Do you have a money brain?

M

Muskrat

Senior Member
Location
Mainly arizona
Growing up with a single very money conscious parent trained me well. It could of gone either way…spend whether you have it or not or save for a rainy day. Are you good at the balance? I have trouble spending on cheap one offs.
 

Not lacking in brain power, it's the execution phase I failed. My mother was a hoarder & spendthrift, she even washed her used paper towels & hung them up to dry. Father would get up early to do his figuring. I just never paid attention to all the lessons given.
 
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My father was legally blind but held a job that paid for needs. My mother didn't work outside our home. There was no separation of money I came to realize my mothers work was making ever dollar stretch was a life lesson for me. I attribute how my parents worked together to provide for my 3 brothers & me for how my wife & I managed our finances.

Now in our final years our needs are minimal & wants are bought without needing to budget.
 
My parents were very thrifty - a necessity since my dad worked at a job that probably didn't pay more than minimum wage, if they even had that back then. I also remember the plant in which he worked went on strike twice, so it make some pretty difficult times.
This rubbed off on me, so I economize whenever possible, even though I have more to fall back on that my parents ever did. My mom used to say, "Watch your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves."
 
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Having a thrifty single mother, I saw how financial decisions were made. Unfortunately my ex was a spendthrift and it was hard to get out debt. New husband, who was also raised to be thrifty, has to remind me to lighten up with my cautious ways.
 
My mother always lived close to the edge in a sort of boom or bust pattern that made me very insecure but it also made me a good saver.

I learned the basics of investing from my job and from a few carefully chosen people whose behavior I studied and imitated.

I’m still not a very good spender and become physically ill if I have to write a large check for a major purchase. 😉🤭😂
 
I worked really hard for my paychecks, but money was just the means to keep a roof over our heads, keep the kids well fed and adequately dressed, have awesome Christmases, and take a road trip 2 or 3 times a year. As long as I earned enough to cover those things, I didn't care about money. Still don't.

Then I came into a big hairy bunch of it, and I suddenly had WAY too many options. I didn't know what to do or which way to go...it literally made me sick to my stomach.

I hired a financial advisor. Best decision ever. He pared it all down to 3 basic options, and I picked one. bam!..that was it.
 
I do have a money brain, so much so that one of the ways I relax is to work on my FEP (financial empowerment plan...aka budget) spreadsheets. My parents weren't high earners but managed to make a nice home for us and save a bit of money. Of course back then, children were offered banking in schools, so that was a start. By my mid 20s I had learned to never pay more for something just because I could charge it and make installment payments. I also maneuvered the system so that I haven't paid bank fees (except for my safe deposit boxes) in 53 years. I've avoided paying interest in all that time.

I learned about investing in my late 30s and after one seminar, became a self taught investor. The practices I learned between my mid 20s and late 30s have served me well.
 
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I had a hard time going between paychecks in my single years. Once I got married, I had to start using what my parents taught me. Work through the tough times and mistakes and it all came together in later working years. Now if there is something that we want or need to replace, we just get it.
I also have decades of learning finance and stock market.
Thanks Mom and Dad!
 
I grew up with basically nothing. Single parent, 6 siblings, not even a working TV set many years. Coal stove, when the pump failed go get buckets of water from the pond. Then later... summer jobs, high school jobs, won a couple of grants and scholarships so when it came to be "18 and you're out" I had school to go to.

Worked while in school, lived in basement apartments and tenements. I recall my mother mailing me $20 once. Turned out she was still getting assistance the whole time because I was in school.

Things got tougher. Couldn't afford a car which limited employment. Couldn't pay any more so got bounced out of school. Back then you didn't get a student loan on just your own signature. There went the student employment too.

I had taken tests and gone on a series of interviews. Got a 7 AM call. It seems that their first choices had collapsed on a potential employer. Stuck facing a hiring freeze they called me in. I got a lecture rubbing in the fact that I wasn't their 1st choice, being a privileged white male, but got hired. Kept my nose clean and to the grindstone for 2 years which got me permanent status with benefits.

So despite coming from a large family I've been pretty much on my own since Kindergarten. Ma pretty busy, other kids all younger. Nobody sitting me down explaining the facts of cash.

Ahh, the '60s and '70s. One big party, eh?
 
Money Brain? I dunno, but I have a B.S. in Accounting, and an MBA, and I sat for and passed the CPA exam on my first try. Ran Accounting for a multi-billion $$ company until I retired. I could make the numbers dance.

And I'm proud to say I've spent almost every penny I ever saved. And then some. You can't take it with you.

Let the good times roll.
 
My father was a financial advisor, so fortunately I inherited his brain for numbers and learned how to put money aside and invest in the market. That has made my retirement more comfortable.

In my career I went from just managing a sales force to being responsible for a sales and marketing budget. It wasn't something I necessarily enjoyed and I had to present every quarter to corporate executives, but I succeeded and couldn't have done it if I didn't understand numbers. It challenged me, which is a good thing.
 
My parents were kind of "spendthrifts" so I seemed to be the one who did some or most of the grocery shopping. Firmed up my respect for numbers early with the first job I had as an "associate" where I could buy anything in the big clothing store at 10% off. Bought way too much. Learned if you put it on your as$ its not an "inve$tment"...lol.
So yes I'm frugal, hub is always kidding me about it but I point out the future inflation concerns and that ends the conversation...love the market - most of the people I know acknowledge they should have started saving earlier but hey, they still have a lot of stock or bucks now so "numbers been very very good to them", also.
 
As an adult often with a middle to upper class career income, have always been frugal. By having at least modest saved funds to last at least months, one doesn't need to have daily anxieties of living week to week nor being too afraid of losing one's jobs. Even when I was mostly poor during my 20s, never bought anything on credit including vehicles, always paying cash and bills on time. My primary leisure pursuits, photography, backpacking, skiing, were never too expensive to enjoy.

Have never kept budgets and just crudely monthly peruse and check off bank statement numbers and paper cashed check bank records. Although I have a single major bank premium credit card, often pay mailed bills with paper checks, don't use online banking I don't fully trust, and always have several hundred $$$in cash in my wallet.

Having worked for numbers of corporations from tech small start ups to corporations, I often just quit for various reasons between jobs, never fired but sometimes laid off within groups, never taking employment insurance, spending my savings down enjoying my frugal life until funds got low. Was always able to get subsequent jobs after not working for periods that is usually a reason for rejection, because I had an impressive stack of printed out on paper annual job reviews, and could impress taking skill tests, or conversing with hiring managers.
 

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