Hmmm ... I'm loving this prompt, but where my brain keeps taking it is the language we DON'T use. As in, all of the standard advice basically purports that if you do XYZ and follow 123, that all will be well. There's never an acknowledgement of the uncertainty of it all. That even those who do everything "right" (which is not me btw) are *guaranteed nothing* in this world.
"Uncertainty" is not a word we use enough in financial education and media!
I loved Helaine Olen's "Pound Foolish" for tackling this exact idea shortly after the 2008 recession. It was the first time a lot of people realized their finances were precarious in this economy, even if they did all the "right" things.
My pet peeves are first how we don’t talk about money enough (personal salaries, personal wages, personal expenses, savings,) and then my other pet peeve is that when we do, it seems full of platitudes….like is renting rather than owning really like throwing money out the window the way we were told? Or the myth that keeps being pedaled in towns and cities, like Omaha where we live, that wages don’t need to increase cuz cost of living is low. It’s not even just the cliches, it’s that the cliches are now dated and ancient.
We're so bad at updating our ideas about money when the reality changes! That keeps a lot of bad advice and judgment floating around the personal finance space.
There’s a lot of confusion around and misuse of the expression “living paycheck to paycheck,” so that could be a good one to tackle. Personally, I dislike it when people say that they “use debt” instead of take on, have or go into debt. If the aim is to use the word use to show it as a conscious choice, “use credit” sits better with me.
Someone brought up "paycheck to paycheck" in my session, too! That's not one I'd ever thought to question, so this is so helpful :) How do you see it misused or confused?
I think traditionally the expression meant literally that - that without the next paycheck, the rent/mortgage, groceries and other basic necessities would not be covered. Apparently now it isn’t uncommon for people to use it to say that once they’ve paid for all the necessities, and all the regular wants they deem reasonable (like that $35 Olaplex shampoo and tickets to the movies and dinner out and the $9 pint of ice cream and maybe even what they invest monthly and and…), if there’s no money left over after that, that they are living paycheck to paycheck.
Thought of another one that I struggle with, though in fairness it may be a generational thing: the use of the passive voice when talking about finances. When you watch Caleb Hammer’s Financial Audit, it becomes apparent that a lot of the guests on the show who are in their 20s and early 30s use the passive voice when explaining why they are in a financial pickle. For example, they’ll say “bad choices were made,” and “payments were forgotten.”
Hmmm ... I'm loving this prompt, but where my brain keeps taking it is the language we DON'T use. As in, all of the standard advice basically purports that if you do XYZ and follow 123, that all will be well. There's never an acknowledgement of the uncertainty of it all. That even those who do everything "right" (which is not me btw) are *guaranteed nothing* in this world.
"Uncertainty" is not a word we use enough in financial education and media!
I loved Helaine Olen's "Pound Foolish" for tackling this exact idea shortly after the 2008 recession. It was the first time a lot of people realized their finances were precarious in this economy, even if they did all the "right" things.
Ohhh that's a new-to-me resource; thank you!
My pet peeves are first how we don’t talk about money enough (personal salaries, personal wages, personal expenses, savings,) and then my other pet peeve is that when we do, it seems full of platitudes….like is renting rather than owning really like throwing money out the window the way we were told? Or the myth that keeps being pedaled in towns and cities, like Omaha where we live, that wages don’t need to increase cuz cost of living is low. It’s not even just the cliches, it’s that the cliches are now dated and ancient.
We're so bad at updating our ideas about money when the reality changes! That keeps a lot of bad advice and judgment floating around the personal finance space.
There’s a lot of confusion around and misuse of the expression “living paycheck to paycheck,” so that could be a good one to tackle. Personally, I dislike it when people say that they “use debt” instead of take on, have or go into debt. If the aim is to use the word use to show it as a conscious choice, “use credit” sits better with me.
Someone brought up "paycheck to paycheck" in my session, too! That's not one I'd ever thought to question, so this is so helpful :) How do you see it misused or confused?
I think traditionally the expression meant literally that - that without the next paycheck, the rent/mortgage, groceries and other basic necessities would not be covered. Apparently now it isn’t uncommon for people to use it to say that once they’ve paid for all the necessities, and all the regular wants they deem reasonable (like that $35 Olaplex shampoo and tickets to the movies and dinner out and the $9 pint of ice cream and maybe even what they invest monthly and and…), if there’s no money left over after that, that they are living paycheck to paycheck.
Thought of another one that I struggle with, though in fairness it may be a generational thing: the use of the passive voice when talking about finances. When you watch Caleb Hammer’s Financial Audit, it becomes apparent that a lot of the guests on the show who are in their 20s and early 30s use the passive voice when explaining why they are in a financial pickle. For example, they’ll say “bad choices were made,” and “payments were forgotten.”