My baby boomer parents knew how to stretch a dollar. Juggling three kids, a mortgage and a couple of car loans on a middle-class income in the late ’90s was an exercise in frugality.
We grew up hearing “Money doesn’t grow on trees” like every other kid. But when my older brother suggested our dad get more “free” money out of the ATM, the true money management lessons began.
From my folks’ perspective, teaching healthy financial habits would have a positive influence on us as adults. That worked out pretty well for my brothers and me (here I am writing about personal finance). But not everyone in my generation shares that experience. Over 34% of Gen Zers say their parents did not set a good financial example for them, according to WalletHub’s Generational Finances survey.
Younger generations face many objective obstacles that make it difficult for them to be financially successful, including rising living costs, student debt and high inflation. Still, it’s never too late to build solid money management skills to help your future self.
When I was 15, I pitched the idea of studying abroad in Ecuador through the local Rotary Club. My brother had done it a decade earlier in Chile, so my parents weren’t shocked by the idea. However, before I approached them, I made sure I was fully prepared: I had already been accepted to the program and had the funding lined up. I was ready to be fiscally responsible and autonomous, and it was all due to their money lessons over the years.
Little did I know that the tips and mentorship from my boomer parents would translate beautifully to my career as a personal finance writer. So, I sat down with my folks to talk about what they taught us about money growing up.
Every time I get paid, I hear my mom’s voice saying, “Pay your bills before you pay yourself.” I’ve carried this message with me because it emphasizes the importance of sticking to a budget.
“Budgeting was a regular household activity because we didn’t want you to think of it as a chore,” said Kelley Hall, aka my mom. “It was normal to sit down and talk about our goals because we wanted you to visualize the payoff.”
To this day, I feel more in control of my finances through budgeting (I use the classic pen-and-paper approach, but many of my CNET Money colleagues prefer budgeting apps). I start by setting aside a portion of my paycheck to cover the necessities: rent, utilities, groceries and student loans. Then, whatever is left is my discretionary income for nonessential items.
I used to cry in the backseat of my mom’s minivan because I wanted the trendy thing everyone at school was raving about. My mom would patiently say: “I want a lot of things, but do I need them?” I probably didn’t understand the sentiment back then, but my mom had an excellent point. No, I didn’t need Ugg boots in July in Texas.
Now, whenever I see something new or scroll through Amazon, I constantly ask myself if the coveted item is a want or a need. To avoid overspending, I usually let a potential purchase simmer for 24 hours before I cash out. It also helps me set long-term goals if there’s a new pair of shoes (i.e., Doc Martens) I actually want to save for.
When I went to college, my parents encouraged me to get my first credit card because they wanted me to understand the importance of building credit. But my mom also made sure I wasn’t abusing the card by spending what I didn’t have.
“I used to always tell you not to use your credit card unless you know you can pay it off in two payments,” my mom said. “If you get stuck in a cycle of just paying the minimum payment, you’ll end up building debt and not credit.”
Today, in my late 20s, I only charge what I know I can cover and repay in full. If I start using my credit card when I don’t have the funds to pay it off, I’ll be hit with steep interest charges. And the last thing I want is debilitating credit card debt.
I didn’t have a piggy bank growing up. Instead, I had a giant mason jar with a map stuffed inside because I was obsessed with traveling the world. For years, I’d fill the jar with loose change and any money I made from babysitting gigs or household chores. Eventually, my parents got me a savings account.
“That was probably your very first lesson on savings,” my mom said. “You were around 10 years old and saw the value in setting money aside for a big goal.”
Today, I keep my savings account separate from my everyday checking account because we’re less inclined to spend what we don’t see. If I was looking at a mason jar full of cash every day, I would be tempted to spend it and not save for an emergency.
When I applied for financial aid for college, I remember feeling quite anxious about taking on debt. Even though I wouldn’t have to pay my student loan debt for many years, I thought about the logistics of paying off that balance. That’s when my parents started talking to me about debt management.
My dad remembers what his father told him as a kid: Your money is supposed to work for you. “That piece of advice can be applied to a lot of things, even debt,” said Chuck Hall, aka my dad. My dad passed on my grandfather’s wisdom to me. If you have debt, don’t avoid it. Make it a regular part of your budgeting so it’s more manageable.
One way I manage my debt is by negotiating the due dates on my recurring bills. This helps me spread out my payments so I’m not broke right after my paycheck hits my checking account.
Baby boomers own more than 50% of the wealth in the US. Sure, they’ve had a longer time to grow their wealth, and they grew up experiencing a booming economy that allowed them to benefit from things like lower housing costs.
Our parents were right to say money doesn’t grow on trees, and it’s worth listening. This generation might still try planting some seeds. But knowing Gen Z, there’s an app for that.
MOUNT VERNON, Ill. — The Mount Vernon Township High School finance committee and school board will meet Monday, June 24. The finance committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. and the board will meet at 6 p.m.
The finance committee meeting agenda is as follows:
Mt. Vernon Township High School
FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
Monday, June 24, 2024
5:30 p.m.
The agenda for the board meeting is attached:
The FBI is investigating the financial dealings of Vance County’s former finance director. County manager Renee Perry confirmed the investigation to WRAL.
Katherine Bigelow was terminated in February after Perry said she misrepresented her qualifications as a CPA, or certified public accountant.
A financial audit found that Bigelow wired more than one million dollars of county funds to a company that she was affiliated with.
“The County also failed to comply with G.S. 159-28(b), which requires at least two signatures on all checks or drafts issued by a government, one being the Finance Officer or properly designated Deputy Finance Officer, and the other by another official of the local government designated for that responsibility by the governing board,” the audit reads.
The report also details several other issues, including overspending, insufficient training and lack of oversight.
“This action was able to go undetected for the time that it did due to a lack of understanding by the staff of the County in their assigned duties, and no cross-training of individuals who would have been able to provide oversight on the transactions,” according to the audit.
The audit findings were presented to the Board of Commissioners June 3 by Thompson Price Scott Adams and company.
“We finally started digging into why we weren’t getting the numbers we wanted…and the timeliness of the numbers…and the accuracy of the numbers. We began to dig into why weren’t the numbers reconciled, why weren’t they timely…which led to our discovery,” the auditor said during the meeting. “Our folks started going, ‘The answers she’s giving us are not what somebody in her position should be giving us.’”
In February, WRAL asked Perry if there have been any inconsistencies with the county’s budget, given Bigelow’s removal. Perry said there were no inconsistencies with the budget at the time.
During the June 3 meeting, the auditor said he brought those concerns to the previous county manager. Perry and other commissioners pressed him during the meeting, saying he should have relayed those concerns to her when she assumed her position in November 2023.
“We should have contacted Ms. Renee; I’m not disputing that,” the auditor said. “When she came on board, by the end of November, we should have said we need to have a conversation… Maybe I was just totally focused on getting data and not contacting management, which I will assume that responsibility.”
Another commissioner questioned the auditor about their responsibility to identify the financial issues sooner.
“Y’all been doing this since 2019, and y’all are just finding this now for 2023. Do y’all hold yourself any account for what’s going on?” they asked.
“Internally, we have done some looking. We think we did everything correctly. It’s unfortunate, but the reality is, a financial audit is not traditionally designed to pick up fraud,” the auditor said.
WRAL asked how the county is making changes to prevent a similar occurrence.
“To prevent in the future, we have internal controls in place that allow for dual signature on wire transactions. We are also working on an overhaul of our financial policies and procedures,” Perry responded via email.
The county has 60 days to provide a plan to fix the issues presented in the audit.
Bigelow previously served as the finance director since 2019. Perry also said Bigelow has died. The cause of death is unclear.
The central banks of seven Pacific island nations have signed a roadmap that commits them to working together to boost inclusive green finance (IGF) in a region highly vulnerable to climate change.
The Natadola roadmap, named after the beach resort where it was signed, was agreed by the central banks of hosts Fiji as well as Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.
The document identifies regional capacity building in green finance as a priority and encourages the pooling of funding and technical expertise between countries, as well as the leveraging of technological solutions by the financial sector.
It also emphasises the need for a just transition to net zero that recognises different states’ capacity to implement policy solutions, as well as the existence of diverse needs within populations and between countries.
“These Pacific Island nations are leading the way in implementing groundbreaking IGF policies. Countries such as Fiji and Vanuatu have included disaster resilience into their regulatory frameworks,” the roadmap says.
“The Reserve Bank of Fiji has made significant strides by including green elements into surveys that assess the demand for financial services. This enabled them to comprehend the susceptibility of households and their strategies for dealing with natural catastrophes.”
The roadmap further highlights the Central Bank of Papua New Guinea’s “groundbreaking Inclusive Green Finance Policy, the first in the region, [which] includes a green taxonomy that resonates an inclusive approach to green financing wherein micro, small, and medium enterprises… are considered”.
The roadmap was signed under the auspices of the Pacific Islands Regional Initiative (PIRI) Plus, which is part of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), at the end of a four-day conference in Natadola that also included representatives of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the central banks of the Maldives and Bahamas.
The document is intended as an attempt to build on the 2017 Sharm El Sheikh Accord on green finance, which promotes a financially inclusive response to climate change in developing countries.
PIRI chair Ariff Ali, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, “emphasised that central banks play a critical role in addressing climate risk challenges, an issue acknowledged as one of the most pressing at our Pacific doorstep”, according to a statement released by the central bank.
“He underscored that central banks’ traditional mandates of price stability and financial stability are intrinsically tied to the health of our planet and that by integrating environmental considerations into macroeconomic frameworks, central banks can incentivise investments in renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure, and climate-resilient technologies.”
The AFI’s policy programmes director Eliki Boletawa meanwhile pointed to the devastating recent landslide in Papua New Guinea, which the prime minister has linked to changing weather patterns, as a sign of the urgency with which the region needs to “enhance our resilience against environmental shocks and emergencies”.
Low-lying Pacific island countries are considered extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels, with most of their populations living close to the shore.
The islands contribute less than 0.02% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but with cyclones and other extreme weather events rising in frequency and intensity, the cost of such disasters and local climate adaptation efforts has ballooned.
The Agence Française de Développement aid agency estimates that the annual cost of climate damage in the Pacific island nations stands at around 10% of their GDP, or US$1bn per year.
This page was last updated June 21, 2024
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