Young, Broke, and Educated: PART 1 Dear Money Terri Lomax July 7, 2012 2 Comments The other day my boyfriend told me about a financial literacy exercise that he planned on introducing to his colleagues. Overall the workshop was decent. However, there was one unique and incredibly thought provoking component to the exercise, that caught my attention. He prompted his staff to write a letter to money! Now I know your thinking, “why the heck would I write a letter to money?” Trust me, I asked myself the same question, until I realized that each of us, whether we admit or not, has a relationship with our money. For me, money was always something that never lasted. As soon as money touched my hands, or sometimes before it touched my hands, I already spent it. I didn’t save, I didn’t invest, and I didn’t make fruitful financial decisions. But why? A few telling questions might be: What kind of relationship do you have with your money? How did this relationship come about? What do you need to do in order to maintain or cultivate a healthy relationship with money? I was so curious to know the answers to these questions, that I put on my “imagination cap” and went to work. Check out my letter to money below. Young, Broke, and Educated: Dear Money Dear Money, Over the years you were such a scarce resource in my family. We never had enough of you, and we always wanted more. On those sporadic occasions when you did come around (refund checks, tax refunds, settlements, etc…) unfortunately we just didn’t know what to do with you. We rarely talked about your purpose, how to make you multiply, or saving you. Money management was not a subject that I learned in school or at home. The one thing we did discuss at home was tithes and offering, which was excellent, but other than dropping you in a church basket, I never knew how to make you work for me. I must apologize because I often overlook your value and potential. I’m sorry for letting you go so easily and failing to work on our relationship and future. Too many times I’ve let you slip out of my hands due to my lack of discipline and slight addiction to frivolous spending. On this day, I’m vowing to work on cultivating our relationship by educating myself about you, deciphering between my wants and needs, and meeting with you frequently to plan our future together. Because quite frankly, I have a thing for you and I love what you can do for me; plus, I’m so tired of being young, broke and educated. So there you have it, my honest, raw, and uncut relationship with money. In addition to shedding some light on where my unhealthy concepts and values of finances were birthed, writing this letter was indeed therapeutic. One of my long term goals, is to be financial secure. I want my family to have every need supplied, savings for the rainy and sunny days, and overall security. I realize that in order to achieve these financial goals, “somethangs” are going to have to change. What’s shaped your views and morals on the way you spend, save, and invest your cash? Could you use some improvement in the financial department? Please share!
