Back in ’89, my senior year of HS, we had an Econ class. Honestly I don’t remember much of the content. I do remember really enjoying it and getting an “A”, but I just don’t recall the focus – personal money management and debt vs global/national issues.
On the home front money was a topic that wasn’t always appropriate to talk about. I came from “both sides of the tracks”…my father came from a well educated, financially astute family (especialy my grandmother) and my mom came from very working class non-savers family. After my dad died my paternal grandparents helped us out when needed and bought us a house to live in. I remember my paternal grandmother listening to the radio to get the market numbers. She would always write them down and had a ledger that she followed. She was an amazing saver, but talking about money wasn’t appropriate so learning her lessons was hard. Also she was a German-American, which in itself has certain cultural isssues that don’t lend themselves to talking about personal things such as finance. On the other hand, my mothers family always talked about money – the fact that they didn’t have it and the envy of others that did. They worked hard, but weren’t much into saving. There was a lot of competition regarding material things “The more I have, the better I am”. Yet when people in that family did attain material things, there usually was some sort of jealousy that would surface.
Suffice it to say I didn’t learn money management and debt management from my family…I learned it the hard way, by making a lot of mistakes. I like to consider myself a “recovering hyperconsumer”, sometimes I have moments of relapse, but I can usually talk myself out of going down the wrong path.
My kids are in grade school, and I wouldn’t say there is much in terms of talking about money in the classroom. However, my first grader did have some class discussion on “wants vs needs” and has talked a little about different countries and what products they produce. My husband and I have been working very hard at teaching our children about responsible savings and being more mindful about spending. We recently had a playdate and the little girl was telling me all about the “stuff” she has (I am good friends with her mom and am well aware of her serious debt addiction), then we talked about earning and saving money – my son is saving for a DS. The little girl just looked at me and laughed she said ” That’s so funny, you don’t have to earn money and save for toys, if you want it you just get it, and if you don’t have money you just use your credit card…that’s so silly” – wow, out of the mouth of babes!
Well hopefully todays youth will learn some lessons as they observe their parents coping with the current economy.
