Your behavior can be a function of your environment, upbringing, social impacts, religion etc. but have you ever thought that your behavior towards money can be a function of your upbringing? Does your childhood play a major factor?
A research/ paper, by Washington University, St. Louis had this to say: People often name their parents when they are asked from whom they learned their money management skills from. To date, the role of parents in economic socialization has been investigated in terms of how they manage the child’s pocket money, whether allowances are given unconditionally or (partly) have to be earned. What the parents’ motives for giving an allowance are or which role family structure plays for amount of pocket money given.
Family income has been investigated in relation to adolescent spending. More recently, parents’ saving for children has been used to predict children’s savings. Using a retrospective approach, research has demonstrated the importance of parental encouragement to save money during childhood and adolescence for adult saving. It has also demonstrated an association between the recall of parental saving habits (as one indicator for financial experiences in childhood) and the saving rates of young adults.
Researchers have investigated the development of money attitudes, saving attitudes, money management, and savings behavior in childhood and adolescence, and determined that it indeed affects the development of saving behavior. This could stretch from family relationship with money while growing up, day to-day family interaction with money, and the teaching of behaviors in the family might facilitate the development of saving behavior that is carried into adulthood.
Are you thinking back to your childhood to see how it has contributed to your behavior towards saving or money in general?
You should! I think about mine and I am definitely convinced of how my childhood contributed to my saving habits and investment enthusiasm.
A long time ago, while I was 11 years old and in Junior secondary school, my dad got an early retirement from one of the oil companies in Nigeria. I barely knew anything about it because my parents made sure nothing changed. I did however, feel the distraught and fear in his eyes every time my school sends the bill. He didn’t expect that they would lay him off so soon, hence, he didn’t have so much saved. He had a few investments here and there which came in handy but we could all see he wished he did more.
I learnt how to save from my mum. She would convince me to keep all the money visitors gave me to buy what I wanted for Christmas. Sometimes I gave it to her; sometimes I hid it in my bag. As I grew older, keeping money aside made me feel good. It gave me some sort of security that if ever I got let out of a job or stranded in anyway; I would have something to fall back on.
I have always had money anxieties but also I have felt the need to put money to good use or to work and make more money. This resulted to a lot of positive life decisions i made in my Life e.g. studying to be a professional security and investment officer and wanting to be a stockbroker.
My advice when it comes to money anxiety is to take things easy first. Itemize what it is about money that bothers you. Ask yourself critical questions that will help you become self-aware on how you handle money and why it scares you so much to lose it. You never know, it might be your childhood.
Let me know your childhood experiences with money and how they have shaped your current behavior towards it.
About The Writer
Benedicta Omoruyi is a professional security and investment officer (CIS), marketer and technical evangelist. She is a fierce writer, content creator, investment enthusiast and advocate, and an all round creative female. She writes weekly for Glazia on the column, Money Talk.