Comments on: Propagating Bad Financial Judgment Down the Family Tree http://toughmoneylove.com/2008/11/04/propagating-bad-financial-judgment-down-the-family-tree/ The Hard Truth about Money and Personal Finance Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:03:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Betty http://toughmoneylove.com/2008/11/04/propagating-bad-financial-judgment-down-the-family-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-5356 Betty Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:09:07 +0000 http://toughmoneylove.com/?p=151#comment-5356 I am a charge-a-holic. I fell bad and go buy something. I do not even need it, but it makes me feel better. My family was not rich and we grew up hard, but we all had a lot of love. Love and family are the most important things in the world. I will get out of debt and go right back in and I do not even know why except that it makes me feel better to buy things even though I can not afford them. If I could get over this stupid hang up then maybe I could survive. AT 61 you would thing that I would know how to stop, but I really do not know how or why I do this. What can I do to stop and prepare for what little future I have left? I am going back to school to get a college degree. This is something that I have always wanted, but felt that I was too dumb to go to school. Does anyone have any answers so that I can stop this spending so I can get out of debt??? Thanks, I am a charge-a-holic. I fell bad and go buy something. I do not even need it, but it makes me feel better. My family was not rich and we grew up hard, but we all had a lot of love. Love and family are the most important things in the world. I will get out of debt and go right back in and I do not even know why except that it makes me feel better to buy things even though I can not afford them. If I could get over this stupid hang up then maybe I could survive. AT 61 you would thing that I would know how to stop, but I really do not know how or why I do this. What can I do to stop and prepare for what little future I have left? I am going back to school to get a college degree. This is something that I have always wanted, but felt that I was too dumb to go to school. Does anyone have any answers so that I can stop this spending so I can get out of debt??? Thanks,

]]> By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove http://toughmoneylove.com/2008/11/04/propagating-bad-financial-judgment-down-the-family-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-1162 Mr. ToughMoneyLove Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:01:27 +0000 http://toughmoneylove.com/?p=151#comment-1162 Jimbo - Thanks for your comment and a special thanks for your service in the military. Yours is an excellent example of how we can marry well and use that relationship to fill in educational holes created in our own families. It appears that your daughter will be in good shape in that department. Jimbo – Thanks for your comment and a special thanks for your service in the military. Yours is an excellent example of how we can marry well and use that relationship to fill in educational holes created in our own families. It appears that your daughter will be in good shape in that department.

]]> By: Jimbo http://toughmoneylove.com/2008/11/04/propagating-bad-financial-judgment-down-the-family-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-1161 Jimbo Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:54:52 +0000 http://toughmoneylove.com/?p=151#comment-1161 Good one. I came from an "old money" family that lost everything in the depression. Somehow the lessons about how the "old money" was made and kept were not passed on to anyone later than my grandparents. I grew up woefully uneducated in things finance beyond high school economics. I knew neither I nor my family could afford to put me through college. I joined the military to foot the bill (good choice). While I was in however, I learned absolutely nothing about money and squandered it (bad choice). Now that I am out and have a family, I continued to squander our money (worse choice). Now my wife handles the money (best choice I ever made, right after marrying her). She is also from an "old money" family, though it only started in her grandfather's time, but they look only mildly well off. I am watching and learning, and we will teach our daughter together. Good one. I came from an “old money” family that lost everything in the depression. Somehow the lessons about how the “old money” was made and kept were not passed on to anyone later than my grandparents. I grew up woefully uneducated in things finance beyond high school economics.

I knew neither I nor my family could afford to put me through college. I joined the military to foot the bill (good choice). While I was in however, I learned absolutely nothing about money and squandered it (bad choice). Now that I am out and have a family, I continued to squander our money (worse choice).

Now my wife handles the money (best choice I ever made, right after marrying her). She is also from an “old money” family, though it only started in her grandfather’s time, but they look only mildly well off. I am watching and learning, and we will teach our daughter together.

]]> By: Miranda http://toughmoneylove.com/2008/11/04/propagating-bad-financial-judgment-down-the-family-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-1043 Miranda Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:57:32 +0000 http://toughmoneylove.com/?p=151#comment-1043 Thanks for this post. While I do agree that debt is part of life for many of us, I could never be so casual about it. I have student loans, but I worked a part time job and earned scholarships so that my loans wouldn't be as large, and they should be paid of fairly soon. My parents made it very clear that life is about choices -- and that includes what we do with out money. I'm teaching my son that lesson now. When he takes his allowance to the store, we talk about value, and what would be the best way to spend money. Because a big reason we have a debt problem in this country is because we thing we *need* to have it all -- and have it all now. Thanks for this post. While I do agree that debt is part of life for many of us, I could never be so casual about it. I have student loans, but I worked a part time job and earned scholarships so that my loans wouldn’t be as large, and they should be paid of fairly soon.

My parents made it very clear that life is about choices — and that includes what we do with out money. I’m teaching my son that lesson now. When he takes his allowance to the store, we talk about value, and what would be the best way to spend money. Because a big reason we have a debt problem in this country is because we thing we *need* to have it all — and have it all now.

]]> By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove http://toughmoneylove.com/2008/11/04/propagating-bad-financial-judgment-down-the-family-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-1039 Mr. ToughMoneyLove Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:14:16 +0000 http://toughmoneylove.com/?p=151#comment-1039 RDS- We need more parents like yours. It is so easy for parents to teach these things by example. RDS- We need more parents like yours. It is so easy for parents to teach these things by example.

]]> By: RDS http://toughmoneylove.com/2008/11/04/propagating-bad-financial-judgment-down-the-family-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-1038 RDS Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:58:38 +0000 http://toughmoneylove.com/?p=151#comment-1038 It's too bad that so many families don't talk more about smart money management. As I was growing up my parents frequently told me that we could not afford things - soda and desserts in restaurants, new toys that I wanted, and a host of other things. My siblings and I always took this news as a simple statement of fact. As I grew older, I learned something that seemed revolutionary - my family was actually quite well off. As I grew older still, I came to realize the connection between that fact that our family was well off and the fact that we were careful about what we spent money on. I am very grateful to my parents for these financial lessons that I got at a young age. Talking about budgets, saving, investing, taxes, mortgages, debt, and spending strategies with your kids is a great move. Managing money isn't all that hard. But if nobody teaches you the basic principles, it is easy to start making bad choices. RDS http://www.smartfinancialvalues.com It’s too bad that so many families don’t talk more about smart money management. As I was growing up my parents frequently told me that we could not afford things – soda and desserts in restaurants, new toys that I wanted, and a host of other things. My siblings and I always took this news as a simple statement of fact. As I grew older, I learned something that seemed revolutionary – my family was actually quite well off. As I grew older still, I came to realize the connection between that fact that our family was well off and the fact that we were careful about what we spent money on. I am very grateful to my parents for these financial lessons that I got at a young age.

Talking about budgets, saving, investing, taxes, mortgages, debt, and spending strategies with your kids is a great move. Managing money isn’t all that hard. But if nobody teaches you the basic principles, it is easy to start making bad choices.

RDS
http://www.smartfinancialvalues.com

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