Are You Having Conversations About Financial Literacy?

As a parent, I teach my children to talk to me about anything. I encourage them to express their feelings, to share their experiences and to come to me with questions.

I feel lucky to say that with my oldest son, I have established that bond (my younger son is still a bit too young to need this). He has come to me with questions when he is most confused. He comes to me when he is hurting, stressed and frustrated. He comes to me to learn.

A recent conversation with my son and, of all people, the internet installer, my son brought up the topic of money. He made a couple of comments to the gentleman about our lack of cable television “because mommy doesn’t have any money.” This presented me with an opportunity to teach him a great lesson.

After the internet installer left, I explained to my son that talking about my financial situation is not something he should be doing. I explained to him that it was a personal situation and one that we do not talk about with others. He thought for a few moments while playing and then turned to me and said “but why don’t we talk about it?”

It was an honest answer from a young child who is trying to make sense of the world. My reply to him was “people just don’t talk about money to each other.”

Immediately after that statement left my lips, I knew I had made a grave mistake.

My entire blog is about talking about money. For the past year and a half I have attempted to put a face to debt and encourage my readers to talk to their loved ones about debt and matters of finance.

And in that one instance, that one little statement, I failed to follow my own advice.

Why don’t we talk about money?

It’s true that our money is no one’s business but our own. But is it not possible to talk about money without providing specifics?

I am willing to talk about money or in my case, a lack thereof. I am willing to discuss this with anyone who will listen. However, I understand that I am far from normal. I wonder if that would be true if my situation were in reverse?

I do not know why we do not talk about money but I would like to change for a number of reasons.

Talking about money empowers each of us.

Sharing our stories allows us to own them, to make them our own and to use them to move us forward. Sharing our stories with others holds us accountable, which is what I founded this blog. Nothing has made me feel more empowered to concur my debt than by discussing it with the online world. I have found my strength by talking about my debt.

Talking about money allows us to learn from others who have been successful.

Nothing reaffirms my goals than to hear stories from others who have been there. I experienced this just recently while at the Financial Bloggers Conference. There were many bloggers there who have been or still are in the same position.

It allows for us to learn new ideas, new ways to save money, things to avoid and encouragement to continue.

Talking about money educates others.

If you went to a doctor and had a horrible experience, would you not tell others about it? If a restaurant served you food that was cold and made you sick, wouldn’t you spread the word so others could avoid that restaurant? My assumption is that you would, and do.

Then why aren’t we talking about poor money decisions? Wouldn’t it help others to discuss an investment that went bad or a trap that you got into with credit card debt?

I believe that these discussions will lead to questions and the desire to seek out positive alternatives.

Talking about money educates others.

If you went to a doctor and had a horrible experience, would you not tell others about it? If a restaurant served you food that was cold and made you sick, wouldn’t you spread the word so others could avoid that restaurant? My assumption is that you would, and do.

Then why aren’t we talking about poor money decisions? Wouldn’t it help others to discuss an investment that went bad or a trap that you got into with credit card debt?

I believe that these discussions will lead to questions and the desire to seek out positive alternatives.

Education is the only way to truly prevent future generations from walking down the path of debt. Starting with our own children while they are young and continuing throughout their lives. Education in a formal setting can not be guaranteed as schools aren’t all required to teach financial literacy. Even if it were, children learn far better by the examples that they regularly witness. Children will learn the patterns that they see their own parents following.

Conversations with each other and with our children will aid us in preventing the financial crisis that so many of us have found ourselves in.

I, for one, will be speaking with my son again and explaining to him in a better manner. I hope to spread some light onto the topic with him and avoid the error on my part with my younger son.

Are you making sure that you are having regular conversations with your children? Are you afraid to talk about money with your peers? If so, what is stopping you?

Tags: Financial Literacy