How did you learn finance/money/debt?

Question

Our parents never taught us. I do remember them having some disagreement with some money and family members.

But I also never knew what debt is. We only bought when we had money.

So when I first signed up my first credit card in front of my college campus.

I didn't use it much. No idea what it was about. Eventually I started to use it and paid off everything. That has been done since.

My ex. hubby's mom taught him to not pay off his credit card. He then met some friends and taught him to pay off.

His mom always used the term house poor.

My ex. is doing just fine.

So how did you learn about debt?

contentious · Accepted Answer

I opened my first savings account when I was 5 years old. So from that age I learned to manage my money that I got as gifts for holidays from relatives, chore money, money I earn at odd jobs around the neighborhood, and from trading sports cards and comic books for profit. I had to record my deposits and withdrawals and then reconcile my bank statements when they came in the mail.

I spent a lot of time in a law office as a kid around probate and real estate attorneys who invested in real estate to generate cash flow. My mom use to drag me there every afternoon until she finished work. So I learned a bit about wills and trusts and real estate contracts and so on. My parents also owned multiple rental homes and an apartment building when I was a kid. So I was exposed to real estate investment and property management in elementary school. I saw which investments were easy to manage and which ones were a hassle based on the sort of neighborhoods they were located in. Location location location…

My Dad was a vise president of several banks before opening his own accounting firm so I heard a lot about that business as a kid. Before I could legally work a job, I was able to work part time doing bookkeeping at my parents office for extra money. I started doing part time work here and there at about 11 years old. The work is monotonous, so I started a neighborhood car washing business when I was 12 years old and within a year I was employing 3 or 4 of my friends any given weekened. So I learned sales and about negotiating prices with customers, collecting money, budgeting for supplies to do jobs, paying employees to do work and still turning a profit.

As a result I was investing in the stock market by the time I was 13 years old. My Mom use to take me to the public library to research the stock market… That’s how you use to have to do it. There wasn’t all this information on the internet like today. So that’s how I learned about predicting stock market trends, intrinsic value of stocks, dividend yields, IPOs, etc. when I was about 16 I actually placed 3rd in the Yahoo! Stock trading competition.

At 15 I did the normal thing and went and applied for part time jobs. Being that my parents own an accounting firm I learned about tax preparation because once I legally earned money that wasn't under the table, I had to do tax returns. I ended up with a food service job where I learned about how that business was run, their staffing, bookkeeping, inventory management, customer service, etc. I became the night manager at that location with several months and they offered me a position as store manage at 16, but company policy required me to work during the day and to be 18. I had to finish high school so I took a pass on that. None the less I understood how to run the business well enough to get the position.

I got tired of doing that type of work part way through the year when I was 17, so I quit and started my first legal corporation. While I was working several nights a week I was taking computer course. I got into computer repair, networking, and web development. So I started doing that sort of work and running my own business. That meant I had to learn about creating corporations, filing for sales tax ids, filing annual reports, managing my own books, invoicing, etc.

I took economics in high school when I was 18 and won awards for it at graduation and won a couple competitions. Since that was easy for me, I took microeconomics and macroeconomics as basic education courses in college which exposed me to more education on a number of topics.

At 18 I applied for a student credit card to build my credit score. It started with a $500 limit. Within 6 months I was up to a $2000 limit on a different card. After roughly a year I had extended my credit line to $10,000. So I continued playing the game and improve my credit and learn about corporate credit (e. g. Dun & Bradstreet, net 30, etc.).

Since there were a lot of zero percent for 1 year credit card offers and high bank interest rates at the time, I started to learn about arbitrage. I would purchase quarter rolls from the US Mint which had free shipping at the time on zero percent interest credit cards and then deposit the quarters in the banks with the highest interest rates to collect interest on it and pay the minimum payment until the last month of zero percent, and then lump sum pay off the debt.

Being that I knew people in real estate and law, I learned about the court registry where unclaimed cash was held. So I did public record search to learn who was first in line and started purchasing debt (judgments, second mortgages, etc.) for 10 cents on the dollar to lay claim to that unclaimed cash that people seemed to not know they had lost. I collected that until they passed laws which only allowed attorneys to pursue it for their clients.

All of that happened before I could even legally drink my first beer. So my parents taught me some thing, more importantly they taught me how to think. I used the library to learn many things and then the internet later on as it started to provide access to useful information. I learned through personal experience and through academic training as well. If you have a will to learn and a sharp mind, as a kid you can learn a lot about money...

Wiredone · Accepted Answer

My parents taught me

Static_In_The_Attic · Answer

Some say knowledge is power & when it comes to presidential paper knowledge is a wonderful thing however some people let that power go to their head. As for me growing up when it comes to finances I learned a lot from people I knew & I also self taught as well. Growing up in school in math class I learned budgets, I learned how to write checks & balance a check book as well & later on in life I remembered those lessons. As for me I’m a saver not a spender & although I save I don’t forget to treat myself once in a while & treat myself well. In life I learned that there are wants & there are needs & if you are on a budget or sticking to a budget you have to separate both of them. As for credit cards I learned early & I learned if you want to swipe you better have the money to back it when your monthly statement comes in & if you don’t pay it in full you are going to mess up your credit by going in debt & the credit card company will ass rape you in the interest they will charge. As for debt I have never really been in it with the exclusion of a mortgage in which I paid off early a few years back.

Knock on wood I’m debt free & now I’m saving up towards my future & saving up for future & unseen & unexpected expenses. New vehicle, new roof on home, new air conditioning unit & emergency funds & also retirement.

Kaneki05 · Answer

Mostly from MTG and Yugioh, trading cards for money and knowing some were more valuable than others.
Same for football or wrestling cards, or anything else trade worthy. Car boots also taught the art of bargaining.
I learnt quickly that saving money is a double edged sword, if you save but miss buying something then it becomes more expensive you didn't save anything. However if it became cheaper you did, though money also loses value as time goes on.
Hence the need a of saving account or products that will go up like MTG, this way assets fund future gains, so I learnt to do that.

I've never been in debt. I've had several be in debt to me which is also only a good thing to do with those you trust as there is nothing forcing them to pay you back apart from their word.

Effably · Answer

I had an early run-in with the ideas when I was around 12. Had the fortune to discuss both company finances and political decisions with some of the most accredited people alive.

That said I didn't really get it fully anyway.

I got a good theoretical understanding in highschool. Our economics teacher was a short little woman who arrived in a new luxury car every few days and had multiple highly successful businesses that she had grown bored with. So she chose to teach, for a symbomical compensation. We benefitted.

It was however not until my early 20s and actually studying the topics in university that it really clicked for me that debt can be good and bad, comes in dozens of varieties and is nothing to be afraid of - but also nothing to be careless about. I knew these things before, but knowing something and being able and confident enough to use it are different things entirely.

OneViewpoint · Answer

Ummm... finance and accounting degrees. Time in corporate America in financial planning and analysis (FP&A) and CFO roles. Time in private equity buying and selling companies. Setting up corporate revolver and term loans and corporate bonds. Using debt + equity for deal structures in leveraged buyouts of companies. That sort of thing.

And in my personal life credit cards, home mortgages, car loans, home equity lines of credit, investing in US Treasury bonds and corporate bonds.

WonderingManII · Answer

I do the best I can, but my mother refuses to teach me.

Apple1996 · Answer

I took a few financial literacy classes back when I was teenager

BCRanger10 · Answer

By being incredibly stupid and irresponsible and then learning from it.

worldscolide · Answer

I had to learn the hard way by going into debt... Now, I just am super careful.

Lliam · Answer

I'm like you. Nobody ever taught me. I had to learn on my own.

exitseven · Answer

It was all done the hard way. I learned. By doing and made some mistakes. I learned from those mistakes.

Anonymous · Answer

From my dad and my uncle.

Anonymous · Answer

I learned from trial and error.

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