I am sure you are wondering why I posted this photo.
You see here a 20 Euro dollar banknote (I had to search to find out what these are called) in a book.
Are you wondering why?
When I was a little girl, I used to hide my money in books. This had two purposes; one, so that noone would find them (I was the only one reading my books) and second, I would forget about them and would become very happy when I would find them again!
Being a little girl, I think it was kind of cute. Not to mention that I would become really happy when I opened up a book and discovered my little treasures.
Growing up, I had a peculiar relationship with money. I used to hide them, be shy about them, I would never ask about it. We always had a lack of money during all my childhood years and until the time I left home. I could never have what I wanted and I pretty much learnt early that we needed to respect money and not talk about that subject at home.
At the same time, my parents dream was always to get a job in the public sector (this was the dream for most people of their generation) or at least, in a bank. Then, I would have a stable monthly wage, I would continue with my life etc etc etc
I never got a job in a bank or in the public sector, I always felt that I needed to love and enjoy my job. And I did. But now I realize that it was for all the wrong reasons.
I used to have all kind of jobs in the private sector, where I used to work almost another half (or more) shifts per day, just because I was young and I used to like working. Never, ever did any of my bosses say... [Come on, lets give this girl a bonus. She s working too hard]
I was always ashamed to ask for a rise. I never knew how much my job really was worth. I could never negotiate my wage and as a matter of fact, I left one of my jobs when I found out that other people received way more than me, even though they did less important jobs.
From another job, when I left, I did not get what was promised to me. And I felt too ashamed to go and ask.
There are many skills that someone should develop to be able to survive in this world, and to be paid well, depending on what they do.
Fast forward to today, I may still work too much but I have come to understand that we need to know everything we can about money, about how it is created, how it works, how to manage our financials and how to invest. We need to respect money and there is no need to be ashamed of it.
I plan to devote more time in my financials next year.
It is important to know at all times how much money we have, how much we will have on a specific timeframe, and how much we are saving in case of an emergency or any issues that need extra $$. (I got some of them coming up too)
The first thing that I will do, is to create a file and in there I will keep all the bank accounts - income & expenses.
What is your opinion? Would you have any tips to get me started in the right foot?
How about you? How did you manage your finances as a kid and how do you do it now?
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