Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Is There Common Sense in Personal Finance? | The Debt Princess

I don?t like the phrase ?common sense? when it is paired with anything related to personal finance. In my opinion, there is nothing common about finances when you are uneducated.

By watching what I was being exposed to growing up, it was common to be in debt. If you needed a new car, then common sense said to get a car loan. If you were short one month and needed groceries, common sense said to use a credit card to purchase them.

Those actions were common, every day occurrences and that made them common sense.

budgets confusingThe topic for this blog post came from a post on the Payoff.com Blog. ?8 Common Sense Do?s and Don?ts of Personal Finance? really resonated with me. Of those 8, presumed ?common sense? steps, I have failed at all eight of them! No surprise there when you come from a family that never discussed money and lived with a parent who used her credit cards a lot.

I think the article could have been reworded and approached differently and the impact would have been better. To know that I?ve failed those 8 steps in my past makes me feel like I am ignorant.

Some things are NOT common sense.

When you do not have a financial education there is no common sense to personal finance. I certainly think there are people who have the mindset capable of thinking about it but I don?t think that?s the average person and that, in my opinion, is what makes something ?common sense.?

If you are a parent, it is your responsibility to teach your children about making more money than they spend. If you don?t, you?ll have an adult who lives how they wants to live and then makes ?ends meet? by acquiring debt in the form of a credit card.

If you do not show your children how to track their spending and budget their finances, you will see your child become an adult who is in debt and struggling with their life.

Personal finance is not common sense.

It is a confusing topic for many people and one that needs to be explained before common sense becomes credit cards, overspending and under-budgeting.

April is Financial Literacy Month. My goal with this blog has always been to show people the face of debt in the hopes that they will learn about personal finance themselves and then teach those they love about it too. My new career goal is to take this blog and turn it into opportunities to speak about personal finance and the importance of financial literacy. There is no better time than today to learn something new and pass that information on.

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I also blog at A Five Star Life. I write about anything that comes to mind but try to focus on finding the good in daily life.

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