Money Conscious from the Start

I’ve always been tight with money. Growing up poor in the Bronx taught me a few things about money or the lack there of.

In 1962, my father died unexpectedly leaving my mom to raise 5 kids on her own. Needless to say, my Dad’s income as a Postal Clerk for Post Office left a big hole in our family income. Yes, my Mom had Social Security benefits but she was so proud, that she would not apply for social service (welfare) benefits. Needless to say; we had no health insurance benefits to speak of. So when we got sick or needed to go to the dentist etc., my Mom had to make some real choices about how the money was spent. I witnessed firsthand the choices a parent makes when income is limited. I watched closely as my Mom struggled to pay for the basic necessities and keep her head above water.

From the time I was a little girl, I knew that there were those with money and those without. I made up my mind early on that I was going to be one of those people who had money and could manage it wisely.

Over the years, I have tried to learn every possible way I could to be “smart” about money. I learned how to bank it, save it and invest it wisely. I watched every program about money and read every article I found in magazines and followed as much of the advice that I could, given my income and financial situation at the time.

Today, at 45, I’m proud to say that my husband and I own our home without a mortgage, we own two cars with no payments, and we have no debt what so ever! We have our retirement accounts set and working for us and we have well established college accounts for our kids. We did this with hard work and discipline and not much else.

As I hear in the news about the millions of people who are drowning in debt and are struggling with finances, it makes me sad to know the stress this causes on families. I also think that “life financial skills” of some sort should be taught to kids at an early age.

With this in mind, I wanted to share what I’ve learned and what has worked for me during my very modest beginnings.

Don’t misunderstand this blog, I’m not going to pretend that you haven’t heard all this information before, I’m just saying that I have actually tried many of the tips, tricks and techniques that have been recommended by financial experts and want you to know that it can work.