My Financial Background - Young
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As a child my parents explicitly taught me about money, and specifically to avoid debt. They had no mortgage and paid their credit card(s) off each month. They never talked about credit scores because they were irrelevant. The point was to spend less than I earned- a lot less. I took their lessons very seriously and perhaps my guiltiest childhood moment consisted in spending a $5 bill entirely on candy. Can you see where this is going?
Once I started college I became financially independent. It was not much of a shock, because I had always expected it and had saved most of my income to cover it. Still, I had to take out loans which I intended to pay off before interest accrued. I also got my first credit card and payed the balance each month. I kept my academic loans under $5,000 by working while in school and taking time off to pay them off when they started to get too large for my comfort.
Then I met In Debt, and seemingly every interaction involving money was painful for me. I tried to squelch most of it, after all what he did with his money was his business and I could just find ways of avoiding spending more than I could afford. Besides, I knew that some moderation would be good for me.
Even as our relationship got more serious, In Debt did not realize how different our views really were. Due to a necessary move and month job hunting, I ended up with $3,000 in credit card debt this spring. I paid it off in a little over two months while working for a temp agency. While In Debt knew about it & I would update him with glee as the figure diminished with my weekly payments, he was not conscious of what I chose to go without to eliminate the debt.
Gradually we became more aware of each other in our financial choices. We sat down and looked at credit reports (his score was about 10 points higher than mine- dratted car loan! ;-)) and talked some about the financial implications of our plans for the next few years. I finally realized that the smartest thing was to finish my undergrad degree ASAP, even if it meant taking on more debt in the short term. He decided to take the risk of moving, something which meant giving up job stability, but potentially doubling salary.
And now, here we are today. Very different and very in debt. But I’ll let In Debt tell about that.