National Bank of MomAllowances. To give or not to give. It’s a hot topic.
To put it simply, I think there are three main camps:
A few weeks ago, J and I went out to dinner with my parents. When the check came, my dad asked J to calculate the tip. Luckily we had just talked about this, so he was able to figure it out — but it made me think about all of the other money and finance lessons I’ve learned from my parents.
So far I’ve mentioned that my dad would drill me on the rule of 72 and part of any money I received had to go towards opening savings bonds, but there were many more lessons over the years.
My dad was relentless with the sayings:
When I was in middle school, he took me to our local credit union and we opened a checking account. He showed me how to write checks and use an ATM card.
Being a blogger who writes about teaching my son personal finance — maybe you think I’ve always been good with money. That’s what gives me the creds, right?
Eh… not exactly.
I’ve never been in a really bad place, but I’ve never felt really good — like I was in control and going in the right direction.
It’s not for lack of trying. I tried for YEARS to get it together and feel good about my state of affairs. I’ve always balanced my checkbook and attempted budgeting at various points in my life (even enlisting my cousin’s help as she learned about it herself). There were homegrown worksheets and an elaborate configuration involving a shoebox and manilla folders with the days of the month for organizing receipts.
But I didn’t have a system that worked. I didn’t have a direction, or goals, or practical steps to take to meet those goals.
Until three years ago.
