Talking About Money Was Rude When I Was Growing Up
Girls were taught not to worry about finances.
If my parents went through tough financial times, I never knew it. They rarely spoke about money, and I wasn’t taught how to save, budget, or invest.
The closest I got to getting financial advice was when my dad asked me what stock he should buy me as a gift. I suggested Macy’s and Mattel—I was eight, and they were two companies I knew and liked.
After the purchase, nothing else was said about it — we didn’t watch their stock market progress or research other companies. I sold them when I was old enough, which was the end of my lesson in investing.
I earned $10 a week by ironing my dad’s shirts, polishing his shoes, and raking and mowing the front lawn. My dad got the better part of that deal if you ask me. We had a female ginkgo tree that dropped foul-smelling balls on the parkway and sidewalk, making lawn maintenance a dirty and smelly job.
If I brought up the idea of a raise, my mother shot me down.
“A lady doesn’t talk about money,” she’d say. “Let the man in your life worry about it.”
A woman couldn’t get a credit card in her name until 1974, and in many households like mine, the man worked while the woman did all the…
