Parents: do kids learn about $$$ in school?

[carli]

dharmagirl,

You are absolutely right that the difference is now kids feel ENTITLED to this stuff! It baffles me. That story about $28 shampoo epitomizes the issue.

I remember that when we moved into our neighborhood about 5 years ago, we were introduced to some neighbors and their 15-year-old son, and I said something like, “oh, great, it’s good to know that there’s a teenager in the neighborhood…maybe we can hire you to water our plants and pick up the mail when we go away.” This suggestion was met with complete silence and a blank stare, and when I looked back on the conversation, I felt so stupid and out of touch! I realized that this kid has no intention of ever doing a menial job like that, nor do many kids his age.

I hate to keep saying, “when I was a kid…”, but WHEN I WAS A KID, I would’ve tripped over both my sisters trying to get a job like bringing in the mail for the neighbors or watering plants. Anything like that was great for making a few easy bucks! This kid, who now at age 20 drives a new SUV (that mom and dad probably bought for him), still probably doesn’t stoop so low as to have some silly summer job, making his own money, and why would he when it’s handed to him by mom and dad, plus he can get whatever else he wants on his (or perhaps their) credit cards.

When did everything become so out of whack?

[meadandale]

@jennyo,dharmagirl

I had the same citibank card with a $500 limit in the 80’s in college. I think that I had ONE other credit card–an MBNA visa.

However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?

Who knows…however, sticking your bills in a drawer and hoping they’ll just ‘go away’…I’m speechless.

After graduating, I did charge up some cards. I think at my zenith I was about $8k in debt on credit card debt 10 years ago. However, even during several bouts of unemployment, I’ve never been ‘delinquent’ or had ANY credit account go into collections. If I couldn’t pay a bill for a few months, I did what any reasonable adult would presumably do, I called the company and told them my situation (“Hi, I’m unemployed, can I just send you a token $50/month until I have a job again?”).

I can’t fathom the thought process of people these days that get themselves $20k, $40k or $100k in the hole with revolving debt or the balls it takes to just WALK AWAY after they charged all that debt up and just shrug their shoulders and decide they can’t pay.

I’m not talking about people who end up having to pay tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills or who have the primary earner become unemployed for a family. I’m talking about the people who just spend, spend, spend who a) have no idea how much they actually owe and b) have no plan on how they will ever pay it back.

Maybe it IS time for some financial education in high school.

[meadandale]

@jennyo,dharmagirl

I had the same citibank card with a $500 limit in the 80’s in college. I think that I had ONE other credit card–an MBNA visa.

However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?

Who knows…however, sticking your bills in a drawer and hoping they’ll just ‘go away’…I’m speechless.

After graduating, I did charge up some cards. I think at my zenith I was about $8k in debt on credit card debt 10 years ago. However, even during several bouts of unemployment, I’ve never been ‘delinquent’ or had ANY credit account go into collections. If I couldn’t pay a bill for a few months, I did what any reasonable adult would presumably do, I called the company and told them my situation (“Hi, I’m unemployed, can I just send you a token $50/month until I have a job again?”).

I can’t fathom the thought process of people these days that get themselves $20k, $40k or $100k in the hole with revolving debt or the balls it takes to just WALK AWAY after they charged all that debt up and just shrug their shoulders and decide they can’t pay.

I’m not talking about people who end up having to pay tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills or who have the primary earner become unemployed for a family. I’m talking about the people who just spend, spend, spend who a) have no idea how much they actually owe and b) have no plan on how they will ever pay it back.

Maybe it IS time for some financial education in high school.

[meadandale]

@jennyo,dharmagirl

I had the same citibank card with a $500 limit in the 80’s in college. I think that I had ONE other credit card–an MBNA visa.

However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?

Who knows…however, sticking your bills in a drawer and hoping they’ll just ‘go away’…I’m speechless.

After graduating, I did charge up some cards. I think at my zenith I was about $8k in debt on credit card debt 10 years ago. However, even during several bouts of unemployment, I’ve never been ‘delinquent’ or had ANY credit account go into collections. If I couldn’t pay a bill for a few months, I did what any reasonable adult would presumably do, I called the company and told them my situation (“Hi, I’m unemployed, can I just send you a token $50/month until I have a job again?”).

I can’t fathom the thought process of people these days that get themselves $20k, $40k or $100k in the hole with revolving debt or the balls it takes to just WALK AWAY after they charged all that debt up and just shrug their shoulders and decide they can’t pay.

I’m not talking about people who end up having to pay tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills or who have the primary earner become unemployed for a family. I’m talking about the people who just spend, spend, spend who a) have no idea how much they actually owe and b) have no plan on how they will ever pay it back.

Maybe it IS time for some financial education in high school.

[meadandale]

@jennyo,dharmagirl

I had the same citibank card with a $500 limit in the 80’s in college. I think that I had ONE other credit card–an MBNA visa.

However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?

Who knows…however, sticking your bills in a drawer and hoping they’ll just ‘go away’…I’m speechless.

After graduating, I did charge up some cards. I think at my zenith I was about $8k in debt on credit card debt 10 years ago. However, even during several bouts of unemployment, I’ve never been ‘delinquent’ or had ANY credit account go into collections. If I couldn’t pay a bill for a few months, I did what any reasonable adult would presumably do, I called the company and told them my situation (“Hi, I’m unemployed, can I just send you a token $50/month until I have a job again?”).

I can’t fathom the thought process of people these days that get themselves $20k, $40k or $100k in the hole with revolving debt or the balls it takes to just WALK AWAY after they charged all that debt up and just shrug their shoulders and decide they can’t pay.

I’m not talking about people who end up having to pay tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills or who have the primary earner become unemployed for a family. I’m talking about the people who just spend, spend, spend who a) have no idea how much they actually owe and b) have no plan on how they will ever pay it back.

Maybe it IS time for some financial education in high school.

[meadandale]

@jennyo,dharmagirl

I had the same citibank card with a $500 limit in the 80’s in college. I think that I had ONE other credit card–an MBNA visa.

However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?

Who knows…however, sticking your bills in a drawer and hoping they’ll just ‘go away’…I’m speechless.

After graduating, I did charge up some cards. I think at my zenith I was about $8k in debt on credit card debt 10 years ago. However, even during several bouts of unemployment, I’ve never been ‘delinquent’ or had ANY credit account go into collections. If I couldn’t pay a bill for a few months, I did what any reasonable adult would presumably do, I called the company and told them my situation (“Hi, I’m unemployed, can I just send you a token $50/month until I have a job again?”).

I can’t fathom the thought process of people these days that get themselves $20k, $40k or $100k in the hole with revolving debt or the balls it takes to just WALK AWAY after they charged all that debt up and just shrug their shoulders and decide they can’t pay.

I’m not talking about people who end up having to pay tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills or who have the primary earner become unemployed for a family. I’m talking about the people who just spend, spend, spend who a) have no idea how much they actually owe and b) have no plan on how they will ever pay it back.

Maybe it IS time for some financial education in high school.

[blahblahblah]

Kids in the US don’t learn about money in public school for the same reason that they don’t learn science, math, or how to read and write. Ignorant people are easy to control and let’s be honest, that’s what we want here in the US. In particular, we need an every-growing supply of good little consumers that will accumulate massive amounts of debt while young, spend their working years trying to pay it all off, and then die promptly from diseases caused by their poor diets and lack of exercise. Sorry to sound so cynical but that’s just how it is. The good news is that if you are active in your kid’s life you can make a real difference in what they learn, but don’t expect them to learn anything in public school other than dressing and acting cool, binge drinking and proper bong etiquette. Oh and of course HW 2 SND TXT MSGS OMG LOL 😉

[blahblahblah]

Kids in the US don’t learn about money in public school for the same reason that they don’t learn science, math, or how to read and write. Ignorant people are easy to control and let’s be honest, that’s what we want here in the US. In particular, we need an every-growing supply of good little consumers that will accumulate massive amounts of debt while young, spend their working years trying to pay it all off, and then die promptly from diseases caused by their poor diets and lack of exercise. Sorry to sound so cynical but that’s just how it is. The good news is that if you are active in your kid’s life you can make a real difference in what they learn, but don’t expect them to learn anything in public school other than dressing and acting cool, binge drinking and proper bong etiquette. Oh and of course HW 2 SND TXT MSGS OMG LOL 😉

[blahblahblah]

Kids in the US don’t learn about money in public school for the same reason that they don’t learn science, math, or how to read and write. Ignorant people are easy to control and let’s be honest, that’s what we want here in the US. In particular, we need an every-growing supply of good little consumers that will accumulate massive amounts of debt while young, spend their working years trying to pay it all off, and then die promptly from diseases caused by their poor diets and lack of exercise. Sorry to sound so cynical but that’s just how it is. The good news is that if you are active in your kid’s life you can make a real difference in what they learn, but don’t expect them to learn anything in public school other than dressing and acting cool, binge drinking and proper bong etiquette. Oh and of course HW 2 SND TXT MSGS OMG LOL 😉

[blahblahblah]

Kids in the US don’t learn about money in public school for the same reason that they don’t learn science, math, or how to read and write. Ignorant people are easy to control and let’s be honest, that’s what we want here in the US. In particular, we need an every-growing supply of good little consumers that will accumulate massive amounts of debt while young, spend their working years trying to pay it all off, and then die promptly from diseases caused by their poor diets and lack of exercise. Sorry to sound so cynical but that’s just how it is. The good news is that if you are active in your kid’s life you can make a real difference in what they learn, but don’t expect them to learn anything in public school other than dressing and acting cool, binge drinking and proper bong etiquette. Oh and of course HW 2 SND TXT MSGS OMG LOL 😉

[blahblahblah]

Kids in the US don’t learn about money in public school for the same reason that they don’t learn science, math, or how to read and write. Ignorant people are easy to control and let’s be honest, that’s what we want here in the US. In particular, we need an every-growing supply of good little consumers that will accumulate massive amounts of debt while young, spend their working years trying to pay it all off, and then die promptly from diseases caused by their poor diets and lack of exercise. Sorry to sound so cynical but that’s just how it is. The good news is that if you are active in your kid’s life you can make a real difference in what they learn, but don’t expect them to learn anything in public school other than dressing and acting cool, binge drinking and proper bong etiquette. Oh and of course HW 2 SND TXT MSGS OMG LOL 😉

[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[jennyo]

“However, I NEVER got myself in the kind of shithole you both appear to have. Maybe it was because I paid my way through college? Maybe it was because I worked from the time I was 15? Maybe it’s because my dad died when I was 18 and I knew that no support whatsoever was forthcoming from my mom if I screwed up?”

Or maybe it was because someone taught you about finances? People aren’t born knowing this stuff, so someone must have along the way. That did not happen in my life. I also paid my way through college, working crap jobs the entire time. And I am by no means the only person I know who screwed up with credit card debt. The only good thing about it is that it happened when I was relatively young and I learned from the experience.

[Author]

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