The Money Lessons I Learned Before I Even Knew What Personal Finance Was

I did not realize when I was younger, but looking back at my childhood there were so many instances and lessons learned that led me to my passion in personal finance. I have vivid memories of my parents sitting down at the dining room table on Saturday mornings and opening envelopes filled with bills together (this was before everything was digital!). My parents would drink their morning coffee and talk about their weeks or really anything on their minds while going through the bills together and writing checks. This was the norm for me and I realize now how fortunate I was to grow up in a household where money was talked about openly and always in a way that was educational.

I also remember being a little older, maybe around 8 or 9, and out on a walk with my dad and brother. I don’t remember how the topic came up, but my dad explained to me what a house mortgage was. This was the first time I learned about “debt” and that there will be expensive purchases in life, but as long as you’re responsible with your money and leverage the right institutions it is feasible to live the life you want. 

A few years after that, when I was 12 years old my dad took me to a local bank branch and he helped me open my very first checking and savings account. From there, whenever I earned money from dog walking or received cash on birthdays my parents would bring me to the bank and I was able to deposit my money. My FAVORITE thing was getting the receipt back from the teller and seeing the total in my account increase with every deposit. Looking back at my childhood, this jumps out to me as the biggest driver as to why I love personal finance to this day. There was no better feeling than knowing I was growing my wealth and I was taught to feel proud of my hard work and earning my money.

From then on, I got my first debit card with my checking account and once I started having summer jobs as a teenager, it was so freeing to deposit my checks, but also use my debit card to buy myself a coffee or a sandwich from my favorite local shop. The summer before I went off to my freshman year of college when I was 18, my dad helped me open my first credit card with him as the co-signer. He explained the responsibility to me and that I was required to make all payments myself. This was also very important because this is really where I learned about building credit, and since my dad co-signed on my credit card, his credit was also on the line. Because of this, I felt the extra responsibility to be on time with my payments. I also loved the feeling of this new “adult” responsibility and it allowed me to be more independent from my parents. From this I also quickly became interested in my credit score and loved getting the update on my score from my banking app.

Ultimately all of these little things added up over time and my curiosity for personal finance continued to grow throughout college. I worked part time as a nanny and also would try to find paid internships as well. Because of this, I was able to buy myself new clothes to go to the bars while also contributing to my savings. I would track every cent I spent and would categorize it in an excel file. I would ensure I was putting 60% into savings and then would use the rest for groceries, fun money, and everything else. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I put myself on a strict envelope method of budgeting!

From there, my passion and interest for personal finance only continued to grow once I graduated and had my first full time job out of college where I was forced to learn about 401Ks, IRAs, and High Yield Savings Accounts. I always found it fun to rearrange my money plan and I found such fulfillment in knowing that I was being responsible with the money I was earning. And that’s how I ended up here with Meghan!

Thanks for reading,

Maddie