Money Beliefs, where do they come from?

Our beliefs, or our view of the world starts with our early childhood memories.  We learn from our parents, our environment and form our own beliefs from those observations.  So what are your earliest memory’s of money? How do you think that has impacted on how you relate to money now in your adult life?

My earliest memories of money revolve around the word ‘No’.  No I couldn’t have the umbrella with the pink frill; the must have winter fashion accessory for a 4 year old.  No, I couldn’t have a Barbie doll, they were too expensive, so I got the imitation one instead.

My parents were (and still are) very careful with their money, they were quite frugal in day to day expenditure but that meant that there was money set aside for our holidays and should any emergency crop up.

Their goal was to be mortgage free, as they hated any sort of debt and over the years they achieved that goal.

As a child, what is your earliest memory of money?

Our beliefs, not just about money, but on how we use language, our view of the world all starts with our early childhood memories and the beliefs we formed from those observations.  So what is your earliest memory of money, and how do you think that has impacted on how you relate to money now in your adult life?

My earliest memories of money revolve around the word ‘No’.  No I couldn’t have the pink umbrella with the pink frill the must have winter fashion accessory for a 4 year old.  No, I couldn’t have a Barbie doll, they were too expensive, and so I got the imitation one instead.

My parents goal was to own their own home mortgage free, and to their credit they achieved that.  But it did mean we moved house a lot and each time we traded down, so the mortgage kept getting smaller.  By the time I was at university they were debt free and have been ever since.

It’s easy to get ahead financially, just spend less than you earn… Yeah Right!

The first rule of personal financial management is to spend less than you earn!  It sounds really easy and makes sense… so why are so many of us in debt?

To begin to understand why it is so easy to spend more than we earn, have a chat with your grandparents, or someone else from that generation who love to talk about the “good old days before computers and the internet“, you could learn something quite fundamental about financial management.

I am blessed to have a grandmother who was born in the late 1920’s and who is still with us.  She has seen a lot of change in her life time, and I asked her how the family managed their money.  To cut a very long story short (talking a lot runs in the family) this is what she told me.

“My Dad would come home from work each week with his pay packet and sit with my mother at the table and he would hand over what was left over – after he had taken what he wanted.  It was up to my mother to pay all the bills from what she had left.  She would carefully divide the cash up and put into the various jars for rent, food and other bills.  My sister and I would anxiously wait to see if there was a coin or two left for us, most times there wasn’t but sometimes we were lucky.  It wasn’t an easy life, we didn’t have much, but my mother always managed to put food on the table and shoes on our feet.”

Why Are We Over Spending?

We went to an ANZ Economic Insights breakfast the other month to hear ANZ Chief Economist, Cameron Bagrie give his thoughts on the key issues shaping the economy and financial markets.

 I like these guys (bank economists).  They don’t pull any punches, they tell it like it is and for the most part, they talk in language that everyone can understand.

We heard (what we all really knew) that the USA is still precariously fiscally balanced.  Cameron used the analogy of a household budget to explain, they have:

• an income of $23,000
• outgoings of $35,000
• credit card debt of $12,000
• and only $385 in savings!

As I said, precarious.

In Europe, it’s more of the same; Cameron says their economic models are basically flawed.  In the Eurozone, the economic architects and power houses are Germany & France (who have not been the best of friends for the past 1,000 years).  On top of that, they have differing money psychologies.  On one hand Germany says, we have to save money before we spend it (makes sense) and on the other, France, which has a Balance Sheet in tatters, has just lowered the retirement age so people can get to the dosh sooner [that the govt doesn’t have]!

11.5% of Teenagers Worry about Parent’s Finances

Teenager’s awareness of family financial issues seems to be on the rise.  Concern over parent’s ability to put food on the table, a decrease in the availability of part time work has been reflected in the Auckland university survey.  Does this really mean the problem is getting worse? Or are parents communicating to their teens more about financial matters than they have in the past?

A recent university of Auckland survey of 8,500 teenagers in 91 secondary schools as quoted in the NZ Herald has found some interesting (but maybe not surprising) results around what is happening in the household around money.  Teenagers are less likely to have a part-time job than the teenagers in 2001, where 49% of them had jobs compared to 26% in 2012.

It is quite easy to look at this statistic and say it is simply due to the global recession so there is less work around for teens, although I am sure there is an element of truth to that.