What advice have you been given about money?

I have been listening to the So Money podcast with Farnoosh Torabi. I love when she asks her guests (who are generally very successful people!) to share a bit of information about their relationship with money. She asks questions like:

• What’s your greatest money memory as a kid growing up?
• Did you have a lemonade stand?
• Did you work your first job when you were 12?
• What was the lesson that you learned about money?
• What would you say is your financial philosophy?
• Do you have a money mantra?

• What would you say is your number one financial habit?
• When I was younger, the one thing I wish I had learned about money is ____.

One guest on her show said that most people have more shame talking about money than anything else. Let's stop this shame crap! We have to have it, so we might as well learn how to make it, and keep it, as best as we can! If I had to pick advice that I've been given or read, that has helped me become smarter about money (and I am still an infant in this learning stage!!) it would be:

1. Put money away for retirement. My co-worker at one of my first jobs was a stay-at-a-home Mom and a freelancer for years before she came back into the workforce. She implored me to take advantage of the 401K at work.

2. Save. Put it away. You will need it.

3. Pay your bills as soon as they arrive. There really is no point in putting it off and it leads to bad habits and issues. I love how easy bill pay has made this task.

4. Live without debt. If you don't own it, it isn't yours. Pay it off. I have learned a lot from Dave Ramsey's baby steps.

We all have a very unique relationship with money. Where does it come from? What moments shaped your relationship? When I was 19-years-old and had just transferred to Sac State, I was living in an apartment with a friend. One month I didn't make good tips, and I hadn't balanced my checkbook enough and my rent check bounced. It was embarrassing. But it was also a great lesson. I needed to make sure I could pay my rent before I spent money on anything else. I still live this way when making our mortgage payment.

What lessons do we keep relearning about money,  because of our habits? So much is just habits. I'm hoping to drop some bad habits and strengthen my good ones.  I'm wishing you luck too! Cheers to feeling better about all things money!