Money date No. 34: A financial lesson from a 10-year-old

Plus, post-layoff uncertainty, job prospects and the perennial gifting dilemma

A celebration before today’s post: OMG… I recently got a completely out-of-the-blue message from someone at GiveDirectly to thank me for sharing their SNAP fundraiser in this newsletter last month — because so many of you donated and mentioned that you found it through Healthy Rich! I’m fully snot-nosed bawling with gratitude for you. They let me know the effort reached around 237,000 recipients and delivered nearly $12 million in emergency cash for SNAP recipients who missed payments because of the administration’s illegal actions during the government shutdown. It was the fastest and largest U.S. program in the organization’s history. Thank you so much for taking action and for making Healthy Rich a small part of this important effort. 💖

If you want to continue to support GiveDirectly, they asked me to share this link for their Giving Tuesday campaign to raise funds for three villages in northern Rwanda. The goal is to give 800 families $1,100 each in direct cash, no strings attached.

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I went to my niece’s 10th birthday party over the holiday weekend, along with a gaggle of her 10-year-old friends. One delightful moment is sticking with me: A friend gifted her some kind of birthday-special Barbie doll (I’m out of the loop of these things as a non-parent, but maybe you know what this is?).

As my niece unwrapped the box, she said, “Wow! That’s a fancy Barbie!”

Without skipping a beat, her friend replied, “Yeah, it was $32!”

The whole gaggle responded with awe, murmuring, “Wow. What a fancy Barbie…” before turning their attention the next gift.

The adults all cringed for a second at the mention of money, then laughed it off as a cute gaffe, then forgot about it as the girls moved on. I loved it. The girls were totally unfazed that someone had revealed how much they (their parents) spent on a gift. The price was a characteristic of the doll, and that’s it.

I’m sure there’s a lot to dig into behind the cute declaration — the fact that these kids go to dozens of birthday parties each year and (their parents) feel obligated to spend money on gifts every time, the reality that the girl knew the price in the first place because her mom was probably fretting over it when she bought the doll, the whole consumerism of it all…

But in that moment, I enjoyed seeing the kids talk openly about money without judgment or shame. No one scolded her for talking about money, no one spoke up to compare spending, no one asked whether their family could “afford” that kind of spending. It was just a fact in their day. I appreciate seeing money fit into our lives this way.

A little lesson from some fourth graders as we head into the holiday season :)

P.S. Since I’m in an Auntie mood, it was a delight to see Lisa Sibbett resurface my Q&A at The Auntie Bulletin from this time last year. A lovely reflection on my experience as an auntie.

10 Questions about Auntiehood for Dana Miranda of Healthy Rich

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💡 Inspired by a Healthy Rich contributor, a money date is an exercise I crafted for You Don’t Need a Budget. Subscribers can follow along in a private space after the paywall, and I encourage you to steal my questions to guide your own reflections!

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