, our mom would give us just enough to buy the cheapest of shoes, and we'd have to put cardboard inside them when the soles wore out. After I graduated from college, I went to work for Florsheim Shoe Company, one of the premier shoe retailers in the US, and got shoes at "cost." I haven't worked for Florsheim since the mid-seventies, but still have some shoes in my closet that still looks new from when I worked for Florsheim.

Our older son buys Giorgio Armani suits, I've never owned one. LOL
0 Replies
 
jespah
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Oct, 2005 12:52 pm
'Zactly. When to spend is a good lesson to learn, not just whether to spend or how much to spend, or what to spend money on.
0 Replies
 
MoneyElite
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jul, 2006 12:44 am
I start learning from a book - Rich Dad, Poor Dad, then follow by a game CashFlow 101.
0 Replies
 
OCCOM BILL
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jul, 2006 01:38 am
Trial and error and error and error. :wink: I highly recommend reading "The Millionaire Next Door". By the time you finish it, you'll realize that how much you make isn't as important as how much you save. The frugal become millionaires far more often than professionals with large incomes. Strange, but true.

Set up an Ameritrade account and play with the retirement calculators. You'll be amazed at much money it will take to retire the way you want to. You may be surprised at how little or how big of a commitment it will take for you to accomplish it. Be honest with yourself and plan according. You'll notice minor adjustments make a tremendous impact in the long run.

Best of luck, and welcome to A2K!
0 Replies
 
Chai
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jul, 2006 05:01 am
Growing up, I guess it was through osmosis.

my father owned his own business, and so was always home for lunch. I remember hearing the stock market reports every day at noon on the radio. The newspaper Barons was alway somewhere in the vicinity.

He would point out customers who were driving in with their new cars and say...."that guy owes me x dollars...and there he is in a new car" If "that guy" had the nerve to come up to him to show off his new vehicle, my father had no problems telling him exactly what he said above. I never wanted someone to say that to me.

My grandmother (his mother) came to this country when she was 13. She learned to read by figuring out what the characters in the comic strip "maggie and jiggs" were saying...the 2nd thing she learned to read was the Wall Street Journal.
She lived next door to us and I was there almost every day. I remember her showing me the columns in the stock market reports and showing me how to read them.

Both of them exemplified the "buy low, sell high" lifestyle.

That's what drives me crazy about people who get freaked out over fluctuations in the stock market....The stock is higher so you buy it? It's going down so you sell it? (shaking head)

As far as the stock market...I am totally in index funds...if I'm doing as well as the market on the whole, I'm happy.

I guess that part of my upbringing rubbed off on me in other ways. My 25 yr old step daughter just left from a visit. She's recently gotten her first "real job" out of college.

My only gripe with her over the visit...."OK, WHY haven't you signed up for your 401K yet? At least sign up for enough to get their match. You're throwing free money away! You're 25! The timing is perfect!"

One BIG difference between my upbringing and how I handle finances is the willingness to discuss openly with real figures. Although in my house the material was always there, particulars weren't discussed. Although of course there is a line you have to draw with what you would tell your kids...I think you're doing them a dis-service by not telling the the whole story....here's the plus side (income and opportunities to save) and here's the other side....bills that must be paid, teaching them about interest rates.
0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jul, 2006 10:28 am
Chai Tea, Excellent! We almost did the same by investing 15 to 20 percent of our income into our retirement fund investments from early on in our marriage. We didn't have to sacrifice too much; we traveled regularly, and owned a couple of new homes. It paid off big time; we now have no worry about money.
0 Replies
 
Chai
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jul, 2006 11:02 am
Thanks ci...but you know, in some ways I was really naive...

here's a story I related to my step daughter when she was about 15 or 16 and had officially come out of the closet to the family.

We talked about with her lifestyle, she was going to be able to make her own decisions financially, and was not going to "lean on a man" and let him make the choices. I told her how when I was I think a junior in college, a professor was discussing this brand new thing that had just come out called an "IRA" I couldn't believe it worked the way it did, and was really excited about it.

I had never made any investments by myself, so wasn't sure how to go about it....I remember I got dressed in my most adult outfit, and went down to a Merrill Lynch, and asked to speak to someone about opening one of these "IRA's" I was scared to death of saying the wrong thing!

Anyway, an older gentleman with white hair and great suit came out and took me back to his office. I asked him some questions, which he really didn't seem to want to answer....then he asked me if I was working...
"well, I'm in college, but I work part time"
He asked me if I could put in x amount (whatever the maximum was at the time) every year....wellllll...I wasn't sure if I could....hadn't thought about that (didn't realize you could put in less and build up) anyway, I was feeling smaller and smaller, like some little kid.

Then, the clincher...he said to me "You need to just let your father handle this for you. You're still a young lady in school, and then you'll get married and your husband will do this" Shocked Shocked

I was SO embarrassed I just slunk out of there...as he I'm sure thought he "saved" me from thinking...That had an impact on me for quite some time.

Re: having "a husband to take care of this for me"...my first husband saw to it that in less than 2 years he spent every penny of his, every penny I came into the marriage with, and then some.

Not like I didn't know how to make good financial decisions by that time, but it's hard to do when you go to get some money, and it's just gone, spent...and you know you weren't the one spending it.

I gotta 'nother good story if you wanna hear it...
0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jul, 2006 11:14 am
Reminds me of what happened with our older son. We saved for his college education, and when he was 16 years old, I took him to a brokerage house in our neighborhood. I told my son he could invest his college fund into some investments.

That broker was very patient, and explained what and how investments worked; no guarantees for increases, but for the long-term, investments have proved themselves. When we visited New York some years later, we went to the stock exchange on Wall Street.

Our son invested in Compaq Computer when it was about $16/share, and

in Philadelphia Electric. He's since sold Compaq when it split many times and at about $60/share. He still has Philadelphia Electric.

To make a long story short; I paid for his college education, and let him keep his investments. He's in pretty good shape as far as investments and money is concerned; he's always been frugal, but bought premium goods.

He now lives in Austin, but lives in an apartment. I told him he should buy a home, because we will help him with the down payment.

Our younger son still lives at home; he's always been a spender.
0 Replies
 
Miller
 
  1  
Reply Sun 6 Aug, 2006 06:32 pm
The best for a kid to learn about "money" is for the child to get a job and then a little savings account at the Bank. Eventually, the child will want to invest in other Bank products such as CDs
and/or US Savings bonds.

With time, the child wil grow up and learn about the stock market.
0 Replies
 
 

Related Topics

Where is the US economy headed? - Discussion by au1929
Shopping Around For Loans - Question by Brandon9000
What is greed? - Discussion by Robert Gentel
bonds series h - Question by allen russell
Naked Short Selling - Question by optimus cubed
HOW TO GET WEALTHY - Discussion by farmerman
 
  1. Forums
  2. » How did you learn about money?
Copyright © 2025 MadLab, LLC :: Terms of Service :: Privacy Policy :: Page generated in 0.03 seconds on 01/22/2025 at 11:59:13