Yesterday my dad was talking to me about his life before I was born. My dad had a dream to do this his M.E and work part-time. But when my parents realized they had me coming on the way, he had to ditch his plans and work full-time to support his family. I got emotional hearing this, because I did not know about this so long and I suddenly realized what my parents had gone through to give me the life I have today. This made me really think about how easy things have been for me and whether I was really managing the hard-earned money smartly.
I don't know if I will ever be financially smart, since I never manage my finances actively. It has always been somebody else's responsibility. The only time I managed my finances was when I was doing my Masters and I had convinced myself that my finances were not the priority at that time and focussed my energy on studying. Whenever I needed cash, I would ask family and things would be solved.
Today I work full-time and manage a home, but I still feel I am financially challenged. For example, when somebody asks me "how much is that stuff at Indian store?, I have absolutely no idea what the price is. I know how much our weekly grocery bill comes up to, but I have never bothered to remember the prices of individual items. For the longest time, I did not know how much a gallon of milk costs. While I trust my husband to take care of our finances and I feel very guilty for being this way. I think my ignorance and disinterest in learning and actively managing finances has got to something with how I was raised. Though I come from a middle-class family background, my parents have never made any issues about money when it came to me. Being the only daughter, my dad would buy me anything I fancied. Even when money was tight, my parents never really made a big deal and did not explain the situation to me. I think this sort of spoiled me. Even after years of living away from my parents, I still have not learnt to manage my finances actively. I cannot blame my parents for this, because I think their lives were about fulfilling their kid's desires. But, I think it is going to be different with my kids. I will teach my kids early on to be financially accountable (after I learn to be one) :-)
3 comments:
Nice post....but it is never too late to learn is it ?
Na_an-
loved this post of yours on being financially savy, yes, I guess, being an only daughter in a middle class family we get all that we ask for and managing money was never a priority. But, I guess with us growing up now and all that, we need to take a more active role in learning and observing costs etc. I too don't know what individual items in the grocery store cost, though, I know how much the total comes out to be.
Reviewer: Thanks for stopping by. Yes. Its not too late to learn. I do hope I can change slowly but surely :-)
Mitr: Thanks for the comment. I am sure you could relate to it, however I do feel you must be way better in managing finances compared to me...
Post a Comment