Have you always been money smart?

[stingsharkruns]

Did you read a book? Your parents taught you? Took classes?

I'm really frustrated by our lack of ability to save money & stick to a budget. We make more than enough, but we refuse to stop spending.. I just looked at our Mint account.. ugh. it's embarrassing.

I feel I missed some major things in school.. Neither of us went to college, so maybe this is where you learn these things?

How to invest, where to invest. 401ks, IRA's .. all that good stuff..

[Susie]

Aug 27, 2012 14:12:16 GMT -5 stingsharkruns said:

I feel I missed some major things in school.. Neither of us went to college, so maybe this is where you learn these things?

How to invest, where to invest. 401ks, IRA's .. all that good stuff..

Nope - A lot of people would probably be better off if colleges (or high schools) DID teach this stuff (plus student loan mangement!) but they don't.

Most of what I know I learned from growing up with fiscally conservative parents and here.

If you know you make enough money and just can't stop yourself from spending it, the problem isn't knowledge, it's self-discipline. You can't learn that, you have to figure out a way to make yourself live it. Mint was enough for me, to see where we were doing well (and less well). An envelope system might work for cutting back on spending, depending on when and how you tend to spend.

[stingsharkruns]

Aug 27, 2012 14:14:50 GMT -5 Susie said:

Aug 27, 2012 14:12:16 GMT -5 stingsharkruns said:

I feel I missed some major things in school.. Neither of us went to college, so maybe this is where you learn these things?

How to invest, where to invest. 401ks, IRA's .. all that good stuff..

Nope - A lot of people would probably be better off if colleges (or high schools) DID teach this stuff (plus student loan mangement!) but they don't.

Most of what I know I learned from growing up with fiscally conservative parents and here.

If you know you make enough money and just can't stop yourself from spending it, the problem isn't knowledge, it's self-discipline. You can't learn that, you have to figure out a way to make yourself live it.

Oh, it's definitely self-discipline. But I guess I'm wondering how people learn about investing, and IRA's & those kind of things.

DH has been at his job 8yrs, and still doesn't have a 401k.. and I don't hound him about bc I don't want them to take more money out of his check.. i know - this is absolutely ridiculous, and incredibly embarrassing - but maybe I need to be embarrassed so I can get my ass in gear and find a solution to this.

[Deleted]

No. I had my share of CC debt at one time. DH has always had good $$ sense. I've expanded on him since then.

I did not learn anything about personal finance in college. My parents do not make the best decisions and I try not to be like them.

[mrssavy42112]

I didn’t learn anything about money in college. All of my basic skills came from my parents. My mom is a SAHM, so that means 1 income for 3 people. She had to be really good at budgeting. I always had a job while growing up & learned all that stuff. I’m not as knowledgeable about investing/retirement yet because it’s not something we can do right now. But when we can, I plan on getting a few books or just searching online for options.

[ssmjlm]

I mostly learned from my parents and now here on MM.

My parents instilled in me to save part of my check and my dad made sure I signed up for my 401k at my first job. Then when I get little increases here and there he's always asking if I'm going to up my retirement another percent.

I truly think it's either taught to you by family or you have to learn it. DH's parents didn't give him the same "education" money wise that I got and he can see how it really benefitted me to learn those skills. When we first got together he had an old 401k lying around and wasn't contributing up to the full match at his current job. We worked on those ASAP.

If it's a self discipline problem, then really you need to figure out what will make you change you habits. Is it realizing that you may not have enough to retire? Going on a cash system?

[countthestars]

My parents taught me to save and to decide whether something is a "want" or a "need", but most of what I know about money/401k/insurance I've learned on here.

Is there a reputable Financial Advisor that you can either hire or have a free consultation with? Don't go to a free one who will just try to sell you things, but see if any of your friends or family know someone who will just have a talk with you about your goals and how to achieve them.

Good luck! You can do it - you just have to take the first step and start.

[Deleted]

no. I learned from here, mostly, and then read up on things on my own. Luckily I just never felt the need to run up my CC -- but my SLs are a disaster. I would have had half of the amount of loans if I had been on MM prior to law school.

My parents are a MM disaster.

[Velvetshady]

Yes and no. I was taught the basics on saving and budgeting as a kid--and mostly has the self discipline to do well with it. Except after I graduated college, needed/wanted furniture, and needed new work suits/shoes for my new job, then the credit card debt racked up and I wasn't to good about playing it done.

My parents know/knew little about investing and I'm not very smart in that area (although smart enough to contribute to my 401k early on and participate in our ESSP program).

[stingsharkruns]

Aug 27, 2012 14:22:22 GMT -5 countthestars said:

My parents taught me to save and to decide whether something is a "want" or a "need", but most of what I know about money/401k/insurance I've learned on here.

Is there a reputable Financial Advisor that you can either hire or have a free consultation with? Don't go to a free one who will just try to sell you things, but see if any of your friends or family know someone who will just have a talk with you about your goals and how to achieve them.

Good luck! You can do it - you just have to take the first step and start.

Yes, DH just helped my Dad build a house for a financial adviser and he (The owner) told DH that he would help him get his 401k set up, and whatever else we need to do.

[Deleted]

Not at all; no one in my family is either. When I took out about $40k in private loans in college for my undergrad, no one explained interest or payments or anything like that to me. They just let me do it, at age 18. Now I am paying the price (literally).

Thank God for H; I have learned so much about budgeting and interest rates and saving, etc. Now I almost go overboard with it and it's hard for me to splurge sometimes because I focus so much on saving.

I really have a lot of resentment toward my parents for not teaching me anything about money. I know it's because they weren't really knowledgeable, but it still pisses me off. I could have avoided a lot of money mistakes in my younger years.

[definitelyO]

I don't remember learning about money management from my parents but we were always very lean growing up.

the majority of my knowledge came from my 2nd read job post college. I was 23 or 24 and my then boss sat down with me to talk about the 401K. I told him that I wasn't going to contribute b/c I needed the money for bills. he put me on a plan - put 3% in my 401K and increase at least 1% with every raise. and he had me write down every single penny I spent - including the $0.50 for a coke. we looked at my cc bills and bank statements and cash spend every month and gradually got me to the place to where I paid off all my cc debt and starting putting more and more into savings. those lessons really stuck with me.

[anna7602]

At my first job out of college, I worked for a bank. During orientation, I had to meet with a financial advisor, who explained 401(k)s to me, looked at my credit report with me, and helped me come up with a plan to pay off my credit card debt and SL debt in a certain amount of time. (My goal was 5 years for the SLs and I met it.) He also showed me how much each incremental investment in my 401(k) could grow by retirement v. the actual difference in my take-home pay, which was really small in comparison.

It was truly awesome.

I still don't know anything about the stock market or other types of investments, but am trying to learn from DH and this board. My first instinct is always to pay off all and any debt, but I've learned that some debt, like a low-interest mortgage, is good if you can do something smart with the money to get a higher return.

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Hell, I'm still not money smart.

[wedbliss5]

A lot of what I learned, I got from this board several years ago. That, and watching several friends fail miserably while in college / right after.

I also did some research to understand credit scores and such, and found ways to fit them to my lifestyle choices.

We have a financial advisor to help with investing, 401k's, etc that I love. We don't carry credit card debt (luckily we make enough to support our lifestyle, glad neitehr of us grew up in rich homes!). We take advantage of the points on the Discover Card and played the game of finding high interest rates for savings (now pointless).

[wedbliss5]

DefinitalyO - sounds like you had an AWESOME boss!

[rex]

I would say yes. Growing up we always talked about how to be smart with money. My allowance was handled in a way where I got paid per chore and then it was handled in a way that taught me about how a bank works. I was required to save money as well.

My father helped me make a budget when I got my first job and in college we would discuss investing.


I definitely think I'm lucky to have had this taught to me through my family. It's not necessarily a common thing.

I think high schools should teach kids about money. It shouldn't wait until college.

[Deleted]

I was always pretty frugal, like my parents, but never very focused on building wealth and investing until reading up on MM. We started very slow, by starting Roth IRAs and investing in mutual funds vs. stocks.

[mrs.spunky]

My parents always instilled in me the necessity of saving money, but they aren't financially sophisticated. They're fine sticking money in a savings account or CD instead of investing it. My mom has a pension in addition to a 401k, but the 401k is definitely secondary. They also believe in paying off a mortgage as fast as possible, buying cars in cash only, and told me that credit cards are evil.
I've learned that it can be good to leverage low-interest debt, especially mortgage debt, and am in no rush to pay off a loan that is under 4%.

[stingsharkruns]

I'm slightly uncomfortable putting this on the interwebz, but whatever.

This is the debt we have:

1 chase CC: bal $3200, 0%int until July 2013
1 Discover CC: bal $370, 15.99%

DH's truck: we owe $3500, 6%... It's currently for sale
My Car: 16k, 4.5%

Our house. 125k - I don't know the int rate


We just sold DH's boat - I paid off my SL loan & another CC w/ that.

DH's motorcycle is also for sale.

It's not that we have loads of debt - it's that we live like there is no tomorrow and spend every spare penny we have...and it's fun, but it's got to stop.

[Awkward]

Nope, I learned a lot of what I know about money from MM. My parents gave me very little. Interestingly, my senior year of high school one of the religion teachers was famous for giving a speech entitled "how to get rich" to seniors the week before graduation. I ended up being out the only day it was scheduled, but I heard it was about compound interest and saving for retirement the day you turn 18.

I have a lot of student loan debt for a degree I don't really use. But I didn't take out a dime more of loans than I absolutely needed and paid for things like books out of cash from the two part time jobs I worked my senior year of high school.

All my parents instilled in me was a deep fear of credit cards and being landlords. They went through a bankruptcy about 20 years ago stemming from atrocious luck as landlords of a 3 unit building. That's something I hope not repeat.

MM has taught me all about retirement, budgeting, investing. I don't know where I'd be without you guys. :heart:

[ejpint]

Honestly, I've learned the most from MM and from FIL.

I was money STUPID for a long time. My parents both struggled with money. They declared bankruptcy twice. They lost their home to foreclosure in the early 80s. They haven't owned a home since. They are okay now, but I still worry about retirement for both of them.

So, I didn't learn anything from them, I certainly didn't learn anything in high school or college. I maxed out credit cards in college and throughout my 20s. Between that and my student loan debt, even my really very good salary felt too tight. It got so bad that I wrote to Oprah (I know, lame), hoping I might get a rec from Suze Orman or something. I was actually invited to be on the show to talk about my debt, and while my part got cut (I wasn't as interesting as the accountant who was like $100k in credit card debt), I did get some tough love from Suze.

So, I guess long story short, it took really getting in too deep, and then asking for help to get started. I used Suze's advice, set a budget, and made a plan to pay off my debt. I met my H right around the same time, and it helped that we soon were in major savings mode for a house and a wedding. Since the wedding, MM has helped me move beyond the basics, and FIL is a great resource as well (retired CPA). If it weren't for MM, I'd be contributing 5% or less to my 401k, I wouldn't be saving, and I wouldn't be reminded to review my budget or set goals.

I feel like family education makes such a HUGE difference. It's definitely a major parenting goal of ours to make sure our children learn about money and how to manage it responsibly from an early age.

[stingsharkruns]

Aug 27, 2012 14:38:42 GMT -5 @charky said:

Aug 27, 2012 14:36:34 GMT -5 stingsharkruns said:

I'm slightly uncomfortable putting this on the interwebz, but whatever.

This is the debt we have:

...

It's not that we have loads of debt - it's that we live like there is no tomorrow and spend every spare penny we have...and it's fun, but it's got to stop.

Do you have a monthly budget? That's the first place to start.

not so much.

I have them set up on Mint, but it's more like, "that would be nice if we only spent that much." .. not something we stick to.

[mrs.spunky]

Aug 27, 2012 14:36:34 GMT -5 stingsharkruns said:

I'm slightly uncomfortable putting this on the interwebz, but whatever.

This is the debt we have:

1 chase CC: bal $3200, 0%int until July 2013
1 Discover CC: bal $370, 15.99%

DH's truck: we owe $3500, 6%... It's currently for sale
My Car: 16k, 4.5%

Our house. 125k - I don't know the int rate


We just sold DH's boat - I paid off my SL loan & another CC w/ that.

DH's motorcycle is also for sale.

It's not that we have loads of debt - it's that we live like there is no tomorrow and spend every spare penny we have...and it's fun, but it's got to stop.

You should post your budget.

If nothing else, you should pay off the Discover card immediately.

You have 10 full months until the Chase interest-free period is up. So you have to put $320/mo to that to make sure it is gone before you get charged back interest.

[Deleted]

I was very bad with money in college and racked up a lot of cc debt on stupid things like make-up and clothes.

Honestly, money matters has helped me stay motivated and smart with my money.

[kadams767]

No. I like to think that I was Scared Straight when it comes to MM. My parents were a disaster, and as soon as I had a job I vowed to never end up like them. I didn't learn anything about money, savings, investing or otherwise, from my parents. I learned a bare minimum in college business and economics courses, and then I just started trying to figure things out on my own.

I started really small, but even just opening a savings account and actually putting money into it was a huge step for me. My parents never had a savings account, heck didn't even have a real bank account at all until I was in high school. I would make teeny, tiny deposits into my savings account when I could, and it helped me feel good about my actions and plan.

From there, I started contributing to my 401(k) the first time I became eligible, even though I didn't make much and it was hard to part with the money at first. I just knew that was what "normal" people did, so I figured I needed to start as soon as possible. I started out putting in 3% of my pay, which, when you are working 30 hours/week for $9.50 an hour, seems crazy and kind of pointless. But I did it, because again, it was a small step in the right direction. This was when I was 21, and I worked at that job for about 2.5 more years and when I left, I had a little over $2k in the account after employer contributions. I was lucky in that my employer let my account stay in their plan while I was in law school and didn't force me to cash it out (since it was under the minimum holding requirement for their plan), and as soon as I could, I rolled it over to my new plan.

Over the next few years, I just started reading as much as I could about savings, retirement, loans, investments, etc. And have started taking similar small steps towards achieving financial security. I started my IRA with a small contribution my first year, and have finally worked up to contributing the full $5k/yr now. I increased my 401(k) contribution to a higher threshold now that I make more money, and started a small investment account on my own as well. I've learned a lot on MM here and through other websites as well.

[yellowbrkrd]

Both my parents and DH's parents were a mess with money when we were growing up. My parents have claimed bankruptcy 3 times. We learned from our mistakes and when we got engaged I found MM and learned a lot.

[definitelyO]

Aug 27, 2012 14:33:55 GMT -5 wedbliss5 said:

DefinitalyO - sounds like you had an AWESOME boss!

he was definitely a pain in the butt - but he did it out of the goodness of his heart and really kept me from digger a bigger financial hole.

[Susie]

It sounds like you would benefit from setting up some automatic transfers from your checking account to retirement accounts and savings accounts. Then it becomes just like paying the electric bill every month, it just happens.

[stingsharkruns]

ETA: PLEASE DON'T QUOTE.. I WILL DD THIS LATER.



income: $4113
$3478/total