Doing basic financial skills training...

Well I am proud of my doodles I made during the zoom class last night!
IMG_4079.jpeg

As you can see I wrote down the apps you talked about Ecdysis. I wanted to share them with the class but the speaker went on and on about credit stuff that seemed like stuff rich people would need. All of us students are food bank clients who ride the bus and don’t make enough money and she’s talking about high interest savings accounts that you need to keep 1000 dollars in or else it closes. Goals, I guess.

Honestly the credit stuff is so f*cking shifty. The credit union can run your credit and pull a report but they’re not *allowed* to give you a copy. And all the ways your credit goes down. Thinking about getting a loan? Credit goes down.

I loathe credit. Seems like an addiction.

Did not like that class. But I guess it was just me butting up against reality.
 
Love your doodles!

I'm sorry it was so dissapointing... It does sound like a crappy topic given the make up of the class... Very badly picked...

I don't think that's so much "reality" butting up... Reality would have been if this person talked to you all about the realities of food banks and struggling to make money last the whole month...

I bet you everyone else sitting in on that class felt just as miserable and alienated and frustrated as you did.

I would definitely give that feedback to whoever is running the course - to at least spare future classes being put through such crap needlessly.

I hope the next few classes are better - and if they're not then this course sucks - it's not tailored to its audience.

Let's hope it was just a one-off bloop and the rest is more useful.

Well done on "facing" this scary issue anyway 👍 👍 👍
 
Was listening to a podcast about the history of the American economy. And they were talking about the financial sector and one of the guys talked about how ATM cards have made such a difference for people “so that they don’t have to go down to the bank on Saturday morning and wait 30 minutes to pull out money like my grandparents did.”

And I thought about what a different world that was and imagined what that would be like. And then I thought back to the budgeting class and the teacher talked about “the envelope system” and how paying with cash changes the way you think about money, feeling it and seeing it. She recommended picking three things you can pay for with cash and then trying it for a month. It changes how you spend.

And so hearing that about pulling out money on a Saturday—actually gave me a sense of sort of wistfulness for times gone. And then I actually started to think to myself, “What are all the things I can pay for with cash?”

So I’m developing the inspiration and motivation to begin the hard process of writing out my first monthly budget, which will involve
  • Categorizing all my spending
  • Reviewing spending from previous months
  • Guessing how much I will spend in each category for the next month
  • Figuring out what can be paid for in cash
Paying with cash seems kind of scary. Like someone will steal it or I’ll lose it. But it also seems empowering and a bit counterculture—like what if I frickin drove down to the electric company and paid with cash. Nope, not gonna do that. My time is precious. And it might mess up my automatic payment system. But it’s interesting thinking about it. And I have had times in my life where I couldn’t pay bills and had to go down to the gas company and pay partially in person. But that’s not my life anymore.

So what’s my goal, and focus? What I outlined above. To explore the envelope system.

And I find it rather interesting that the first speaker talked about paying with cash to watch your money but the second speaker, the credit lady, said basically the opposite. Pay all your monthly expenses with a credit card then use your budgeted money to pay off the credit card. I guess that would be down the line after I can figure out how to even watch my money.

Ugh. Feeling a bit stressed out after writing all this out. Not looking for sympathy. I guess this thread is becoming kind of like a diary form for me. I’m just dropping my thoughts about the class. And venting about my own resistance to budgeting.
 
I thought this video was about finacial dyslexia and I thought of you and me @Rose White 🙄

But it's actually about financial dysmorphia ...

Interesting... now I'm wondering whether this is a "thing" for me too... 🤔

 
In yesterday’s financial literacy class we reviewed what we covered which was mostly about credit and debt. I brought up how contradictory it was to on the one hand hear about using the cash envelope method to pay for monthly expenses and on the other hand use a credit card to pay for monthly expenses. I said I was fearful of credit cards, just the idea of them seemed wrong to me.

And the whole credit score thing. I found out that your credit can be lowered by paying off an installment loan before the end of the contract! Your credit can be lowered by both opening a credit card and closing one. The whole system seems so unseemly.

So anyway I brought up about the cash ve credit card for monthly expenses and the teacher said she could totally understand my feelings but that the reality of the situation is that America runs on credit. It’s the language of financial success and freedom.

That is daunting to me. Feels like a huge mountain to climb. And I haven’t even figured out the budgeting yet.

I don’t know if it’s the same regarding credit in other countries?

I asked whether I should try to improve my credit before going back to school for a Masters degree and the teacher said, “Definitely.” She said that federal loans are based on your income but that federal loans rarely cover the whole cost of schooling and private loans are almost a necessity.

I wanted to start applying for my Masters this Summer, but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t work on my credit for a year then apply? That’s where the mountain-climbing feeling comes in. Because I need to figure out the whole budgeting thing first and develop that habit and I’m so slow to develop habits that stick….

Okay, yes it’s big. But it’s not impossible. And at least now I’m beginning to face the right way about it.

One more thing that stood out to me from the class last night. The teacher said that pay day lenders have NO LIMIT on the amount of interest they charge and that she has seen them up to—get this—300% <—- not a typo

Something kind of weird is that we will have a speaker on predatory lending and it’s the ex-wife of my former director, who also happens to be the step-mom of a co-worker. Sheesh. Feels like a soap opera. I know her and she knows me but she’s always had a sort of “way above me” feel to her. She’s like the queen of desert dykes and I’m like a scuttling desert bug who persists and keeps showing up. Anyway, I do respect her but I definitely get the sense that she looks down on me and here I am showing up as a food bank client in need of her teaching. It’s going to be weird in an almost delightful kind of way?? Like I’m so curious how it’s going to pan out—I haven’t decided if I’m going to acknowledge her as someone I know or not. I’m leaning toward not. I think it might just be awkward. And if she acknowledges me then I get to feel embarrassed and special—lol! I once had a very silly dream about her that involved naked yoga—she was naked and I didn’t want to be 🤦‍♀️.

Anyway! Is all of that appropriate for this thread?? 😂
 

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