role model

Did you ever have a financial role model growing up? I did not. I had “learn-from-my-mistakes” role models, in that I decided I never wanted to live in the way that I grew up and made a voracious effort to work my ass off and live frugally in order for that to never happen. Some days Chris asks me if I am still on that road and if I will ever slow down and realize I can chill a bit.

It is an interesting conversation (well maybe to me). Who impacted how you view money? Did you ever have a financial role model? Did you grow up watching Suze Orman on TV telling you when you might be DENIED? Were you given everything, and never taught that money does not grow on trees, and that there are consequences to racking up a crazy amount of credit card debt in the tune of never freeing yourself from the monthly payments? Or, did you learn how to know about your net worth, an emergency fund, and the importance of your credit score? Additionally, that your credit score can also be a causing factor in getting a job or not?

Money and finances are a reoccurring blog topic for me. Somehow over time money and sex seem to be taboo topics. No one really wants to talk about either. And, yet “Fifty Shades of Grey” became a mainstream movie (not without some backlash) what will be the movie about money that potentially starts the conversation amongst us? Somehow I think that movie will not be of much interest to the masses. Yet, how do we actually shift the world to start taking care of itself?

This recent Daily Worth article shares one woman’s experience and what she learned from her dad, or…like me what she learned not to do. Her dad is now retired and has to live on a fixed income. The potential for many who do not plan accordingly for the future, save, and approach retirement in a way that allows you to really “retire.” Chris and I look at today and what we save as a way to prepare for our future. For a time when we hope to have been savvy enough to find a point in time when we can make the choice for ourselves rather than be forced to work past relevancy. That way we can pamper our family and truly enjoy life.

We all have to start somewhere, but somehow I think many just never start. Or maybe it starts with who our financial role models are and what they teach us about today, tomorrow, and the future.

I had never really thought about it, but how come it is 2015 and there are no women on our paper currency? Seriously. This is a no brainer. I am not sure why I never really thought about it, but just with the right to vote, and have a fair wage, there should be paper currency and coins that have women on them. What kind of message does that give to young girls? Maybe they do not really notice, or maybe it is subliminal and they do not even realize they have noticed.

There is a campaign out called “Women on 20’s” that is a vote to put one of the following women on the front of the twenty-dollar bill: Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Wilma Mankiller. Their website gives background and discusses the fact that 2020 is the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and women’s right to vote. I even learned something – I had not heard of Wilma Mankiller, and now know about her. It is also interesting that two of the women are black women, and one is Native American. That is progress too.

We should be giving girls and young women something to strive for — maybe instead of a woman thinking about how much money she is making she thinks more about how she can be a role model and maybe one day be ON money? Not something I have ever pined for, but why would it be such a bad goal for someone? It would be refreshing to get rid of some old, balding presidents (joking, but why not update our currency to be “current”). Nothing wrong with that, but maybe I am just thinking about the issue from the surface.

I encourage you to take some time and explore their website and vote for a woman candidate for the twenty-dollar bill.