Money was never a subject of discussion in my childhood home. If there were ever financial difficulties for my parents, I never knew it, but if we were rich, I really didn't know that either. It just never came up. My only hints at my parents’ financial status were the things I observed. These things I knew: Dad had a good job working for an oil and gas company, I had a larger house than most of my friends, and I lived in one of the nicer subdivisions in town. Mom always ordered her vehicles in the exact color she wanted, with the exact bells and whistles that she wanted, never just picking one off of the lot. My dad's reaction was always the same. “If you want it, get it.” My dad had his share of new trucks and several different boats depending on the place we lived at the moment, and what type of water he was fishing in. My parents were not extravagant, but enjoyed their life and money. And there was always 10% to give to the church for their tithe. My parents did not buy me everything that I wanted, and I never got brand-name clothes or shoes. I never owned a Swatch Watch or Guess Jeans (back in the '80s, that was ultimate style). For everyday things, Mom's motto was, “quantity over quality.” She taught me the art shopping clearance sales and I learned early on that if you spent less money on things, you could have a lot more. Mom demonstrated this every Christmas. Starting about 3 weeks before Christmas, she would begin wrapping presents and putting them under the tree. By the time Christmas came, my siblings and I had dozens of presents to unwrap. Granted, I knew that they were not expensive items, but it was a source of pride for me to give my friends the final count of packages after Christmas was over. Qua... ... middle of paper ... ...I did, and each of us handles money very differently. I recall how much emphasis I put on the number and quantity of “things” I had or received and the pride I felt at having a large house, or the new cars my mom would get. Perhaps part of my personality, the prideful part, plays a large role in my struggles with money. I have been working on these aspects of my life and personality. I actually have not entered a mall (other than for specific items that we’ve needed) in a couple of years. My goal is to find balance, but before I can do that, I have to fix this mess I am in. But in the mean time, I am now determined to help my children understand the importance of budgeting and money management. I am hopeful that I have not already set such a bad example, that it will impact the decisions they make for their own financial futures.
Money is a very important attribute to have, but worrying about it too much could maybe get you killed. In the canterbury tales there are two tales. One of them is the pardoner's tale and the other is the wife of bath's tale. I believe that the pardoner's tale is the better tale. (Geoffrey Chaucer) author of (The Canterbury Tales). In the Canterbury Tales the narrator goes on a pilgrimage and for entertainment he has the people he went on the pilgrimage with tell him tales. And he would reward whoever told him the best tale. The pardoner's tale is about three friends who let greed and money get to their heads which end up killing their friendships and themselves. The wife of bath's tale is about a knight who let's lust get to his head instead of loving someone for who they are. Although both tales are great tales and give a great moral lesson, The pardoner's tale is the better tale of the two because of its ability to teach a lesson while still creating a great story.
One of my best friends that I spent a lot of my childhood with, grew up in a much smaller house to parents, who did not earn make very much money. Aside from having the same name, my friend’s father shared a lot of similarities to Walter in A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry. Both of them also looked at investing in something and having a large outcome from it. “No—but after tonight. After what your daddy gonna do tonight, there’s going to be offices—a whole lot of offices”(Hanseberry108). This is similar to the father of my friend because both he and Walter, who was speaking in the quote, had big ideas and plans on something they probably did not know a whole lot about and eventually after little to no success both of these men have less money to work with. It shows a lot when a person grows up in a house with less money because they are more likely to hold tighter to what they have and less likely to be careless about purchases and unimportant wants. My friend is one that will always be seen taking care of what he has because that is something valuable that was taught to him indirectly by his parents. This is a little different from my family because all too often I notice that my brother does not take care of his personal things and ends up spending more money on new things that he would not need if he knew smarter in that
Unfortunately, my father’s family was completely out of the picture, but I never really resented that because my mother’s family more than made up for it. In fact, I cannot remember a weekend when we weren’t at my grandparent’s house in Brooklyn, watching old movies with my grandmother or playing cards with my grandfather. Throughout my childhood, I was unaware of that fact that my family wasn’t well off in any way, shape, or form. My father worked as a line-striper (and still does) and my mother stayed at home with me and my sisters. My parents lived paycheck to paycheck, but I couldn’t tell because we always had food on the table and my parents always found a way to make me and my sisters happy.
Personally, I look and strive for money because what else is a teenager supposed to do without money. So learning about what others believe about money is something that strikes me and challenges me to think differently. With many having this perspective on money, Morrie and my interviewees remind me that there is more to life than just money. My father said that money was his motivation at a young age, but believed that money should be something that we should work for (Personal Interview). My grandfather on the other hand believed that money was an evil. He also believes that money should be put towards things that matter and not things that you want (Personal Interview). This leads me into what Morrie believed about money. “You don’t need the latest sports car, you don’t need the biggest house. The truth is, you don’t get satisfaction from those things” (36). Morrie’s outlook expresses that we don’t need these things in life, and he also mentions that these things don’t supply any satisfaction. The true satisfaction is the satisfaction of family and friends, and the relationships that we develop through
My parents were wealthy back in Eritrea, but when we came to America they started over again as poor American. They left their decent lifestyle to educated their children, and now eight of us are in school. They have always told us how important school is so we believe we will make more someday and support them as they have supported us. I would say my parents make more money for now because I am a single mother who works two job and attending school to provide for my family. Both my parent were educated in Eritrea, and believe better education is for a greater quality of lifestyle.
However, from personal experience, I found the opposite. My family’s hardships helped me learn a lot. I did not want to ever struggle with money. As a result I found a good paying part-time job and worked as many hours as possible in high school. Having worked so many hours, I saved a lot of money and was financially successful as a high school student. Even though I was in a good monetary position, I was miserable and lived in a state of negative mental health. In this case, the desire to have money was my sole focus, which negatively impacted other aspects of my
Your financial habits as a youth will usually follow you into your adulthood. As you grow older hopefully the amount of money you make will not be the cause of you acting like you are too good but it will humble you. Hooks described how she didn’t share the sensibility and values of her peers. Class disparity was important, it wasn’t just about money but about values which showed and determined a person’s behavior. A child develops certain desires and situations as he/she passes through childhood. While attending Stanford University, Hooks white, middle-class, Californian, roommate explained to her that hatred was “healthy and normal” (Hooks 419). Later on while attending graduate school she found that her classmates believed “lower class” people had no beliefs and values (Hooks
...ial literacy, encouraging independent thinking, and reinforcing good habits. Building financial literacy in children while they are young gives them a chance to use and begin to understand money for a longer period of time. Therefore, giving them a better understanding of it when they are older and, in a way, giving them a head start for being financially responsible as adults. Encouraging independent thinking will give adolescents a chance to think for themselves even if it is small decisions at first. Because they will most likely value their money and not want to give it away for just anything, their peers will have less of an influence on their decisions. You, as a parent, can reinforce good habits like self-discipline, setting short and long term goals, and learning and practicing good work ethic. Nagging all the time has got to stop. Set up an allowance system.
In conclusion, the best way to manage your money is to keep a budget and record all your transaction to see where your money is going. Living with a budget isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it can be a great alternative to worrying about how you are going to pay for your expenses. Budgeting allows you to create a spending plan for your money; it ensures that you will always have money for the things that are important to you. Following a budget will also keep you out of debt. If you don’t balance your budget and spend more than you make, you will have financial problems. Many people don’t realize that they spend more than they earn and slowly sink deeper into debt every year.
Managing personal finances is an important skill to acquire. However, no where in school is this subject taught. As a result of a lack of preparation, our society is subject to a high percentage of people who lack financial success. Those who are successful at managing their personal finances will find that they are successful in many other areas as well. To learn how to manage personal finances there are books and web sites that provide a step by step guide to successfully managing personal finances. Those who lack financial success often possess many of the same traits.
The quality of the product that is being made is very important to a company whatever they are making. The higher the quality if a product the more the company can charge for that product. If the company makes a low quality product that is not very good people will not buy it, also if people can find a similar product at a lower price and higher quality they will buy that. When a business makes a product they must decide on the following things: · what is the lowest level of quality that is acceptable for the product? · who is responsible for the quality control · a method of quality control that will be used that dose not effect the cost to severally What is the BSI? The BSI (British Standards Insatiate) is responsible for setting standards that products must be made to.
After one month of tracking my income, I have learned a little more about my spending habits. I am already aware of most of my spending habits, and where I most often slip up. A little on the background of my spending, I rarely use cash. There are two reasons why I do this; the first reason is so that I am not tempted to spend bits of money here and there on snacks and small things. The other reason is that so I can more effectively track my spending with less effort. I have two checking accounts to keep this balanced since on the statements it does not say what the money is specifically spent on. I use one card on essentials and school needs, and the other account is more of a lifestyle account. Although I have done this financial tracking in the past, I was able to reaffirm that I still have some areas of weakness in my spending.
Since I can remember my family has always struggled with money. My parents’ financial experience is like a box of assorted chocolate. Sometimes they make ends meet, sometimes they do not. My mother used to work for the state of Tennessee. She worked on computers and was married to my dad who was in a rock band that took tours overseas a lot. Momma worked full time and came home to do the exact same thing. They soon got a divorce and my mother was working her tail off for my sister and I to be able to live. Since then my mother has gotten remarried, has not been paid child support since I was seven years old or so, and is now trying to make ends meet and pay off a bunch of debt.
However like most people, my relationship with money can still be improved. I do have moments when I may go on a spending spree like this week when I want to relieve myself from stressful situations. I believe it would be more beneficial to channel my stress in a more constructive manner rather than be impulsive when buying things. By the end of this week, I had mixed feelings when I realized how much I spent. I was aware of how much I was spending but, I was also aware that I don’t generally spend this much. Even though I felt somewhat guilty, I know that I will continue to save money as a way to pay up for all the spending I did this