Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

June 8, 2008

When I was a kid, in say, 4th or 5th grade, I distinctly remember the girls and the boys getting separated for a sort of birds and the bees type talk. Well, I guess it wasn’t really the birds and the bees, but we were herded into the library so we could learn about “becoming a woman.”

I sat there for two hours while Mrs. J. droned on about how now that we were going through puberty we needed to make sure we always wore deodorant. We were also not supposed to laugh when the boys’ voices cracked. And the most vital part of the course was that when talking a shower, we weren’t to wash our butts and then our faces….always the other way around. My teacher really covered her bases. Nothing about condoms, sex or STD’s, but all vital information, of course.

A year later our science class started preparing for the big eclipse, that happens, you know, like once in a million years. So in order to get ready, we learned how to build special mirrors that would allow us to look at it in the reflection rather than stare directly at the sun, burn our eyes, and go blind, as the adults all warned us. Well, let me tell you, someone bet me a piece of gum or something special like that to stare at the sun for 5 seconds to see if I would go blind. Because I was an exceptionally intelligent 5th grader, of course I did it…and lived to tell the tale, 20/20 vision and all.

So what am I getting at with the post that just seems to be like a walk down memory lane?

Because today I spent hours googling information on how to invest for retirement. And then it occurred to me, why did nobody ever teach me this?!? And it’s not like I never took a business class in my life, because I did. I suffered through economy and finance and marketing and all that jazz. I had my brain stuffed full of really useless information in grade school, high school and college, yet none of my professors or teachers ever mentioned personal finance. For pete’s sake and crying out loud, I was forced to take math through A.P. Calculus, yet no one thought it would be more relevant to skip the logarithms and go straight to talking about a 401k??? What are our educators thinking?

Sometimes I get really frustrated because I just feel like I should know about this stuff and I don’t. I’ve struggled trying to work out a budget for us, to figure what makes more sense to save where. I’ve got the basics down, spend less, save more…but the specifics, as in, what should I be doing with the money I’m saving, totally baffle me.

Why didn’t I learn this crap in school?!?

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17 Comments

ahahaha! Your post is spot on.

I agree with you, nobody teaches you this stuff and suddenly here you are trying to understand the ABCs!!! I still don’t know the basics of a retirment savings’ plan AND I WORK FOR A BANK!!!!!

Fned.

P.S. I sooooo remmber our “becoming a woman” talk in 4th grade!

Comment by Fned — June 9, 2008 @ 5:00 am

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oooppppsss! Posted too quick. I meant:

P.S. I sooooo remember our “becoming a woman” talk in 4th grade! It was hilarious and completely unrelevant! I did get a cute always’-sponsored calendar at the end of it though, which I hanged in my locker until a teacher saw it and told me to take it down! ;p

Comment by Fned — June 9, 2008 @ 5:03 am

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Oh, man, I hear you, except I know for a FACT I would’ve ignored everything they taught me about it in high school except what I needed to know to ace the test, and afterwards, I would’ve forgotten that too. I’ve spent a good bit of time researching retirement options online, and my MIL keeps leaving all these money magazines at our house, probably in the hopes that we’ll READ them instead of use them for coasters.

I’m reading a book right now called Smart Couples Finish Rich, which is all about creating a mega-retirement starting now. A friend recommended it to me, and the idea is to become familiar with all this crap before talking to a financial adviser. When did I become a grown up?

ps The friend told me the book was super interesting. I prefer Sweet Valley High.

Comment by kgseymour — June 9, 2008 @ 5:04 am

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Totally agree! I do remember in my government class that they taught us how to do taxes which was really helpful. My husband complains that they never taught that at his school.

There is a serious lack of preparing kids for the real world in our education system. You can add the impact of credit card debt to that list of things they don’t teach. And the simple act of creating a budget to live on. I had friends booking their spring breaks on credit cards our first year in college. They went into their marriages with a lot of debt which now affects getting houses and all kinds of stuff.

Luckily my dad instilled in me, “if you don’t have the money to pay for it, don’t buy it.”

Comment by Lori - Blondie in Brazil — June 9, 2008 @ 6:03 am

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Ah… I had budgeting for running an NGO. To Seba’s dismay this is how I will be running family finances as well.

Comment by Clare — June 9, 2008 @ 7:28 am

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I think it is the responsibility of parents to teach their kids about personal finance too. Unfortunately my dad is horrible at saving money and my mom knows nothing about investing so I didn’t learn much. There are some good sites online though that teach you about investing, etc. I think one of them is kiplinger.com or something like that?

Comment by kumichan83 — June 9, 2008 @ 10:27 am

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The less complicated school of thought is the booze and cigarettes school of retirement planning, but it requires a certain long-term commitment… Edging towards your 30′s and starting to think of alternatives has been a challenge of sorts but then again I don’t really get paid enough to invest in much of anything… My parents, however, are both in unions with retirement packages which, alas, are a dying breed… There’s been a movement up here recently where people who do contract work have begun a loose affiliation for group pricing for health insurance and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar approach for 401ks and the like coming down the pipe…

Comment by blaark — June 9, 2008 @ 11:11 am

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Probably because in school they thought your parents were supposed to teach you that stuff. My bad. But in all honesty, how could I teach you when I don’t really know much about it myself . . . uh, because my mom and dad and schools never taught me either. Oh gloom and doom.

Comment by Ritamae — June 9, 2008 @ 6:28 pm

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They didn’t teach about retirement savings because, as others have said your parents would have taught you AND back then they assumed everyone would be working for a company that had a retirement plan to supplement the gov’t old age pensions.

The teachers themselves probably didn’t know much about it either. Like the “becoming a woman” speech, it was somewhat taboo to talk about money.

Comment by Reb — June 9, 2008 @ 7:01 pm

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I think it’s because the rules change so often! Whatever they teach you in school would be out of date and completely meaningless by the time you need to use it!

Comment by pocketcultures — June 10, 2008 @ 5:56 am

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I agree. Parents aren’t always the best role models, either.

My high school had some of those classes, but they were always in the home ec department and nobody took them for fear of seeming dorky. Only the slackers ended up in home ec as high school juniors!

Comment by Maurey — June 10, 2008 @ 8:19 am

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I don’t think I ever had sex education or the “woman talk” except from my mom about six months after I started my period. But then that’s what Judy Blume was for, right? I learned everything from reading.

About finances, it just seems that long term planning is “out”. Everyone always wants to know how to make it rich today. Trends like day trading, investing in start-ups, and even internet scams area all about striking it rich. You never hear about how to generate wealth in a stable, more secure way. Maybe because it’s not as exciting.

When I was contracting I started my own Roth IRA. Otherwise I have 401ks at the companies where I worked that were decent (some of my co-workers lost money on their 401ks due to bad investments on the manager’s part).

But even with all of that I know that I am not putting away enough to retire on. I hope being debt free will help and there is a little social security, if the fund is still able to pay out. Otherwise, I’ll probably work until I die…

Comment by Ordinary Girl — June 10, 2008 @ 12:36 pm

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Ugh, I totally agree with this. And then I think “ok, I’m ridiculously confused and have no clue, and I’m a smart, money savvy person. What kind of trouble are the people with absolutely zero financial sense getting themselves into?!”

Comment by Emily — June 10, 2008 @ 9:27 pm

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Ah, good ol’ Mrs. J. I will say I do not remember the butt/face wash thing or the deodorant talk. You have a good memory, those are some great skills to know! I also don’t remember the eclipse…is elementary just a blur for me? 401k and retirement stuff stress me out. Luckily I have a husband who is super passionate about anything having to do with finance; he recently had a 2 hour long conversation with some friends about how to invest for retirement. Thank goodness I don’t have to learn about it! We really should have to though. I always feel bad when I see people in their 70′s working at Walmart because they didn’t save for retirement.

Comment by Lindsey — June 12, 2008 @ 9:35 am

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Most financial advisors recommend stashing 10-20% of your income in your 401k. However, I can only assume you don’t have one yet since you are a freelancer

In 2007, you can contribute $5K to a traditional and/or a Roth IRA. The difference between the two is that you can deduct contributions to a traditional one currently and pay taxes on your withdrawals in retirement while contributions to a Roth are NOT deductible currently, but you pay no taxes on the future withdrawals. There is more to it than this, of course- I suggest you read IRS publication 590 (available on their website.) Bankrate.com also has some good articles…

Comment by Magnifique — June 12, 2008 @ 11:41 am

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i worked for a financial advising company for like 4 months…i still know nothing. my big plan is to make lots of money and pay someone to know that stuff for me. and have it be someone i trust. yeah, i know i make it sound easy
see you in a wee bit!

Comment by Emita — June 12, 2008 @ 4:04 pm

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I agree…if not in high school, at least we should’ve learned this in college. Statistics? Nah…teach me about 401(k)s, HMOs/PPOs, and stock options instead. Far more useful.

But I think that so few people ACTUALLY know about this stuff, which makes it pretty hard for them to find educators on the topic. I mean, seariously. Even half of the “accountants” people visit to get their taxes done are actual full-time accountants.

Jayna

Comment by Anonymous — June 18, 2008 @ 6:29 pm

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