How we treat finances has changed with the times
It wasn’t so long ago that people reused holiday wrapping paper, repaired their worn-out clothes and paid for everything in cash
Financial literacy isn’t something we are used to talking about. Just think: how many times did you hear the term used 10 or 15 years ago? Probably never.
It’s a new term because, in a lot of ways, our relationship with money has changed dramatically over the span of a generation or two. Years before we coined the term, many of our grandparents were spending and saving their money in a way that reflected a totally different set of values.
Take my grandmother, for example. She grew up in a West Virginia mining town nearly 100 years ago. Life was hard and her family struggled to make ends meet. She lived through the Great Depression and raised a family here in Toronto during the Second World War.
Times were tough and many in her generation were simply used to dealing with scarcity.
The thing is, her experiences shaped how she spent and saved money. You can see that by looking at a few things she never did: Dine out My grandmother never went to a restaurant unless it was a very special occasion. Takeout was hard to find back then, so that was never ordered — and who would ever think about drinking coffee out of a paper cup in the street? Buy new clothes every season Missing buttons, socks with holes in them and shirts with worn elbows all went into a sewing basket next to my grandmother’s chair in the living room. That basket was where clothes were renewed and refreshed. Our clothing was bought to be worn year after year. Turn up the heat “Put on a sweater” was a common refrain at my grandmother’s place. The thermostat was kept at a relatively chilly low to keep the heating bill in check. We just bundled up. Throw out wrapping paper Christmas and birthdays were torture. When my grandmother was in the room, those who were opening gifts had to be extra careful to remove tape without damaging the wrapping paper. That way it could be put aside until next year. Borrow money If my grandmother needed something, she bought it with cash. If she didn’t have the cash, she didn’t buy it. That included big items such as a house or a car.
I’m not saying I want to go back to the past — my grandmother, for example was not encouraged to work outside the home or get a post-secondary education. And I am certainly not suggesting anyone ditch the sheer pleasure that comes with the morning coffee run.
But it’s worth thinking about the need for financial literacy today, thanks at least in part to how our habits have changed over the course of just a couple of generations.