Childish Misunderstandings About Money

February 20, 2008

What early (before you were 10 years old) ideas did you have about money or finance that turned out to be totally (and amusingly) wrong?

I saw this meme and thought I’d pick it up and spread it. And now I’m curious. I’m changing the rules up a little though, this meme is a self contained meme in that your being tagged, simply calls for a response. :)

I made it easy for ya - no posting on your own blog, just a comment here because I want to know.

So please indulge me, inquiring minds want to know, so I’m tagging…

DCR who recently posted Free Tips for Separating People From Their Money.

Geoff at Can’t Get Rich, who plugs your site for free.

CardioGirl who has been recently down memory lane.

JD who makes lists so that we don’t have to.

That’s all for now, I may come back and add a few later today. I want to know what financial epiphanies you all had. Thanks for playing!


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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 8:18 am and is filed under Financial, For Fun, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to “Childish Misunderstandings About Money”

  1. dcr said:

    Feb 20, 08 at 11:23 am

    I can’t think of anything amusingly wrong. I used to be a bit confused about dollar signs and cent signs and where they go (25$), but that’s about it.

    I think that I used to think that “tax” was something you added to a product for extra money. You know, you charge $1, then you want more so you ask for ten cents more for “tax.”

  2. Believe. Act. Achieve! - dcr Blogs dot Com » Blog Archive » Childishly Earning Money said:

    Feb 20, 08 at 11:38 am

    [...] Sabrina posted a great meme today: “What early (before you were 10 years old) ideas did you have about money or finance that turned out …” [...]

  3. JD at I Do Things said:

    Feb 20, 08 at 6:21 pm

    This is embarrassing to admit, but you did say “amusingly,” right?

    When I was quite young, I thought my allowance came from my parents’ bosses, whoever they were, and that my mom and dad also got an allowance.

    I also mistakenly thought it would be OK to spend those collector’s Kennedy half dollars on candy. That turned out to be totally (tho not amusingly) wrong!

  4. Michelle Gartner said:

    Feb 20, 08 at 7:49 pm

    That’s weird what Dan said, because I believed something a long the same lines. That tax was just something extra the store charged to make it hard for me to buy something, because I didn’t have the tax.

  5. Sabrina said:

    Feb 20, 08 at 7:56 pm

    JD: I can relate to the half dollars, I spent some that my grandmother gave me and she was very upset, I didn’t really understand it at the time.

    Michelle: To this day I take issue with taxes, lol.

  6. cardiogirl said:

    Feb 21, 08 at 3:48 am

    Well look how fun you are Sabrina!

    Hmm (small creaking noise emits from her brain as she tries to crack open the memories from so long ago).

    I’m kinda coming up dry, but this is one thing I remember. My mother worked retail at a store called Hudson’s (now Macy’s) and she had a charge card in her name. At the beginning of the month she would remind me each day to get the mail and HIDE the charge card bill. Because she wrote out the bills and my dad just handed her his paycheck.

    So I guess that means you can spend as much plastic money as you want, as long as you don’t get caught? Oh right, and if you pay it off each month.

  7. Sabrina said:

    Feb 21, 08 at 8:13 am

    CardioGirl: Oh what tangled webs, or something like that, lol. Plastic is pretty, but trouble. ;)

    I think that taxes so far have been the biggest source of epiphanies, and I shared that same epiphany with my first paycheck. I was so mad at FICA!

  8. Lewis Empire said:

    Feb 22, 08 at 12:23 am

    I was taking a family trip to Mexico one year with my family. I was told that I would get about 20,000 pesos for $20. I can remember thinking that I would be able to go down and buy a new car or something for less than $40. I was so sure I had hit the jackpot.

    I think I ended up coming home with a whip and a Mexican blanket. Not as exciting…

  9. Sabrina said:

    Feb 22, 08 at 7:34 am

    Money lost in translation, that’s the worst kind of misunderstanding. The whip sounds cool though. ;)

  10. john b said:

    Mar 23, 08 at 7:53 am

    Here we go with embarrassing…

    When I was about five years old, I’m thinking that I thought money was completely worthless! My mother found me sitting on the kitchen floor, back rested on the trash can. I was going through her purse and tossing the bills and coins over my shoulder into the garbage! Needless to say, she was pretty upset at first, but then just started laughing. We are still laughing today as that is one of our family stories that is told time and time again!