What silly misconceptions did you have about $$$$$$$

**nodmicks** · 07-26-2010, 05:22 PM

I got thinking about this while reading another thread. What silly misconceptions did you previously have about $ or ideas about who had $ or didn't.

When I was in my 20's I remember going along to an interview with dh about 40 miles away. I planned to get dropped off at the mall before he interviewed.

He drove past the place the interview would be on the way to the mall. I remember seeing lots of nice cars in the parking lot and telling dh " they must pay great! Look at all those nice cars in the parking lot!!!!" It turned out the pay and benefits were horrid and he turned it down.

Now I know nice cars mean either lots of debt or someone saved up to buy it. It sure doesn't mean a place pays well. LOL

I used to think people had to be really important to have a gold or platnium credit card when I was young. LOL

I thought we had really arrived when I was about 22 (1992) and we could buy a new sectional set on credit. WE must be really important they would trust us right???? Never once did I think about the 24.99 interest. Can we say~ Mick was not a very smart girl?????

So what were some of yours???

**Contrary Housewife** · 07-26-2010, 06:14 PM

I thought I'd get offered a job paying more than $22k when I got out of grad school. I also thought it would be easy to pay off the student loans (once I got that high paying job, of course). I thought jobs would come easily, after all I was smart and had two degrees.

I thought car dealers would be happy to finance a bright young energetic college kid on a used car. And that my bank would give me one of their low interest credit cards. But with no credit history (what's that?) of course they didn't.

**frugalwarrior2** · 07-26-2010, 10:59 PM

When i was a kid my dad convinced me to put my "silver money" in the bank. I was under the impression it was like a safety deposit box and you got the EXACT money back. I was about 8. I found out you got interest because they "used" your money. I was furious w/ my dad. I informed him that the money was silver and silver was worth more because the interest was low. He actually coughed up a few bucks.

**forHISglory** · 07-26-2010, 11:32 PM

I thought that paper checks were awesome. Just write a number on them, and TA DA!!!! Money!!! Took a while to convince me that it didn't necessarily work that way. I thought we were rich because I discovered a pad of checks....

**Luckybustert** · 07-27-2010, 01:26 AM

I can afford that because there's room on my credit card. And I can spend this much more because they just upped my credit limit. Boy was I stupid, stupid, stupid!

**scottp999** · 07-27-2010, 08:21 AM

My misconceptions were around how the currency and banking system worked. I did not figure it out until I got my MBA and started to really research all types of investments and capital markets in detail. That research led to the investigation of where do $ come from for all these enormous amounts of money we all hear about on the news and in the markets? They don't exist, and then they exist, how does that happen?

That investigation led to learing about the history of money, detailed research into central and commercial banking, and an understanding of fractional reserve banking and fiat currency.

It was like looking down the rabbitt hole in Alice in Wonderland and having to look deeper and deeper. Have not been the same person since. It is truly an investigation into the structure of what I would call a Human Livestock Management System, and the root cause of most of the problems that hurt human society on a grand scale while benfiting a small elite.

Most people think they "got it (understand money)" when they get what the personal finance gurus are preaching. That's just understanding the initial layer. The system is like an onion, and to peel back a layer, it takes a wierd dedication to researching things many people would not even think about or question during their entire life times.

**Josephhgoins** · 07-27-2010, 09:05 AM

Not neccessarily me, but some great ones that I heard.

I can easily afford that car the payment is only XXX and thats only 2 weeks pay per month. I am sure the insurance wouldn't be that much either.

You know, if I borrow XXX from the bank and pay off this bill I can then take the money I was paying on that bill and pay off everything else that I owe and be out of debt.

This X is on sale and we really do need a new one. I know our other one works fine but it is out of style. It's on sale for 10% off so I am going to get it and just put it on my new Credit Card. They are only charging 5% interest and I will have it paid off in 3 years no problem.

This on is my favorite, my father and I have had a very strained relationship since he and Mom divorced when I was very young. He is dieing and my mother annoyed me until I finally agreed to go see him. We were talking and he was saying that his house was paid for and I said that so was mine. "felt good to pay off that note didn't it?" " I paid cash, there was no note" "why would you want to do that for? just think of all that interest you lost on that money in the bank"

**Inkstain82** · 07-27-2010, 10:09 AM

I figured if you weren't living too extravagantly, then it would all work out in the long run, regardless of whether you were making enough to cover your not-extravagant lifestyle.

I assumed banks wouldn't be actively looking to try to extract fees out of people who get into trouble.

I thought the only way to get ahead was to be born into money or make a ton of it.

I assumed saving was something that older people did, no reason to start in my late teens and early 20s.

**frugalfoster** · 07-27-2010, 10:13 AM

That there was more where that came from...I had a job where I received money everyday.... It would have been so much better if I had learned to live on a budget back then!

**greekislandgirl** · 07-27-2010, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by forHISglory

I thought that paper checks were awesome. Just write a number on them, and TA DA!!!! Money!!! Took a while to convince me that it didn't necessarily work that way. I thought we were rich because I discovered a pad of checks....

I thought the exact same thing!! I used to go with my mom to the supermarket when I was little and she would write a check. I was convinced that as long as you had a check, you could get anything you wanted. I thought it was the greatest system!!

I have another one. My parents were looking for a new house when I was about 7 or 8. When they bought the house they had back in 1975, it was only a 40 minute commute to my dad's work, but because of development and traffic, by the time I was 8 it was closer to 1.5 hours (now it is 2 hours). Although they ended up buying a small condo for just my dad to live in M-F and we kept the original house (still where my parents live today), for a long time we thought we were going to sell the house and buy a new one. My parents would always discuss different houses and look at real estate ads in the paper. They would say the price of this or that house, but always in thousands. As in "this one is 200" rather than "this one is 200,000 dollars."

I actually believed that you could get a big house with a pool and lots of bedrooms and bathrooms for less than five hundred bucks. I remember going up to my room and jumping on my bed for joy because I thought we were going to move into a mansion, since it was only 900 dollars.

**Kitten20** · 07-27-2010, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by greekislandgirl

I thought the exact same thing!! I used to go with my mom to the supermarket when I was little and she would write a check. I was convinced that as long as you had a check, you could get anything you wanted. I thought it was the greatest system!!

Same thing for me! If my grandparents said they had no money for something, I would say, "Just write a check!" They still tease me about that.

During my early 20s - getting a pay day loan... and then another pay day loan to pay off the first one. It took me over a year to get out of that vicious cycle. 'Nuff said.

**nuisance26** · 07-27-2010, 05:38 PM

~Had to really think about this one since I've been fascinated by finance since I was very little. But in reading tons of books and articles on personal finance through my teen years I had myself convinced that it would take two incomes, and one of them a requiring a college degree, just to get by in NJ.
DH and I both have a few college credits and only one factory job for DH. We not only live on very little, we're comfortable and getting ahead.
There wasn't a lot of information in the mainstream about living on a very small income "back then". Except the TG which I loved. I dreamed and hoped that living on a little was possible but in the back of my head I kept thinking "She's in Maine, and this is an old book!"

But it turns out that the principles aren't old and can be applied anywhere. Even in expensive NJ.

~

**xtena** · 07-27-2010, 08:59 PM

Being offered an American Express and thinking it was 'better' than other credit cards and I must really be coming up in the world to deserve the offer.

**mom2three** · 07-27-2010, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by Kitten20

Same thing for me! If my grandparents said they had no money for something, I would say, "Just write a check!" They still tease me about that.

During my early 20s - getting a pay day loan... and then another pay day loan to pay off the first one. It took me over a year to get out of that vicious cycle. 'Nuff said.

It's similar for my daughter. A few weeks ago, hubby said he had no cash in his wallet. Her comment was "Yes, but you still have money" and we eventually figured out she meant the credit card. It's been great since it has gotten us talking about debt. She asked about "buy now, pay later" options on the way home.