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

[kjulez_83]

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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.

Hey if they have lasted you 20 years and you use them all the time it sounds like the only bad part is that it was on finance! I have wasted a lot of money trying to find good saucepans...although not $150 per year lol and that would be without the interest.

[Laura33]

The idea of RE. 

My mom was very frugal and money-conscious, so I learned a lot of the "right" things.  But she also loves her work and never intends to quit (when she turned 60, she opened her own consulting company on the side; now at 70, she is retiring from teaching because she makes 3x her salary consulting.  And she still lives on $30K/yr.).  So the refrain I remember from my whole life was "follow your passion" -- the whole "find a job you love so much you'd do it for free, and it won't feel like 'work'" thing. 

The problem is that I never did.  I have had good jobs and bad jobs, but nothing I'd ever consider doing if they didn't pay me (well).  So for me, I wish I had known the shockingly simple math 25 years ago, because I *thought* I was doing well saving 20%+/-.  That knowledge would also have allowed me to have very different conversations with DH over the years.  I only started pushing for RE within the last year or so, as I seem to be terminally bored at my job.  But the problem is that even though we are FI, jumping ship now would require a significant lifestyle change from what we have been planning over the last 20 years, and he just isn't willing to buy his/our freedom at the cost of the vision of the future he has been working toward for so long.  But if I had known about RE 20 years ago, I'd have had decades to work that into our shared vision, and we could be there now.

[neo von retorch]

The idea of RE. 

My mom was very frugal and money-conscious, so I learned a lot of the "right" things.  But she also loves her work and never intends to quit (when she turned 60, she opened her own consulting company on the side; now at 70, she is retiring from teaching because she makes 3x her salary consulting.  And she still lives on $30K/yr.).  So the refrain I remember from my whole life was "follow your passion" -- the whole "find a job you love so much you'd do it for free, and it won't feel like 'work'" thing. 
...

This is my dad, in some ways. While he never made "a lot" of money, I'm fairly certain he could've retired ages ago, but he worked (physical labor) right up until he could take full SS at 67. (He did, however, kind of give me the idea of RE when he "retired" from a company at age 47 with a pension... though of course he kept working and ended up getting a second pension elsewhere!)

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

...
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.

Hey if they have lasted you 20 years and you use them all the time it sounds like the only bad part is that it was on finance! I have wasted a lot of money trying to find good saucepans...although not $150 per year lol and that would be without the interest.

I would say the lesson you learned from the saucepans is priceless, so in terms of life experiences, that was a pretty good deal! Especially if you're still actually using them.

[alewpanda]

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.

I took consumer math studies during my senior year of high school, so I actually DID learn how to do taxes, how loans and interest works, credit, budgets, etc. 

It was awesome.

[alewpanda]

I would have liked for something more than "save and don't get into debt".  Something like, retirement accounts, investment accounts and discerning the why of spending money. 

My high school curriculum went through retirement accounts in 12th grade, but briefly.  I would have learned a lot, lot better from discussing real life examples with my parents.  They were very much of the "don't talk about money" generation, even with us kids.   Thankfully, they are relatively young right now, but my mother isn't much for complex account discussions, so I still feel the need to make my father tell me what kind of accounts/retirement that have set up, in case he goes first.  I think he has a "binder" with that info....but I want to see it while he is still around.


I also never learned contentment with stuff, cooking, and actually buying for the sake of the value something would add to your life.  My parents fell under "buy lots of random stuff at cheap prices" rather than, "buy a few important/loved things for the sake of enjoyment". 

[HipGnosis]

Interest -- Works for you in savings / investments and against you in debt
Interest rates go through cycles
The relationship of risk and reward
Credit rating -- affects loan, mortgage and insurance rates   You can build a good one
Cost and value aren't always in direct relation
401K's give you 'free' money    but...
If you play it right, you can retire before you can withdraw from 401K

[letired]

The idea of RE. 

My mom was very frugal and money-conscious, so I learned a lot of the "right" things.  But she also loves her work and never intends to quit (when she turned 60, she opened her own consulting company on the side; now at 70, she is retiring from teaching because she makes 3x her salary consulting.  And she still lives on $30K/yr.).  So the refrain I remember from my whole life was "follow your passion" -- the whole "find a job you love so much you'd do it for free, and it won't feel like 'work'" thing. 
...

This is my dad, in some ways. While he never made "a lot" of money, I'm fairly certain he could've retired ages ago, but he worked (physical labor) right up until he could take full SS at 67. (He did, however, kind of give me the idea of RE when he "retired" from a company at age 47 with a pension... though of course he kept working and ended up getting a second pension elsewhere!)

+1 all this. Though in my parents' defense, both of them are very much wedded to their jobs and seem to love doing them. My mother is over halfway to 70 and has just now started contemplating what retirement would look like. My father owns his own going concern and looks unlikely to shut it down anytime soon. But some discussion of what to do when you can't manage to love your work or find paying work you love would have been helpful and possibly averted my ill-advised grad school episode. It's all worked out ok (so far), but I do get a bit wistful sometimes about What Might Have Been.

Also +1 to considering the financial implications of college/career decisions. My parents were certainly along the lines of 'it'll all work out' because it did for them (and thankfully put me through school, so it largely has). But there wasn't much discussion of HOW to make it work out.

Also +1 to less undercurrents of distain of remunerative careers from school authorities and teachers. Both my parents work in industry, but have a heavy academic bent. I very much got the 'if you love what you do it doesn't matter how poor you are' and 'meaningful jobs are more important than money' and 'worthwhile jobs are badly paid' nonsense mostly from school teachers and admins. You know what actually sucks? Worrying about money all the time while you hate working. Hating working with plenty of money is significantly better.

All that said, I actually think they did a really good job overall, so I will only complain a little ;)

[Rimu05]

I wish I knew about student loans in High school. As in what it entails, interest, etc.

Then I would have probably gone to Community College instead of a four year directly.