Easy question. I was poor. Family was poor. Still have some family who are regarded that way. It has probably affected my capacity for spending, as I have plenty of money. Need to adopt some of the more carpe diem posters' attitudes on this forum.
Influences on how you think about money
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brewer12345
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OK, here goes. I think the person who most influenced me was dad. He was a VERY successful entrepreneur and remains so. At one point he was the majority owner of a multi million dollar private business. All that with a GED! However, he didn't trust the stock market and was not what you would call a financial sophisticate. He eventually lost the business (it went BK) after a debt fueled expansion went bad in the early 90s recession. I remember things not being very good once I went off to college in 1991. He recovered and now makes a very nice living in a totally unrelated line of business. I doubt he will ever fully retire since he has few interests outside his business (likes to fish and gamble, that's about it).
I learned a few important things from him:
- Don't piss your money away on consumer junk. A lower base expenditure level gives you a lot more flexibility.
- Be suspicious of debt. If you choose to go into debt, it had better be for a damn good reason and you'd better have an exit strategy.
- Cash flow reigns supreme.
- Don't miss out on all the great stuff in the world besides work. He doesn't understand this, and it is the most important lesson I learned from dad.
I learned a few important things from him:
- Don't piss your money away on consumer junk. A lower base expenditure level gives you a lot more flexibility.
- Be suspicious of debt. If you choose to go into debt, it had better be for a damn good reason and you'd better have an exit strategy.
- Cash flow reigns supreme.
- Don't miss out on all the great stuff in the world besides work. He doesn't understand this, and it is the most important lesson I learned from dad.
Sheryl
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brewer12345 said:
When my mom would come home from a shopping spree, my dad would sing a little song:
"A pile of stuff, a pile of stuff, a-piled up to the sky... and underneath the pile of stuff, a helpless little guy.... singin'... How high the pile? How high the pile?...."
They later divorced. But I think he made his point, in counteracting her influences.
maddythebeagle
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I am thinking that the fear of being poor is powerful.
Retire Soon
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I was the third oldest in a family of nine children. My dad earned a modest income as a union sheet metal worker. If I wanted something for myself, I normally had to earn my own money to pay for it. I always paid for my own clothes, but also dressed very well. While growing up, I found numerous ways to earn extra money. One of my earliest recollections as a 12 year old was buying soda pop by the case from wholesalers. My dad would drive me down to Pepsi Cola or CocaCola on Saturday and I would purchase several cases of pop. Then I would put the soda in an ice chest and place it in a wagon and pull it to a nearby construction site and sell it to the workers. At the time, this seemed like a great way to earn extra money. My depression era dad always stressed the importance of saving money. There was a thrift & loan called "Fireside Thrift" on the other side of town that had the highest interest rates. A friend's parent had told me about it. I rode my bike there one day after school and opened up a passbook savings account. The teller explained that I could also "bank by mail" and gave me special envelopes to use for future deposits. Looking back, I think running my own small business as a child and my dad emphasizing how important it was to save money helped me learn valuable lessons that have always stayed with me.
Retire Soon
Retire Soon
flipstress
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My addition to this interesting thread:
My parents were business people in the Philippines. They had all sorts of businesses from when they first got married in the 1940’s—selling textiles, dress-making shop, textile retail stores, hauling-and-filling trucking business—one after the other. At some point, they became well-to-do but lost it all due to bad receivables and over-expansion.
After I came to the family, they had one big successful contract which allowed them to remodel the house, but after that, they were struggling. I remember a few days when they would raid my piggy bank to buy household food for the day. Also, my dad got sick from stress and poor attention to his health—had heart attacks, strokes, and was house-bound for 13 years before he died. So, I was influenced to think that employment with a known salary each month is better than the boom-or-bust opportunities of going into business. I was also encouraged by parents to go to school so that I can find a good job after college.
Coming to America, I was a blank slate as far as financial knowledge goes. I did live with uncles and aunts, all employed professionals instead of business-owners. They were frugal in certain ways; they seldom ate out and likewise, I seldom ate out when I was first working, although I did buy over-priced clothes at malls.
Somehow, I did understand that participating in a 401(k) was good. An older friend told me about opening a ROTH IRA account. Then, surfing the Internet exposed me to The Motley Fool and to this Forum. Oh, and I read "Your Money or Your Life" and began tracking my expenses. I also started thinking in terms of opportunity costs of stuff I buy--how many hours did I have to work to get certain things. I did not get serious about saving for FIRE until 1999, when I was 37. I bought a small house in 2000 and have paid off about 45% of the loan amount I took out.
I grew up in a society that scholars have deemed “fatalistic”, with a come-what-may attitude. Planning and working for a hopefully-secure financial future came late to me and it is currently an ongoing activity. I eke out savings from humble employment. It would be nice if I could supplement it with a side business. I just came back from visiting my mom and brother in the Philippines and it would be good if I could come up with some business to help them out financially.
flipstress who's not so young but still a dreamer
My parents were business people in the Philippines. They had all sorts of businesses from when they first got married in the 1940’s—selling textiles, dress-making shop, textile retail stores, hauling-and-filling trucking business—one after the other. At some point, they became well-to-do but lost it all due to bad receivables and over-expansion.
After I came to the family, they had one big successful contract which allowed them to remodel the house, but after that, they were struggling. I remember a few days when they would raid my piggy bank to buy household food for the day. Also, my dad got sick from stress and poor attention to his health—had heart attacks, strokes, and was house-bound for 13 years before he died. So, I was influenced to think that employment with a known salary each month is better than the boom-or-bust opportunities of going into business. I was also encouraged by parents to go to school so that I can find a good job after college.
Coming to America, I was a blank slate as far as financial knowledge goes. I did live with uncles and aunts, all employed professionals instead of business-owners. They were frugal in certain ways; they seldom ate out and likewise, I seldom ate out when I was first working, although I did buy over-priced clothes at malls.
Somehow, I did understand that participating in a 401(k) was good. An older friend told me about opening a ROTH IRA account. Then, surfing the Internet exposed me to The Motley Fool and to this Forum. Oh, and I read "Your Money or Your Life" and began tracking my expenses. I also started thinking in terms of opportunity costs of stuff I buy--how many hours did I have to work to get certain things. I did not get serious about saving for FIRE until 1999, when I was 37. I bought a small house in 2000 and have paid off about 45% of the loan amount I took out.
I grew up in a society that scholars have deemed “fatalistic”, with a come-what-may attitude. Planning and working for a hopefully-secure financial future came late to me and it is currently an ongoing activity. I eke out savings from humble employment. It would be nice if I could supplement it with a side business. I just came back from visiting my mom and brother in the Philippines and it would be good if I could come up with some business to help them out financially.
flipstress who's not so young but still a dreamer
astromeria
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My depression-era parents were a little different from most. My mother grew up urban poor, and the trappings of success meant a lot to her. My father grew up upper middle class and wasn't particularly hurt by the depression (family business). My mother worked as an executive secretary adn married the boss's son(!). He bought her lots of nice stuff in the good old days when his business was flourishing, before they had kids.
My parents lived at their means--never in debt, but never saving either, except to pay cash for a car. My mother used "charge plates" whenever possible--again, I think that made her feel successful. They funny thing is that by going back to work to pay for "extras," she really was successful (final salary was nearly $100k 14 years ago).
My mother still doesn't like to hear about anything I do that's frugal or even about investing--it upsets her to have to "think poor" (her description of financial planning). She's always pleased to hear about money being spent on something nice (but not on something intangible, like travel ;-) Her pension is what funded my parents' retirement, plus Social Security. She took a lump sum and gave it ot a broker to invest (about 2/3 individual corporate bonds, most of the rest in dividend-paying stocks--they don't churn her account). Despite the fact that my mother was a bookkeeper and my father was in business for himself, they never taught us anything about personal finance and didn't encourage us to study it ourselves or in school. And we didn't!
So, I learned to avoid debt at home, but it took me a long time to learn on my own to save and even longer to invest. My husband and I actually hadover $500,000 sitting in savings accounts till I got a clue (he remains uninterested). My husband's father was an accountant and taught my husband nothing about personal finance either--and their family also lived at their means. Genetic defects?!
My parents lived at their means--never in debt, but never saving either, except to pay cash for a car. My mother used "charge plates" whenever possible--again, I think that made her feel successful. They funny thing is that by going back to work to pay for "extras," she really was successful (final salary was nearly $100k 14 years ago).
My mother still doesn't like to hear about anything I do that's frugal or even about investing--it upsets her to have to "think poor" (her description of financial planning). She's always pleased to hear about money being spent on something nice (but not on something intangible, like travel ;-) Her pension is what funded my parents' retirement, plus Social Security. She took a lump sum and gave it ot a broker to invest (about 2/3 individual corporate bonds, most of the rest in dividend-paying stocks--they don't churn her account). Despite the fact that my mother was a bookkeeper and my father was in business for himself, they never taught us anything about personal finance and didn't encourage us to study it ourselves or in school. And we didn't!
So, I learned to avoid debt at home, but it took me a long time to learn on my own to save and even longer to invest. My husband and I actually hadover $500,000 sitting in savings accounts till I got a clue (he remains uninterested). My husband's father was an accountant and taught my husband nothing about personal finance either--and their family also lived at their means. Genetic defects?!
