What do you wish your parents or school taught you about money?

[nawhite]

What are some things you wish you had learned in school or from your parents/caregivers before moving out?

This came up for me recently because I did my own (fairly complicated) taxes and I was annoyed at how much research I had to do that I should have learned in school.

[neo von retorch]

Hold onto cars as long as you can.
Learn how to cook a variety of dishes.
Don't mix finances with relationships until you're married.

[Heroes821]

While in college my dad was part of the GM bankruptcy and got 2 years of pay in a lump. He spent it all in less than a year and took a job several states away as a nanny/housekeeper for a friend of his for about $10/hr.  I was put in charge of his house and his rental house and he paid all the bills besides groceries and my internet.  I wish he taught me about investing or holding investments during a crash, or anything at all about savings earlier in my life, but the best lesson I learned from him was how absolutely shitty living paycheck to paycheck is and juggling which bill might have to wait till next month.

It's odd looking back on it now how much of an amazing reality check I got in money management by simply being the handler of my father's mismanagement of money.

As far as school goes, my High School had an accounting class that really should of delved more into how accounting is relevant for your personal life and not just businesses.  They also cut that class shortly after I took it, very sad.

Oh and I really wish I would of learned a hell of a lot earlier how to say NO to things I want.

[boarder42]

1. index invest
2. the 4% rule
3. its not what you make its how much you spend to reach FI

[Le Barbu]

That a mortgage isnt that evil

Decent clothing for your children will not lead to bankrupcy in all cases

Stock market is not gambling if you manage to buy more than 1 stock...

The rest was about good!

[MrMonkeyMoustache]

I wish that my mom would have told me the dangers of ridiculously high loans for my freshman year at a private university. I cared only about football, and that didn't even last. Definitely wasn't worth it, but instead of grilling me about it, my mom just said, "okay", and let me take out life-ruining loans.

A lot of people think the parents shouldn't be involved in that decision, but I disagree. If my kid, for example, wants to go to a 60k/year uni to study Philosophy, I'm going to lecture him over and over about why it's stupid. It's tough love, but 18 year olds are not fully-functioning adults in reality. Only legally.

[kjulez_83]

The importance of compound interest and investing at all! It was never shown to me that the stock market is not scary and if you save and invest $5,000 when you are 18 or 20 that could turn into so much money by the time you are X years old.

Many parents I know say they will match the dollars saved by the kid to get them their first car, I will be saying I'll match whatever u save for your first car but we will invest it into an index fund for you! U can thank me later  :)

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[MrMonkeyMoustache]

The importance of compound interest and investing at all! It was never shown to me that the stock market is not scary and if you save and invest $5,000 when you are 18 or 20 that could turn into so much money by the time you are X years old.

Many parents I know say they will match the dollars saved by the kid to get them their first car, I will be saying I'll match whatever u save for your first car but we will invest it into an index fund for you! U can thank me later  :)

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

This as well! Wish I was told about how great passive investing can be. Set it and forget it. Sure, there's ups and downs, but there's a general upward trend in the long-run. Also wish my mother didn't brainwash me into thinking credit cards were bad until I was about 21 and I wised up.

[MrMonkeyMoustache]

Hell, if we're talking school, I could go on and on. I was never even taught how to write a check. In school OR by my parents.

[Del Griffith]

I wish that my mom would have told me the dangers of ridiculously high loans for my freshman year at a private university. I cared only about football, and that didn't even last. Definitely wasn't worth it, but instead of grilling me about it, my mom just said, "okay", and let me take out life-ruining loans.

A lot of people think the parents shouldn't be involved in that decision, but I disagree. If my kid, for example, wants to go to a 60k/year uni to study Philosophy, I'm going to lecture him over and over about why it's stupid. It's tough love, but 18 year olds are not fully-functioning adults in reality. Only legally.

Similar experience here. In their defense, one parent didn't go to college and the other jumped ship a year or two in, but there was never any discussion about the implications of loans or major/career choices. Everything was more of a passively supportive 'okay' rather than a practical or more hands-on discussion about the future. I had access to programs that could've kept loans at bay but teenager-me wasn't having any of it. I know they meant well, but I was never challenged to really plan or think differently. All in all it worked out in the end and I paid them off aggressively, but I plan to have that conversation in the future with my kids if/when the time comes. Otherwise, they did a good job of leading by example for most things and live within their means.

[Nudelkopf]

The importance of compound interest and investing at all! It was never shown to me that the stock market is not scary and if you save and invest $5,000 when you are 18 or 20 that could turn into so much money by the time you are X years old.

I'm a maths teacher, and we definitely teach compound interest. We start with simple interest at the start of Year 9, then basic compound interest at the end of Year 9, then the CI with different compounding times in Year 10, then annuities etc in Year 11 & 12.

Maybe America is different,  but pretty sure theyre not that different.

[Frankies Girl]

Basic investing. My stars, if I'd known about basic investing...

I'd have been FI in my mid 20s, and I would not have been stuck working jobs that made me miserable.

[MrMonkeyMoustache]

Hell, if my parents taught me about the trade route, and about investing, I'd be retiring in just a few years. Hell, there are 21-year-old pipe welders making six figures rather easily.

[MrDelane]

There are so many things I wish I'd been taught instead of having to learn on my own.
I could rattle off a ton of details, but even the broad strokes were never covered in school (or by my family)

Things like:

• How credit works.
• The fact that there are 3 credit bureaus who track you through your financial transactions.
• The existence and importance of credit scores, and how they're calculated.
• How mortgages work and what options there are.
• How compound interest works.

[kjulez_83]

The importance of compound interest and investing at all! It was never shown to me that the stock market is not scary and if you save and invest $5,000 when you are 18 or 20 that could turn into so much money by the time you are X years old.

I'm a maths teacher, and we definitely teach compound interest. We start with simple interest at the start of Year 9, then basic compound interest at the end of Year 9, then the CI with different compounding times in Year 10, then annuities etc in Year 11 & 12.

Maybe America is different,  but pretty sure theyre not that different.

I'm in Australia! :) That was more i wish my parents had taught me that from a younger age. Unfortunately I was probably not listening or doing my homework when they taught it in highschool (basically all of year 8 & 9!). And I didn't do yr 12 maths.

The importance of compound interest and investing at all! It was never shown to me that the stock market is not scary and if you save and invest $5,000 when you are 18 or 20 that could turn into so much money by the time you are X years old.

I'm a maths teacher, and we definitely teach compound interest. We start with simple interest at the start of Year 9, then basic compound interest at the end of Year 9, then the CI with different compounding times in Year 10, then annuities etc in Year 11 & 12.

Maybe America is different,  but pretty sure theyre not that different.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[MaxiMaxi]

Not to spend money on things that you actually do not need. I think it's one of most important things you must know about money! And another one - you have to spend money to make money.

[jade]

Basic budgeting
The importance of saving

If I'm honest it's only in the last decade that I've learnt these thanks to hubby.

I used to think it was boring, now I can't get enough of learning about money!

Definitely makes sense to teach these things when you're young.

[Villanelle]

My parents are fairly mustachian so I think overall I was very fortunate and very well-prepared for financial life.  I do think the "shockingly simple math" would have helped me early on.  I'd have been more likely to save more early on if I'd known retiring early really was possible. 

[Cooper62]

That making payments on everything is not the way to go.  There was not a lot of extra money at our house so whenever we need/wanted something it was put on credit and they made payments. 

[Linea_Norway]

That saving is the simplest way of becoming rich. And that rich means early pensioning. If I would have realized that earlier, I might not have spent so much money on useless stuff or bought more items second hand.

[radram]

2 things should cover almost anything.

1. Time value of money. That Latte is not just $3.00. It is also all the lost revenue that $3.00 would have generated forever. Want the $3.00 Latte everyday? Fine. Have NONE of them until you save  $27,375. Now you can have 1 every day for the rest of your life.

2. There is still very little discussion in the US of how much is enough.  My father, who is 77, is still working full time as an owner in a business he has hated for the last 25 years. He can not spend what he has earned, and is just now beginning to realize "Why am I doing this?". I tell him I have no idea. You are not doing it for me, because I retired 2 years ago.

[Bracken_Joy]

My school tried really hard I think. They showed us budgets, and explained compound interest. We had seminar days in ~7th grade where they showed us how to balance a checkbook and in high school how to take interviews- and we did mock sessions. Sadly, I didn't have a lot of buy-in. They didn't talk much about credit cards though, which seems a big omission. I also don't remember seeing any "woe be you" examples of how something like a 25% interest rate on a credit card can sink you. I think a little fear, or promise, or both, added to the mix, would have helped a lot.

My parents did really well actually explaining investing and stocks, although of course with the Old School view- you pick individual stock, you get an advisor and do mutual funds, tax optimization is the most important thing, taxes are too high, etc. They did a really good job with cars- buy in cash, keep the car until it doesn't make sense to fix it anymore, and so on. I wish I had learned some DIY skills with cars, but I did learn them with other areas, so I can't complain too much.

All in all, I think school and parents did pretty well. Especially given that I was in a public school and my high school has pretty bad graduation rates (well, about state average haha, Oregon only has a 75% high school graduation rate- we're one of the worst in the nation, go us!).

2 things should cover almost anything.

1. Time value of money. That Latte is not just $3.00. It is also all the lost revenue that $3.00 would have generated forever. Want the $3.00 Latte everyday? Fine. Have NONE of them until you save  $27,375. Now you can have 1 every day for the rest of your life.

2. There is still very little discussion in the US of how much is enough.  My father, who is 77, is still working full time as an owner in a business he has hated for the last 25 years. He can not spend what he has earned, and is just now beginning to realize "Why am I doing this?". I tell him I have no idea. You are not doing it for me, because I retired 2 years ago.

This would have been a big one. The idea that, at a certain point, you're allowed to be content. You can stop striving so damn hard when you meet your goals. The goal isn't always "more" to have a happy life. I wish my parents realized this, and I wish they instilled it in me.

[Playing with Fire UK]

I wished I'd been taught that it's okay to choose a job based on how much money you'll make. My religious school basically told us that there were virtuous jobs and evil jobs, and that all virtuous jobs had low pay. Maybe it was the teachers' own resentment? I dunno.

Hell, if we're talking school, I could go on and on. I was never even taught how to write a check. In school OR by my parents.

This might be a generational or national thing, but I never got why this is so important to people? The first time I got a chequebook I just filled in the spaces. I've also never balanced a chequebook, and yet I've done pretty well. My spreadsheets are awesome and account for cheques written and loans made/owed.

[MrDelane]

Hell, if we're talking school, I could go on and on. I was never even taught how to write a check. In school OR by my parents.

This might be a generational or national thing, but I never got why this is so important to people? The first time I got a chequebook I just filled in the spaces. I've also never balanced a chequebook, and yet I've done pretty well. My spreadsheets are awesome and account for cheques written and loans made/owed.

I also wound up fine never being taught by anyone how to write a check or balance a checkbook, but I think it's clear that teaching basic account balancing would not harm people and would most likely help many.  Leaving people to figure things out on their own is generally not the best approach for most things.

I still find it ridiculous that we spent time in high school learning about import and export tariffs and zero time learning about credit, mortgages, financing or budgetting.

[JHoward]

I've also never balanced a chequebook, and yet I've done pretty well. My spreadsheets are awesome and account for cheques written and loans made/owed.

Congrats! You have balanced your checkbook without even knowing it!

The incredibly stupid thing that I wish my parents had taught me was online bill pay. My mom taught me about the dangers of credit card debt and the importance of paying your bill every month largely by demonstrating good behavior. When I was pretty young she even walked me through paying the bills for the month but that was back when she wrote checks for everything.

When I went off to college I had a checking account and a "starter" credit card with a very low limit. I never used the credit card because my only memory of seeing a credit card bill actually paid was via a paper bill and check. I didn't realize I could link have the bank automatically send money from the checking account to the credit card to pay the bill. I figured it out several years later but it would have been way easier if my mom had talked me through setting it up to begin with. When my brother started college this fall he had the same question and I talked him through it.

[NextTime]

My parents were never in debt or lived above their means but they taught me nothing about money. Any time I asked about their salaries or anything financial, I was told it was none of my business.

The only advice my mom gave me was, "Don't spend all your money. You should save it." Good advice, but if they never explain the practical reasons why, it will go in one ear and out the other.

Took me a long time to figure things out for myself unfortunately. But at least I figured them out and am on a good path now. When they are a little older my kids will be privy to the family budgeting and financial decisions. I'm going to make sure they at least have a basic financial education before I throw them out into the world.

[Cezil]

What are some things you wish you had learned in school or from your parents/caregivers before moving out?

That taking out huge student loans to get a degree in History was a questionable decision (Yes, you enjoy the subject, but what jobs are there?).  That I would actually eventually have to pay off said student loans Yes, at the time I signed, I wasn't aware I'd be paying anything back).  That I would not find a job in the field that would pay enough to pay off the loans (Unpaid internships?  How do I afford to live on that?).

My parents never shared what they earned, so I never really had a perspective on the earnings side of things.  From 16-18 I worked at a car wash for $5.50/hour, and every 2 weeks, when I brought home $220 paychecks, I thought I was making the same as my parents - of course I could afford a car and all the little luxuries like they could now.. I was an 'adult'!  When I went to college, I still had this mindset.

Also, to invest in actual index funds and let it grow.  I started my Roth IRA when I was 16 (almost half my lifetime ago!).  My 'broker' had told me I'd have such a return in 20-30 years!  So we set it up with an automatic $50 contributions each month.  Over the years, I annually earned maybe up to $3.00 on this big growing balance.  I wasn't impressed and thought investing was a crock, so I never increased my contribution amount as my income went up.  In 2014 (yes, three years ago) I learned that the money had been sitting in a money market fund this entire time.  No one had told me I had to invest it somewhere outside the MMKT...  I still get pretty hot just thinking about it.  (This 'broker' was a family member who worked at the bank where my money sat, so the 'betrayal' hurt).

[Playing with Fire UK]

I lived for a decade before the spreadsheet had the section for cheques. I now have no need to write cheques. If I'd have realised that cheques were going the way of the dodo I wouldn't have bothered adding the section to the spreadsheet.

Thank you for your congratulations JHoward!

I like the idea of a bill payment training session including direct debits and electronic payments. I wouldn't sign up to a new service provider if they can't bill me automatically. But doing it that way means you NEEEEEED to have the budget sorted and cash flow cushion.

[mr_orange]

In general schools don't teach you much about entrepreneurship and how to increase your earning potential.  This includes MBA programs and other functions within schools run by academics. 

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

My parents were terrified of debt and some of that stuck to me, although I did some stupid shit with credit cards until I wised up. Some things you have to learn the hard way and luckily I didn't get myself into major trouble. They also emphasized savings, which I also sort of did, but I wish the idea of the power of compounding had really sunk in. If I had saved even a little bit of what I started earning at 16, I'd be set now.

I also wish someone had told me how much working was going to suck. I guess I thought I was somehow going to stumble into some job that I really loved, but that's never happened. It's less the actual work than having to have my ass in the seat for certain hours and being supervised by patronizing douchebags. I had no idea at 20 or 30 that I would want to so badly to be free of that one day.

[Playing with Fire UK]

I also wish someone had told me how much working was going to suck. I guess I thought I was somehow going to stumble into some job that I really loved, but that's never happened. It's less the actual work than having to have my ass in the seat for certain hours and being supervised by patronizing douchebags. I had no idea at 20 or 30 that I would want to so badly to be free of that one day.

So much this.

[ketchup]

My mom was pretty insistent that I save most of my money I made in high school.  Fine, good so far.

She had me make a "budget" for all that money when I finally left for college.  She inflated all my numbers to the point where I had just enough to stay in the black working each summer.  Fine, plan for worst-case (that's what I thought she was doing).

But then got upset at me for coming home after the first semester having barely spent any of that money we "budgeted." :v  So from then on I spent what I would have spent on actual needed things, and pissed away the rest of the "budget" on video games/movies/CDs/other optional things.

So I wish they had taught me that budgeting is bullshit.

[neo von retorch]

I also wish someone had told me how much working was going to suck. I guess I thought I was somehow going to stumble into some job that I really loved, but that's never happened. It's less the actual work than having to have my ass in the seat for certain hours and being supervised by patronizing douchebags. I had no idea at 20 or 30 that I would want to so badly to be free of that one day.

+1

(it's hilarious that WFH isn't a regular thing at my job; I get so much work done at home, even though it's sporadic throughout the day, but at work I just want to find distractions to get me through the day, *ahem* MMM!)

[boarder42]

I also wish someone had told me how much working was going to suck. I guess I thought I was somehow going to stumble into some job that I really loved, but that's never happened. It's less the actual work than having to have my ass in the seat for certain hours and being supervised by patronizing douchebags. I had no idea at 20 or 30 that I would want to so badly to be free of that one day.

+1

(it's hilarious that WFH isn't a regular thing at my job; I get so much work done at home, even though it's sporadic throughout the day, but at work I just want to find distractions to get me through the day, *ahem* MMM!)

yep 40 hour work weeks are about as outdated as spending money on consumeristic goods.

[frugaliknowit]

I wish I had learned at a younger age how to invest with a long time horizon.  My parents were "depression kids" who thought the stock market was nothing more than a casino.

My father always said "SAVE your money", but never took any risk.  At the same time, he had a legacy pension, and we lived in a mortgage free duplex, renting half of it out.  I grew up in an ultra high interest rate environment where my father would buy T-notes with 14% coupons. 

If I had to do everything over again, I would invest 50% of take home pay from the start of my career to age 40, then do what the hay I want...

[MrMonkeyMoustache]

I wish I had learned at a younger age how to invest with a long time horizon.  My parents were "depression kids" who thought the stock market was nothing more than a casino.

My father always said "SAVE your money", but never took any risk.  At the same time, he had a legacy pension, and we lived in a mortgage free duplex, renting half of it out.  I grew up in an ultra high interest rate environment where my father would buy T-notes with 14% coupons. 

If I had to do everything over again, I would invest 50% of take home pay from the start of my career to age 40, then do what the hay I want...

My GF still thinks investing is like a casino. She always tells me, "I get scared, you're always doing stuff, and investing with your money! I want you to SAVE your money!"

I've told her countless times, over and over again, that passive investing is the best form of saving for the future.

[boarder42]

I wish I had learned at a younger age how to invest with a long time horizon.  My parents were "depression kids" who thought the stock market was nothing more than a casino.

My father always said "SAVE your money", but never took any risk.  At the same time, he had a legacy pension, and we lived in a mortgage free duplex, renting half of it out.  I grew up in an ultra high interest rate environment where my father would buy T-notes with 14% coupons. 

If I had to do everything over again, I would invest 50% of take home pay from the start of my career to age 40, then do what the hay I want...

My GF still thinks investing is like a casino. She always tells me, "I get scared, you're always doing stuff, and investing with your money! I want you to SAVE your money!"

I've told her countless times, over and over again, that passive investing is the best form of saving for the future.

where does she want you to keep it in your mattress?

[Tyson]

1. index invest
2. the 4% rule
3. its not what you make its how much you spend to reach FI

This.

[mindy]

I wish my parents would have taught me about options other than student loans to pay for college, like going to community college first, taking a gap year to work and save up, or even joining the military for free college. I watched my husband serve in the military for a few years and now get paid to go to school. If we play our cards right, he'll only have to work a few years in a "normal" job before we'll be FI. Had I joined the military like him, I wouldn't have these student loans and I would have quite a bit of money in the bank.

Disclaimer: I know that serving in the military is not for everyone, but I think for me it would have been a great trade-off, especially if I got to go overseas. I just wish it would have been explained to me that it was an option, instead of basically just being told you have to take out loans to go to college to get better jobs than we have and the military is dangerous.

[MrMonkeyMoustache]

I wish I had learned at a younger age how to invest with a long time horizon.  My parents were "depression kids" who thought the stock market was nothing more than a casino.

My father always said "SAVE your money", but never took any risk.  At the same time, he had a legacy pension, and we lived in a mortgage free duplex, renting half of it out.  I grew up in an ultra high interest rate environment where my father would buy T-notes with 14% coupons. 

If I had to do everything over again, I would invest 50% of take home pay from the start of my career to age 40, then do what the hay I want...

My GF still thinks investing is like a casino. She always tells me, "I get scared, you're always doing stuff, and investing with your money! I want you to SAVE your money!"

I've told her countless times, over and over again, that passive investing is the best form of saving for the future.

where does she want you to keep it in your mattress?

In my bank account. Obviously, I have some in there for an emergency, but I invest as much as I can after paying off debts.

[MoustachePadawan]

1. Start investing as early as possible
2. How to sell
3. How to price
4. The fine art getting along with all sorts of people
5. How to think for yourself

[marion10]

The best teaching I got was from my 8th grade social studies teacher. We had an exercise where we had to find a job ( assumed we had a high school diploma) and then come up with a budget and live in it. This was a paper exercise- we would bring in a want ad and he would decide if we got the job or not and same for apartments. Then we had to show how we would pay for transportation, food, taxes. Very eye opening. We also did some stock market simulations ( I am so old that index funds were not around then). Also I remember in math class in 7th grade spending a lot of time on compound interest both for savings and for debt.

I also learned a lot from my parents who frankly were horrible money managers.

[mindy]

The best teaching I got was from my 8th grade social studies teacher. We had an exercise where we had to find a job ( assumed we had a high school diploma) and then come up with a budget and live in it. This was a paper exercise- we would bring in a want ad and he would decide if we got the job or not and same for apartments. Then we had to show how we would pay for transportation, food, taxes. Very eye opening. We also did some stock market simulations ( I am so old that index funds were not around then). Also I remember in math class in 7th grade spending a lot of time on compound interest both for savings and for debt.

I did something like this in high school. We had to "find a job" like you and then we also had to "find a house/apartment/box under a bridge" and then calculate what our yearly expenses would be and if we could afford it on our "salary".  I've always been really frugal so when I did my calculations I found that I could live on about $25K per year. My teacher basically told me I was delusional. Absolute fail. But the assignment did help me figure out what I was willing to live on and what necessities actually cost, so even though the teacher told me I was completely off, at least I learned something!

[MrDelane]

My GF still thinks investing is like a casino. She always tells me, "I get scared, you're always doing stuff, and investing with your money! I want you to SAVE your money!"

I've told her countless times, over and over again, that passive investing is the best form of saving for the future.

I just had a similar conversation with my MIL.
She always refers to investing as "playing the market."

I thought that way myself for entirely too long, unfortunately.

[Linea_Norway]

The best teaching I got was from my 8th grade social studies teacher. We had an exercise where we had to find a job ( assumed we had a high school diploma) and then come up with a budget and live in it. This was a paper exercise- we would bring in a want ad and he would decide if we got the job or not and same for apartments. Then we had to show how we would pay for transportation, food, taxes. Very eye opening. We also did some stock market simulations ( I am so old that index funds were not around then). Also I remember in math class in 7th grade spending a lot of time on compound interest both for savings and for debt.

I did something like this in high school. We had to "find a job" like you and then we also had to "find a house/apartment/box under a bridge" and then calculate what our yearly expenses would be and if we could afford it on our "salary".  I've always been really frugal so when I did my calculations I found that I could live on about $25K per year. My teacher basically told me I was delusional. Absolute fail. But the assignment did help me figure out what I was willing to live on and what necessities actually cost, so even though the teacher told me I was completely off, at least I learned something!

At my study, we learned to own a company. We had to calculate cost price and set a selling price and compete against eachother. We could try to form illegal cartels as ling as the teacher didn't notice.
At that time I didn't really understand the concept of costprice. Luckily I do now.

[Cranky]

Honestly, nothing. Interest and banking was covered regularly in my math textbooks, from about 5th grade on. I took accounting classes in college. The explanation of how to balance my checking account was printed on the back of my bank statement every month. We did grocery budgets in home ec.

Like everything else in school, some people pay more attention than others do.

[MrMonkeyMoustache]

My GF still thinks investing is like a casino. She always tells me, "I get scared, you're always doing stuff, and investing with your money! I want you to SAVE your money!"

I've told her countless times, over and over again, that passive investing is the best form of saving for the future.

I just had a similar conversation with my MIL.
She always refers to investing as "playing the market."

I thought that way myself for entirely too long, unfortunately.

It's the one instance where she just will not take my advice. For example, she needed a new job recently. Unskilled jobs (we're both still in college). She chose McDonald's (paying $8.75/hr.) over Was-Mart ($10/hr., 401(k), tuition reimbursement). I keep telling her how essential a 401(k) is if we want to retire early.

She's thinks it's too much to focus on right now, and she needs to get her finances on track before doing that (ironically missing the fact that investing in a 401(k) when you can IS getting you on the right financial track).

[Rowellen]

Not to spend money on things that you actually do not need. I think it's one of most important things you must know about money! And another one - you have to spend money to make money.

Yes this.

My parents were there for my 2 big money mistakes that happened before I turned 20. One was a $3000 set of saucepans financed at 24%. I don't understand why they didn't say "don't be stupid, Rowellen." And kick the salesman to the curb. For my part, I was 18, incredibly sheltered and conflict adverse. I didn't want the saucepans but I had no idea how to say no. Also I was earning about $100 a week at a fast food outlet and a uni student (racking up debt) at the time.

The second was to buy a brand new car at 19, financed at 16%, instead of getting my old one fixed. At least I can understand that one. I was driving 40 minutes each way for work and they were worried for my safety.

On the positive side, they did encourage saving and taught me to always pay a credit card of in full every month and only use it for necessities that I already had the money for.

[Ann]

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My parents were there for my 2 big money mistakes that happened before I turned 20. One was a $3000 set of saucepans financed at 24%. I don't understand why they didn't say "don't be stupid, Rowellen." And kick the salesman to the curb. For my part, I was 18, incredibly sheltered and conflict adverse. I didn't want the saucepans but I had no idea how to say no.
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Wow!  I'm sorry I don't understand how they wouldn't have even said anything to you!  Even if you were technically an adult, I can't believe that wouldn't have at least tried to advise against it!  Ouch!

[Rowellen]

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My parents were there for my 2 big money mistakes that happened before I turned 20. One was a $3000 set of saucepans financed at 24%. I don't understand why they didn't say "don't be stupid, Rowellen." And kick the salesman to the curb. For my part, I was 18, incredibly sheltered and conflict adverse. I didn't want the saucepans but I had no idea how to say no.
...

Wow!  I'm sorry I don't understand how they wouldn't have even said anything to you!  Even if you were technically an adult, I can't believe that wouldn't have at least tried to advise against it!  Ouch!

I'll have to ask them. Maybe they thought I really wanted them. Or they wanted to teach me a lesson. I don't know. I'm never buying saucepans again. It's almost 20 years later and at least one of these pans get used almost everyday. And lesson learnt!  I've never had consumer debt (apart from that car). And I now know how to say no to sales people.