Why Don’t People Like To Talk About Money ?
You ever wonder why people don’t like to talk about money ?
When you ask someone how much money they make, it’s like this big secret and they often look at you funny.
If you ask someone if they invest and they say yes, they never tell you the exact amount they have invested.
If you ask someone how much debt they have, they will say a little bit, nothing really but will never disclose the amount.
As I’ve become interested about money and how it works, I find that when I try to have conversations with people about it, it tends to be awkward. I find that people have a difficult time speaking on this subject matter.
Interested about money
As I’ve been getting older and experiencing life, I wonder why this topic was never really presented to me. From taxes, saving, investing, first home purchase and even budgeting.
Now I’m a 80’s baby and my generation is from 32 - 42. I sit right in the middle of that.
As I’ve been going on this path to learn about personal finance that interests me, when I try to talk to other people about it, it’s like I’m speaking another language.
I don’t know why it’s like this taboo topic that no one is open to discussion about.
I am by no means well off and I’m still learning everyday. I am sort of late to the investing side of things and getting serious about my finances, but after plugging some numbers into an interest rate calculator, I believe I’ll be able to reach my financial goals. To me it’s all about making sound financial decisions that my future self will thank me for.
With my experiences with trying to speak to people about money, I feel there are 2 main reasons.
Ashamed of where there at
When I spark up a conversation about money or investments, I find people will say I’m investing but will never give any real figures. I can freely talk about my expenses and how much I need to make a month to cover my bills. Also, I feel comfortable letting people know the percentage of income I’m saving and investing.
There is a study that was done last year by FP Canada that says 1 in 4 Canadians don’t like to talk about money.
Link to the article: https://www.financialplanningforcanadians.ca/financial-planning/breaking-the-taboo-around-mon
From my conversations with people, I’ve come to the conclusion that people feel ashamed about where they are financially.
Some ashamed by:
Still being in debt,
Not having as much as they want in savings,
Haven’t yet started investing
Or it could be making an impulse or bad purchase.
With that being said, it’s understandable why people face money issues and problems once they become adults.
Even though money is this taboo topic that no one wants to talk about, how can we expect to get better at something if we don’t talk about it? As embarrassed or ashamed as you might be, you have to be able to address the problem.
Though I didn't have many people to talk to about it, I drove into this topic head on and started to look for resources that could help me better understand how money works. I only have a handful of people that I can talk to openly about it. I can say, without a doubt, that those conversations have helped me out tremendously. I find that it's always better to talk to people that are at a level you are inspired to be at.
It may be difficult, but if you can try to find a group of people you can have those conversations with. Try with your current peer group and you never know, you might be surprised by the type of conversations you might start having about money.
People Just Don’t know
Another reason I find that people don’t want to talk about money, investments, or savings is that they just don’t know. They don't have the slightest clue about investments, how to invest, different types of accounts you can invest with, applying for a mortgage, improving your credit score, how to budget,having systems for your money and the list goes on.
It’s like we’re making money, living our lives and hoping that everything is just going to work out.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not knowing, however in today's world we live in with the internet, we can slowly start to educate ourselves. With the internet, we have access to great information and resources to learn about any topic of choice.
I've been investing consistently for the last 2.5 years, learned a lot and made substantial gains as well.
It's funny that when I have a conversation and the topic of money or investing comes about, I find that many people's view on investing is like gambling. They’ll always have some story about one of their friends or colleagues that lost all of their money investing in the stock market. In some cases that could be true if you're day trading. However, that’s highly unlikely if you have a long term outlook and strategy towards your investing.
For example; someone could invest in a s&p 500 index ETF like ZSP, and a TSX index ETF like ZCN.
If you're unfamiliar with the term ETF, it’s short for an exchange traded fund. It’s a fund that holds a group of stocks rather than just one.
You could buy single shares of companies like Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, Tesla or any company you choose. If you buy an ETF like ZSP, you can purchase 1 share and own a portion of a bunch of companies.
These two ETFs give you exposure to just under 800 companies. For those who are unfamiliar, the s&p 500 is an index with 500 of America's biggest companies which makes up about 80% of the US stock market. The S&P/TSX ETF is an index that tracks the 250’s of Canada’s biggest companies that make up 70% of the market. These funds are a great way to invest for the long term and give great diversification to protect against risk.
ZSP since it was created in 2012, has had a return of 293% !!! That’s almost 300% on your money in less than 10 years. Now since ZCN was created in 2009, it's up almost 70%. The Canadian market is not as big as America's, but the fund pays out a nice dividend and gives diversification in another market.
This is just an example of how with just having 2 funds in your portfolio, you can have great long term growth and protect yourself against risk.
Why not educate yourself ??
I find it interesting that there is so much information available for free and people don’t take the time to educate themselves on it. Like why not ??
We live in a world today where you can pretty much access information by just pulling out your phone and searching for it.
Everything that I've learned thus far has been from free content on the internet from YouTube videos, podcasts and blogs.
I guess that’s always been one thing I find puzzling. Why not change a situation that you are in control of. For most, they must feel that they are not in control of their finances and I don’t believe that to be true.
There are many things that we can't control but why not choose to control this.
Resources:
Starting investing and open an account with:
Questrade: https://www.questrade.com?refid=5fa051c8dc6a2
Wealthsimple Trade: https://my.wealthsimple.com/app/public/trade-referral-signup?code=2KALKG
ETFs mentioned:
ZSP.TO ETF: https://www.bmogam.com/ca-en/advisors/zsp-bmo-sp-500-index-etf/
ZCN ETF: https://www.bmogam.com/ca-en/advisors/zcn-bmo-sp-tsx-capped-composite-index-etf/
