What did your Parents Teach you about Wealth?
- Thread starter Xenia
- Start date
Craigb:
Maybe....possibly, but my brain hardwiring is such that whatever I undertake I like to reach my own personal sense of excellence. (I think) the thing that drives that is a very strong sense of curiousity and desire to learn...
As a child I had no burning want or need for possessions/material things, I would never have traded you my gumtrees that I loved to climb, or my pets if you had come along and offered latest whizzbang toys. For some reason, that has never been a part of me. That maybe related to rural life, I'm not sure.
At 6yo I went back to the School Principal and asked for an increase in payment (over holidays), for the watering I was doing, (school lawn and Principal's lawn).
I "just knew" he was under paying me, he doubled my money when I told him I thought I was doing a lot of work for so little.
So...I think I have a strong sense of drive and focus and a sort of streetsmart thingy, but for many years....no sense of leverage, or accumulating assets, had the guts, but no financial compass, plan or map.
I always knew I would be successful, just wasn't sure in what field, I thought it might be as an athlete, a runner, or perhaps a Vet.
Success to me...I don't think was ever really about bucks, but what I've learnt is it, ($$$$$) is a wonderful tool toward independence, and I have a very independent streak !
Property investing for me is very much fun and just a game. (With really beneficial outcomes).
Maybe....possibly, but my brain hardwiring is such that whatever I undertake I like to reach my own personal sense of excellence. (I think) the thing that drives that is a very strong sense of curiousity and desire to learn...
As a child I had no burning want or need for possessions/material things, I would never have traded you my gumtrees that I loved to climb, or my pets if you had come along and offered latest whizzbang toys. For some reason, that has never been a part of me. That maybe related to rural life, I'm not sure.
At 6yo I went back to the School Principal and asked for an increase in payment (over holidays), for the watering I was doing, (school lawn and Principal's lawn).
I "just knew" he was under paying me, he doubled my money when I told him I thought I was doing a lot of work for so little.
So...I think I have a strong sense of drive and focus and a sort of streetsmart thingy, but for many years....no sense of leverage, or accumulating assets, had the guts, but no financial compass, plan or map.
I always knew I would be successful, just wasn't sure in what field, I thought it might be as an athlete, a runner, or perhaps a Vet.
Success to me...I don't think was ever really about bucks, but what I've learnt is it, ($$$$$) is a wonderful tool toward independence, and I have a very independent streak !
Property investing for me is very much fun and just a game. (With really beneficial outcomes).
Healthy Wealthy,
Thank-you for your post. Helps to keep it all in perspective for me. I sincerely hope that our kids have the benefit of enjoying mine & DH's company as this is what it is all really about.
Whilst I was growing up my Mum & Dad both worked full time. They came from war time families with not much financial help from their parents as money was simply very scarce.
They bought into a very nice area & worked hard to pay the mortgage.
The only financial advice I remember receiving was to get a credit card so I have a good credit record!
My parents have only just finished paying their mortgage on their PPOR in their mid - late fifties.
My mind at the moment is focussed a lot on my Husbands nephew's. Their Mum (my hubbys sister) has always rented at the bottom of the market with no assets to her name. I fear that in the years ahead she will be forced to live in caravans. Of course we will help her as best we can but in the mean time I would love to educate her sons on good financial habits. Any ideas??
Above Average
Thank-you for your post. Helps to keep it all in perspective for me. I sincerely hope that our kids have the benefit of enjoying mine & DH's company as this is what it is all really about.
Whilst I was growing up my Mum & Dad both worked full time. They came from war time families with not much financial help from their parents as money was simply very scarce.
They bought into a very nice area & worked hard to pay the mortgage.
The only financial advice I remember receiving was to get a credit card so I have a good credit record!
My parents have only just finished paying their mortgage on their PPOR in their mid - late fifties.
My mind at the moment is focussed a lot on my Husbands nephew's. Their Mum (my hubbys sister) has always rented at the bottom of the market with no assets to her name. I fear that in the years ahead she will be forced to live in caravans. Of course we will help her as best we can but in the mean time I would love to educate her sons on good financial habits. Any ideas??
Above Average
Xen, it's amazing that your Dad with all his wealth is even thinking about a pension. It's non-sensical to me.
The pension is there for poor people to keep them from starving to death only. Why would anyone even contemplate having it?
Back on topic: my parents taught me nothing about money management and/or wealth creation.
They were/are battlers and my Dad worked hard. He taught me a great work ethic, but it showed me you can work hard and get nowhere.
So, I've picked out the bones of this;
worked hard, and vowed to never end up like they are by learning about property investing and taking action.
The pension is there for poor people to keep them from starving to death only. Why would anyone even contemplate having it?
Back on topic: my parents taught me nothing about money management and/or wealth creation.
They were/are battlers and my Dad worked hard. He taught me a great work ethic, but it showed me you can work hard and get nowhere.
So, I've picked out the bones of this;
worked hard, and vowed to never end up like they are by learning about property investing and taking action.
This is my dads favourite saying "I know I will never be rich, we are never gonna have much and what we do have we like to help you kids". Over and over i hear the same saying from him "i know, knew I would never be rich"
Well of course that is what is going to happen if you keep thinking and saying those things!! You say it long enough and you really start to believe it.
I have had to reprogram myself.
Well of course that is what is going to happen if you keep thinking and saying those things!! You say it long enough and you really start to believe it.
I have had to reprogram myself.
My parents bought a casket agency/toys shop which was very run down when I was 12. My mother built the business up and they sold it three years later for a nice profit. We didn't have a holiday in that time. They bought their first IP when I was 15 and have been doing the same thing ever since.
So I am one of the few so far whose parents had a strong interest in investing and getting ahead. My mother always says her father drank all his money and this was a strong reason for her to not be like him.
So I am one of the few so far whose parents had a strong interest in investing and getting ahead. My mother always says her father drank all his money and this was a strong reason for her to not be like him.
Monetary Lessons101
All of these were learned to oppose my parents' actions/
Dad:
Stay in stable employment (he's had about 15 different jobs)
Be nice to your bosses
Tolerate other people, even if they're idiots
Mum:
Take risks
All of these were learned to oppose my parents' actions/
Dad:
Stay in stable employment (he's had about 15 different jobs)
Be nice to your bosses
Tolerate other people, even if they're idiots
Mum:
Take risks
Had it and gave it away
My parents both came from real estate backgrounds. Mum was meant to be married to a Dr, but Dad slipped in there and shebang - the rest is history.
Living in company supplied housing, they were able to accumulate quite a few houses. I think they had 5 or 6 rentals going by the late 70's. Dad has sat down and gone thru the figures with me but it isn't for this forum.
Unfortunately, in '79 he sold the lot to pay off the majority of a mortgage on a "big flash" house in Perth.....which was only in an average suburb. They then sat for 15 years and did nothing, whilst Perth boomed during all of the 80's.
Mum was always conservative and would want to pay down the debts ASAP. She wouldn't sleep and would get ulcers if the debts for any reason couldn't be fully paid off at any time.
Dad picked up Noel Whittaker's books about '93 and started to get back into buying real estate again. This is when we started also. Our family owes it's fortune to that Queenslander who gave us that initial spark.
Mum & Dad still own a healthy amount of real estate nvestments, and both of my sisters are well into it as well. I'm proud of them all.
I suppose the wife and I just went a bit silly really, a little too far off the deep end you could call it. Our children are seeing where we are in the deep end and think it is quite normal....cos they haven't known any different.
It'd be interesting to have a chat with them in the next 30 years and see what type of lessons they have gleaned off us. "Hmmm, should we look at that office tower on Collins St......nahhh, BHP is a rubbish Tenant, why don't we look at those string of factories along the motorway instead."
My parents both came from real estate backgrounds. Mum was meant to be married to a Dr, but Dad slipped in there and shebang - the rest is history.
Living in company supplied housing, they were able to accumulate quite a few houses. I think they had 5 or 6 rentals going by the late 70's. Dad has sat down and gone thru the figures with me but it isn't for this forum.
Unfortunately, in '79 he sold the lot to pay off the majority of a mortgage on a "big flash" house in Perth.....which was only in an average suburb. They then sat for 15 years and did nothing, whilst Perth boomed during all of the 80's.
Mum was always conservative and would want to pay down the debts ASAP. She wouldn't sleep and would get ulcers if the debts for any reason couldn't be fully paid off at any time.
Dad picked up Noel Whittaker's books about '93 and started to get back into buying real estate again. This is when we started also. Our family owes it's fortune to that Queenslander who gave us that initial spark.
Mum & Dad still own a healthy amount of real estate nvestments, and both of my sisters are well into it as well. I'm proud of them all.
I suppose the wife and I just went a bit silly really, a little too far off the deep end you could call it. Our children are seeing where we are in the deep end and think it is quite normal....cos they haven't known any different.
It'd be interesting to have a chat with them in the next 30 years and see what type of lessons they have gleaned off us. "Hmmm, should we look at that office tower on Collins St......nahhh, BHP is a rubbish Tenant, why don't we look at those string of factories along the motorway instead."
My grandparents on my fathers side always had borders in their home paying rent - as well as 8 kids. I think the authorities got onto them or laws changed and they had to have seperate residences for boarders. They owned a house next door to their house which they rented out room-by-room.
My grandparents on my mothers side had several businesses and commercial properties. My mum received an income from the rent of commercial properties (when they were tenanted).
My dad had a cruisy job and spent half the day at the pub every day instead of working. He'd hand the small amount of wages left to my mum which mainly went to pay off the mortgage. I grew up believing we were really poor. We'd never been on a family holiday (apart from geeting free accomodation at other peoples places), gone to a restaurant, gone to the movies, rarely got tuck shop or a treat, never had softdrink, on our birthdays we were allowed Mcdonalds. I remember getting brand new clothes a couple of times. My mum would constantly complain we never had money. I'd feel guilty if we had to fork out money for school excursions. A trip out for my parents would be to drive over the border and go the pokies. My dad took a voluntary redundancy at 40 and didn't work for 2.5 years. After that he worked part-time till he was 55.
So the only things I got from my parents was to pay off your mortgage as quickly as possible. I also didn't want to grow up not having enough money. My parents used to say they weren't business minded and it skips a generation. I got most of my ideas from my grandparents.
My grandparents on my mothers side had several businesses and commercial properties. My mum received an income from the rent of commercial properties (when they were tenanted).
My dad had a cruisy job and spent half the day at the pub every day instead of working. He'd hand the small amount of wages left to my mum which mainly went to pay off the mortgage. I grew up believing we were really poor. We'd never been on a family holiday (apart from geeting free accomodation at other peoples places), gone to a restaurant, gone to the movies, rarely got tuck shop or a treat, never had softdrink, on our birthdays we were allowed Mcdonalds. I remember getting brand new clothes a couple of times. My mum would constantly complain we never had money. I'd feel guilty if we had to fork out money for school excursions. A trip out for my parents would be to drive over the border and go the pokies. My dad took a voluntary redundancy at 40 and didn't work for 2.5 years. After that he worked part-time till he was 55.
So the only things I got from my parents was to pay off your mortgage as quickly as possible. I also didn't want to grow up not having enough money. My parents used to say they weren't business minded and it skips a generation. I got most of my ideas from my grandparents.
Actually Xenia i can understand your father's point of view. My parents think a similar way.
You work all your life, you are 'honest' and pay your taxes through your working career. You live below your means so you can save for your retirement. Upon retirement, as a self funded retiree, you can sustain a reasonable quality of life from the CASH FLOW generated from the years of asset accumulation.
What does the government do? offer a pension to those who cant afford their retirement, offer discounted presciption medicine, discounted taxi fees, discounted electricity bills etc. By the time all the discounts are taken into account, why bother trying to save for your retirement.
I try to give my parents comfort by saying that this system of entitlement will only work whilst the majority of people dont receive it. I then direct them to some of the retirees in the US who believed that they had a safe retirement system under defined bennefits plans, only to find out in retirement that those plans are at risk of being reduced.
You work all your life, you are 'honest' and pay your taxes through your working career. You live below your means so you can save for your retirement. Upon retirement, as a self funded retiree, you can sustain a reasonable quality of life from the CASH FLOW generated from the years of asset accumulation.
What does the government do? offer a pension to those who cant afford their retirement, offer discounted presciption medicine, discounted taxi fees, discounted electricity bills etc. By the time all the discounts are taken into account, why bother trying to save for your retirement.
I try to give my parents comfort by saying that this system of entitlement will only work whilst the majority of people dont receive it. I then direct them to some of the retirees in the US who believed that they had a safe retirement system under defined bennefits plans, only to find out in retirement that those plans are at risk of being reduced.
My parents both worked modest government jobs for my entire childhood. Their view on money was 'work to pay off your home, so your pension goes further when you retire'. Dad died 8 months after retiring at 68.
I learnt much of what I know about investing from an interesting and engaging girlfriend's father (who is now my father in law!). He introduced me to the idea of working to get a good job, to give you a good income that you can use to invest. Fast forward 15 years and that is what we have done.
Rich Dad Poor Dad gave me a kick as well, and since then having 'toys' has become a lot less important than it used to be, and building a stable and secure future for our family has more focus. Because my wife and I both worked very hard to build careers in our 20's, instead of traveling and playing, we are now in a position of making very good incomes but without having to do more than about 45 hours per week each, so we can spend evenings and weekends with our son and together.
We are currently 33, have everything a family could hope for, and are on track for a very comfortable retirement at 45.
Anyway, I'm going to stop typing because it's time to head to the station for a historic steam train ride with my wife and son!
I learnt much of what I know about investing from an interesting and engaging girlfriend's father (who is now my father in law!). He introduced me to the idea of working to get a good job, to give you a good income that you can use to invest. Fast forward 15 years and that is what we have done.
Rich Dad Poor Dad gave me a kick as well, and since then having 'toys' has become a lot less important than it used to be, and building a stable and secure future for our family has more focus. Because my wife and I both worked very hard to build careers in our 20's, instead of traveling and playing, we are now in a position of making very good incomes but without having to do more than about 45 hours per week each, so we can spend evenings and weekends with our son and together.
We are currently 33, have everything a family could hope for, and are on track for a very comfortable retirement at 45.
Anyway, I'm going to stop typing because it's time to head to the station for a historic steam train ride with my wife and son!
"What did your Parents Teach you about Wealth?"
Having been sent home from school many times as unteachable, my mother told me "I would end up sweeping gutters for the council". It was years later that my wife discovered that I wasn't a complete idiot, I had dyslexia, and she has helped me overcome this.
Anyhow I'm working away there at the council and I thought to myself "one of these days I'm going to have more dunnies than you've got", and the rest as they say is history. So I suppose she did teach me something about wealth.
Having been sent home from school many times as unteachable, my mother told me "I would end up sweeping gutters for the council". It was years later that my wife discovered that I wasn't a complete idiot, I had dyslexia, and she has helped me overcome this.
Anyhow I'm working away there at the council and I thought to myself "one of these days I'm going to have more dunnies than you've got", and the rest as they say is history. So I suppose she did teach me something about wealth.
Great stuff Battler, my partner has leapt the dyslexic hurdle too, and another couple of close family friends, one of them runs his own (very successful) trucking business, and the other her own tourism industry business.
I think I am loving the bits and pieces we have taught ourselves. Make no doubt I am working toward, (and doing it!) , financial independence, but THIS is my definition of success, (for me):
"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable"
~(The Amazing and Inspirational John Wooden)
Sometimes, just sometimes we may not exactly have the ideal? role models in our lives, we may need to find that within ourselves and from appropriate people around us...
Actually if anyone is interested here is the inspirational John Wooden, it's a link to his pyramid of success (writings on leadership), pdf format:
http://www.coachwooden.com/pyramidpdf.pdf
I think I am loving the bits and pieces we have taught ourselves. Make no doubt I am working toward, (and doing it!) , financial independence, but THIS is my definition of success, (for me):
"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable"
~(The Amazing and Inspirational John Wooden)
Sometimes, just sometimes we may not exactly have the ideal? role models in our lives, we may need to find that within ourselves and from appropriate people around us...
Actually if anyone is interested here is the inspirational John Wooden, it's a link to his pyramid of success (writings on leadership), pdf format:
http://www.coachwooden.com/pyramidpdf.pdf
This is very true of all things in life .......not just financial.
LOL, I can completely relate
. I was also the class clown that would never amount to anything and branded with being too "hyperactive" it would have been ADHD if I was a child at school today. I was pulled aside by a school councellor in year 11 and given the advice that I should look at a trade because applying for university entry was too much of a big goal for me and he didn't want me to be disapointed
I never worked out what part of the school system has made a link between kids questioning non sense rules and policies, with a lack of intelligence and potential.
I'm still a headstrong person that questions everything. I now encourage my children to question things too instead of blindly accepting anything that people say, I had to go through it all in the first place to be able to now defend my own children.
Totally agree, he has decided that because he has paid alot of money in tax the government owes him something back. It is a limiting belief that works against and not for wealth creation.
People develop all sorts of crazy beliefs to sabotage their own potential and this belief for him has not been a helpful one.
I also understand the point of view and it certainly is a reality and a bit of a rude shock to my dad and other people who worked hard and had built up some wealth and also paid alot of tax in doing so.
I think the belief that "I will be successful with or without government intervention and I will always remail idependent regardless of what other people do" is a more empowering one.
