On the phrase 'good with money'

On Thursday I wrote about working out the 20, the 10 and the 10 by hand every fortnight before I automated them. On Friday I wrote about a sinking fund, a technique a British government set up in 1717 and raided in 1733. Yesterday I asked who taught you about money, and my own answer ran to a book by Scott Pape. Every one of those is a skill that somebody learned from somebody else.

For five years, I kept Stella's accounts at a variety of kitchen tables and desks in home offices. On Day 1, I wrote that the magazine looked after its readers and its writers, and the person running it came last. I held the skill the whole time and pointed it at the business. The system for my own money came later, from other people.

That's my problem with the phrase. It files a skill under personality, and a personality label lets everyone off the hook, including the person who wears it.

Benard answered yesterday's question, and he has let me quote him. His answer starts at home and ends online.

"While my experience with finance, or the chronic lack of it, emanates from childhood experiences in seeing how parents didn't have the requisite values and knowledge around personal finances and growing wealth, it impacted how I viewed wealth creation and instilled limiting beliefs around money and what I could and couldn't achieve. It wasn't until years of self-education, deep diving into the wealth of knowledge that's circulating online, that I came around to reframing my own beliefs around money."

The rest, he wrote, came from books on personal growth and personal finance, and from podcasts he listened to actively to broaden his knowledge. That's another skill learned from somebody else, and in Benard's case the somebody else was a long shelf of strangers.

Friday's reading list is all books so far. Benard learned from podcasts and from what circulates online, so I'm adding a podcast to the list.

Write to me with a topic you would like Wild Money to cover, as always.

Best

Amanda

P.S. What’s your view on today’s newsletter? Did I miss something out that you’d like to share? Write to me, [email protected]. I may not get back to you, but I will try to read what you send in.

Wild Money is general information only, drawn from my own experience and research. It isn't financial advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or manage money in any particular way. What worked for me won't necessarily suit you. Please seek advice from a licensed financial adviser before making decisions about your own money.