What’s Your Money Story?
Most of us weren’t taught how to handle money.
There are the lucky few whose parents sat them down and explained what it means to save, spend, and give away their money, but most of us learned how to use money from car salespeople, credit card commercials, and the rampant spending of our parents.
Our ignorance has made us easy prey. We’re losing money left and right; and every time we start to get things right, something else goes horribly wrong.
That’s why, over the next several Mondays, I am going to tell my money story. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take, but I know it will go for at least three weeks.
I want to show you that you aren’t the only one who is confused about money. I have been there and understand what it’s like to be good with money without actually being good with money.
To start this all off, I wanted to learn some of your stories by asking a simple question:
How did you learn how to use money? Let me know in the comments!
Brandon (132)
Loren Pinilis (109)
Mike Luna (103)
ixnayonthetimmay (83)
Dustin (78)
moe (63)
Don Sartain (59)
Pastor Matt (36)
JeniferR (30)
Adam (20)
My mom being a single parent, she had no time to teach me about money. I learned by working. I’ve been working since I was 13 years old. When I got paid, my mom would pocket 80% of the moneys and give me 20%. She was teaching me to learn to live on a very tight budget.
Eventually as I started getting involved with bills (credit cards, car, etc) I learned the value of the budget and the true value of money.
I’m grateful the lessons my parents taught me at a young age. I remember when I was like 6 or 7 my parents would give us kids an allowance… like $2 a week or something. We had to put a quarter in the “Tithe” jar, 50 cents in the “short term savings (longer than a month)”, and 25 cents in the “long term savings (longer than 6 months)”. Allowed me to see the importance at a young age.
Money management? What’s that?
My family actually gave me a good background in money management. We didn’t budget or anything, but I repeatedly had it drilled into me that you’re supposed to live within your means. My dad used to say over and over again that the secret to being rich was to live below your means and to invest at a rate greater than inflation. Not exactly rocket science, but it’s good to be told that again and again.
My parents are completely terrible with money. They taught me a few things (such as the value of buying used cars instead of new) but for the most part I’ve had to figure things out on my own.
My journey has been a long, arduous climb and I’m still not where I probably should be as far as handling money. Not having a consistent income certainly doesn’t help the situation.
Overall, though, I feel that I am a lot better off than I was even a couple of years ago and I’m still working at it.
You took the words from my mouth … except for the last sentence! Yes, the lesson about buying used cars certainly rings true!
I ran away from home just shy of my 16th birthday. I have been on my own ever since. Before running to Hollywood, I worked as a stock boy and summers for the county highway department. I used to feed myself by grabbing 3 for a dollar instant mashed potato packets, grabbing free salt, pepper, cream and butter packets from KFC and then mixing them up in a cheap pot. Yet, somehow I always found cash for smokes…until I had to quit to attend seminary. However, I have never been a good saver and need to budget better.
I learned from my parents a long time ago. They would give me $1. I could either spend it on candy or save it…it took some time, and I started saving a bunch of $1 bills!
Thanks for all the amazing comments! I’m purposefully not responding to this. If you’re just reading for the first time, please add your story!
As a kid, my only concept of money came from video games and cartoons as gold coins that people want to have for some reason. As I got older, I began to understand the concept of purchasing power, but never held any fascination or attraction to money as a goal. We were poorer, but still had food and a roof.
As I got older, I learned firsthand the value of work, helping my dad lay tile when visiting him in the summer. I got $5 a day and managed to save up over $100 dollars over the course of the summer; quite an accomplishment for me at the time.
I managed to avoid many seriously stupid financial decisions in my young adult life. But I was still basically living hand-to-mouth, and I only understood a savings account or investing in the stock market as abstractly good notions.
I never really learned to use money responsibly until fairly recently. In 2007, looking for something different to listen to on the radio, I stumbled across a chap named Dave Ramsey and he had some refreshingly common-sense ideas about how to handle money. Listening to Dave Ramsey sowed the seeds of financial responsibility, and I’ve not looked back!
My concept of money came from my mom and dad. All of us kids received a weekly allowance. I think mine was 2.25 a week..something like that! We HAD to take 10% and give it to the church, 10% to savings and then 10% to a charity of our choice. After that we were allowed to spend our money. While this is a great idea, and one that I try to do with my oldest daughter, I don’t ever remember these concepts taking hold of me in my adult life. I don’t remember being instructed on emergency funds, credit cards, loans etc. Of course, I could just have a terrible memory which would not surprise me! I did pay for college and had no debt when I came out. It was only until later on in life that I began to use credit cards and accumulate debt.
There are two things I wish my parents had done. I wish they would have given me more instruction on credit cards etc and I also wish they would have required that I help to pay a bill or two. That may sound crazy, and I don’t know that it would have even made a difference in my choices later on in life, but I wish I had been more aware of the cost of living.
My mom talked me through what life would be like if you made 1500 or 2000 a month. She cut it all up into what money goes where and how you could run out really fast.
She also taught me that credit cards are awesome as long as you pay them off every month. and I agree. I have gotten SO many perks (gift cards, food, cash (at least $2000 over the years) from just using my credit card to pay for everything I would have bought anyway.
And while some will argue that when using cash you are more aware of how much you spend verses using plastic, I disagree. I have been raised to be frugal in ALL things so if I’m not willing to pay a certain amount for something, I don’t. plastic or not.
So for me it’s less how much I spend per month, and more of how little I am willing to pay for something that keeps me within my budget. lol
And I HATE interest. HATE HATE HATE. I paid off my new car as soon as I could (just over one year) to avoid paying them money that is NOT theirs. It is mine and you can’t have it!
From my mistakes, I know a lot more money now than I ever did before. Yet, all that knowledge is going wasted for lack of steady income. Yes, my parents were bad examples, although my father was a hard worker. Now, it’s easy to say ‘save’ and ‘cut down on expenses’, but if you have no income to speak of such words of wisdom fall on deaf ears, and are patronizing, even though they are true.
Having untamed compulsive habits and growing up in a “buy now, pay later” society that demands promotes instant gratifaction doesn’t help. Being handed student credit cards and government loans as soon as you enter college adds insult to injury. Aspiring each morning to ‘get ahead’ one day is no way of living. For many, keeping in mind the less fortunate is not consoling.
Anyway, a good book I read awhile back titled “The Richest Man In Babylon” by George S. Clason, really helped me rethink my thinking. In the meanwhile, it’s one day at a time.
Very true, Jay. I think you’ll like it here. lol