credit and debt
the first piece of financial advice I received
WSA adsense code -->Although my parents both used to work in finance, they actually weren’t that big on financial advice. We had savings accounts as kids, but were not particularly encouraged to save money, and most of the time we didn’t have regular pocket money. Our grandparents lived a few hundred miles away so we didn’t see them regularly, but they used to save pennies for us - I’m never quite sure what used to happen to the money, but I do remember the excitement of counting it all out and splitting it equally amongst us. Amid all this vagueness, one occasion in particular is clear. I remember my mother telling me in the supermarket, that:
“credit cards are fine, as long as you always pay them off in full”
At the time, I didn’t recognise it as financial advice. But, you know, I have always paid my credit card in full (apart from those times that I’ve made a late payment - I’m not very organised), and it’s been a good habit and trait. And I don’t pay off my credit card in full because it’s sensible to do so (even though it is). I pay it off in full without thinking because that’s what you’re supposed to do.
I should probably re-examine some of the other messages that I follow unthinkingly though. Who knows what kind of stupid things I’m doing, just because someone told me as a kid.
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8 comments for “the first piece of financial advice I received”
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Excellent advice, Plonkee.
My Dad didn’t want me to get a credit card because he didn’t think I would be able to handle it at a young age. Of course, now I run this little personal finance blog… I still get a chuckle about that.
Great advice and great post. You know it is funny to think about the things we just do because we were told to do it as a kid. Makes me wonder if I should be rethinking things as well, lol.
Great advice but yea one can use credit card for loans at times but short term loans
sorry it got submitted before, I would say that it is better to not pay once then to take a short term loan which have huge APRs.
Sound advice, if ever I heard it.
If we can’t afford to repay our credits in full each month, then the blatant truth of the matter is that we simply cannot afford to buy the items we are buying on them.
Perhaps it’s old fashioned of me to say so, while essentials and things we need is one thing, using a credit card to buy luxuries we cannot really afford is simply walking into a debt trap!