Since tomorrow is Father’s Day, I thought I’d take a minute to honor our dad for the sound financial principles he taught us as we were growing up.
1. Always save some money. My brothers and I got an allowance when we were young and then had paper routes when we were older; saving money from those sources was a family requirement. 20% minimum.
2. Interest is your friend. Our dad knew the power of interest, and taught us to look for the best possible rate. We never had our own savings accounts; instead, Dad put our savings in with his because his account, having a much higher balance, always earned more interest. To keep track of our individual savings, Dad would print out spreadsheets for us, showing our deposits, our balance, and total interest earned.
3. Buy smart, which is not necessarily the same as cheap. Dad did not believe that the best deal was always the cheapest deal. He knew to look for quality at a good price so that he wasn’t losing money replacing stuff all the time.
For example, we rode bikes a lot. My dad is into saving money and being in shape, so he often rode his to work. My brothers always rode theirs to do their paper routes. (Mark once rode his into the back of a car, a parked car.) After buying cheap bikes from a discount store and finding they only lasted a summer or two, my dad decided we would fork over the big bucks for quality bikes from the bike store. After saving for several months, we all had quality Specialized mountain bikes that lasted for years. In fact, I still ride the Specialized Hard Rock I got 19 years ago!
Thanks Dad, for laying a solid financial foundation for my brothers and me. Happy Father’s Day; we love you.
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