Things you remember about finance in your childhood

There is no formal education on money when I was a kid, but there is one proverb i remember well - translated to

"Prepare/bring an umbrella before it rains"
In money terms - save money for the days you might need it (i.e. when you are sick/ have unexpected cost). I think this kick start my savings habit back then. Although i rarely bring umbrella these days even when i know it might rain

Other remarks i remember (not exactly positive)
"Money don't grow from the trees"
"We don't have money, can't make them from cutting newspaper"
"We can't afford {insert whatever useless toys kid want}, your dad would need to rob a bank"
"I'm not made out of money"

Anything you remember about your money education as a child, formal and non formal?

 

CBA Dollar mite account

 

You think i'm sitting on the bank of China?!?!. My grandmother to me.

 

My Dad still tells me every day how times are tough and "he is just trying to make ends meet".
I think this instilled in me a sense that times are indeed always tough, even if they are not. I didn't have a tough childhood.

From any perspective, he, and I, are probably doing well. But he (and I), don't really see it.

I'm not sure whether to thank him for this. My wife had an upbringing properly without money, and she doesn't have the same 'negativity' that I inherited.

 

I remember my mum's cooking on a budget-how many ways can you cook sausages,heaps of mash potatoes to fill us up...

 

Your dad sounds down to earth @Bran
@Leo2413 that sounds familiar

 

Or rice and vegetables. . . .

 

Brought back a funny memory...I hated meat growing up (now a vegetarian for almost 22 years) and when my mum used to force me to eat sausages and mash I would eat half the sasuage and hide the rest in the mash hoping she would throw the remainder mash away without realising. I was I think 9 at the time. It worked for a few times until I got caught out. After that I tried to hide the sausages in the tape recorder where the old cassete use to go. She found out eventually too. Got a huge whipping for that one lol

 

Live now pay later

Later

10% down, balance by summons

 

Still got my same account number and use it all the time, 35 years later

 

Happy Dragon > Dolamite

I still have my happy dragon account too!

 

Parents didn't have much (or any!) back in the old country but still a happy childhood. Walking a few k's barefoot to school does wonders for ones obesity issues !

 

The good old CBA Dollar Mite account. Mine isn't quite as old as some but is still my main account to this day some 22 years later.

 

Parents were petrified of loans and would pay cash for everything. It took them ages to save up to buy the first ppor.

I can only imagine how much more well off they would be now if they leveraged up, even only at 50%.

 

Mine's probably more of a what not to do lesson...

My parents had it relatively easy because they bought in 86 and had paid it off by 91 as a result of the massive wage growth in that period despite dad being the only income earner and a below average one at that.

They never went any further down the investment path though in large parts because of how easy it was to do what they did and instead they spent what there was of leftover money on what I'd describe as wastes of money (horses mostly...). From this I learned never to rest on my laurels, that I don't want to rely on a pension and I sure as hell don't want to work until I'm 70 and have nothing more to show for it than I had at 35! As such they inadvertently sent me down the investing path by not taking advantage of their lucky timing.

My mum was also super educated and super intelligent but seeing her be that smart but also not good with money is probably what drove me down the path to being highly financially literate, I was able to see that general intelligence and financial intelligence were entirely separate things that both required training.

 

That's interesting @wogitalia. To date I can't tell whether my parents are intelligent with money or not. They never really share the details and didn't want to worry the children if they can. My observation as the child would be quite biased as I see what's on the surface, the fights about money, the complaining, the questionable spending, etc. However looking at the fact, parents managed to send their three children for overseas education. This is in the country where median wage is $500 a month and was a lot less back then. I am betting they are actually a lot better than what I thought they were. Education has little to do with it... Both parents only pass high school.

 

My dad was very good with money. He used to tell me that most people have no idea how to make money or keep it and all they can do is wait for someone else to employ them.

 

A million dollars was all the money in the world

 

Being their accountant gives you a pretty clear insight to their finances...

Basically they lucked into buying the family home in 86 and pretty much riding the economy to owning it without having to make any kind of sacrifice, if me and my sister come 3 years earlier I expect that things would have been very different, whether that would have been positive or negative is another question! They basically managed to slowly whittle that original property down into worse properties (after separating) and slowly diminish their overall wealth (in mums defense it was to provide opportunities for me and my sister for which I will always be grateful, which probably is a reason why I'm firmly in the don't have children until you can afford them camp, another financial lesson!), Dad's unfortunately is more to do with lifestyle choices (aforementioned horses and a little too much time at the local!) which in its own way is a lesson.

Last line of your post is the key, traditional education has very little to do with wealth but financial literacy or education is everything. Even knowing incredibly simple concepts like compound returns can completely change ones perspective.

 

"A penny for your thoughts"

"Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves"