Do you fall for these traps?

[TheX]

EWA

BNPL

Payday loans

Student loans

Credit card fees and interest

Negative equity car loans

etc. etc. etc.

I mean, seriously...Are people not teaching their kids how money and credit work? Even something as common as compound interest?

You have probably heard this already...

"Those who don't understand compound interest, pay it...The people who DO understand compound interest GET it."

My parents utterly failed at this, so I made every mistake. Thankfully I fixed it over 10 years ago. Zero credit card balance, and virtually no other debt, except for the last $8k on my house. It takes time to fix our mistakes, but never starting is a guaranteed fail. I'm fortunate that I have a great salary and have put in the max 401k every year for over 23 years. I put in 18% out of each check currently.

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[dwrufus53]

EWA

BNPL

Payday loans

Student loans

Credit card fees and interest

Negative equity car loans

etc. etc. etc.

I mean, seriously...Are people not teaching their kids how money and credit work? Even something as common as compound interest?

You have probably heard this already...

"Those who don't understand compound interest, pay it...The people who DO understand compound interest GET it."

My parents utterly failed at this, so I made every mistake. Thankfully I fixed it over 10 years ago. Zero credit card balance, and virtually no other debt, except for the last $8k on my house. It takes time to fix our mistakes, but never starting is a guaranteed fail. I'm fortunate that I have a great salary and have put in the max 401k every year for over 23 years. I put in 18% out of each check currently.

Like you, I didn't get any financial education from my parents, either. The funny thing is that they were pretty good financial managers. When they passed, they left well over $1M to us kids. I guess they just expected us to get it through osmosis.

So, similar to you, my wife and I have figured it out, and have no debt, save one revolving credit card that we use for monthly expenses. We pay that off each month - haven't paid credit card interest in years. We own our home free and clear I am already retired, an my wife is on schedule to retire in less that a year.

And we did work with our kids to make sure they understood how money works, how loans and interest works, and that there is no such thing as "free money". Borrowing today is mortgaging your tomorrow. All have home mortgages and are responsible (as far as we know/can tell) with their money. We haven't had to bail any of them out of a self-inflected situation.