Money and investing are topics that my family will avoid discussing at all costs. I’m sure the vast differences in the older (ahem, my parents) and the younger generations’ opinions aren’t that uncommon and that many a family have put money matters on their conversation hit list.
How
money should be used, when it should be spent or saved, or where to invest
money are all topics that have led to an inner-family dispute, or 20, I'm sure.
Without
a doubt, people’s perspective of money and how they handle it is shaped, even
in the smallest of ways, by the events and prevailing attitudes of the
generation in which one was raised. With that being said, money also means and
is used for many different things throughout the course of a person’s life.
Depending on the stage of life in which you currently exist, or the one to
which you’re headed, your perspectives of personal finance will change. 
Considering the rather interesting experiences I’ve had while discussing personal finance with generations older and younger than I, I found the blog Boomer & Echo to be a totally refreshing and welcomed forum for multi-generational discussions about money.
This site is not only informative, offering highly useful personal finance information, but the fact that it’s written by a mother-son duo of the Boomer (Baby Boomer) and Echo (the children of the Baby Boomers) generations, makes it just that much more interesting from a reader’s perspective.
“When we got together we always had conversations about the economy and financial matters,” Boomer, a former financial planner, explained. “It was Echo's idea to start the blog. We found that our opinions usually diverged from main-stream thinking. We thought it would be interesting to compare how different generations make their financial decisions based on current lifestyles and past experiences.”
Boomer and Echo saw that they could offer something different to the world of personal finance blogs and started to write money-related posts on the topics that mattered most to them in their respective stages of life.
Even if there wasn’t a by-line to accompany each of the posts at Boomer & Echo you could probably figure out who had written what just from the types of topics that you will find. From, How to Add Gold to Your Portfolio or Choose Your Retirement Date, to Pay off Your Credit Card Balance Immediately or Wait for a Grace Period? and Creating Your Estate Plan, Boomer & Echo really has something to offer people of all ages.
What’s interesting is that while people of different generations might disagree about what the best financial moves are in terms of how much you should save or where you should invest, those who were taught how to be financially responsible or who taught themselves about personal finance, regardless of what generation they are from, will likely agree on the fundamentals.
So, for example, despite the fact that Boomer and Echo came of age at different times and in very different economic climates, they said that their views of money are quite similar, even if they disagree about the details like whether to use online banking or receive paper statements to stay on track.
“I think we have very similar viewpoints with regards to investing,” said Boomer. “I obviously have had more experience with the ups and downs of the market and our day to day lifestyles have resulted in different choices.”
“At the core, I think we share similar views on money,” Echo explained. “The landscape has certainly changed from 25 years ago where my parents were dealing with 18% interest rates, and fewer choices for saving and investing their money.”
One of
the money-related details that Boomer and Echo said they still largely disagree
on, and one that has likely been the route of more than a few debates between
people of different generations, is whether or not to use a credit card to pay
for the vast majority of your purchases. While Boomer would rather limit credit
card use, Echo pays for most things with his credit card so that he can collect
reward points.
When asked what it is that his mother taught him that has made the biggest impression upon his financial actions today, Echo said she got him started on the right foot, financially speaking, which fostered a desire to learn more about personal finance.
“There are so many things that I’ve learned from my mom that it’s tough to come up with just one,” he said. “She got me to start investing at an early age and to understand the types of investments that were available, which really motivated me to learn more about my finances.”
Considering the mother-son dynamic of this writing duo, and the fact that Echo now has a family of his own, I asked both Boomer and Echo whose responsibility it is to teach children about money:
“I think that parents play a large role in educating their kids about money and shaping the way they value money and hard work,” Echo said. “Schools need to play a role as well to help kids understand some basic personal finance concepts, like budgeting, investing and using credit responsibly. It’s hard to generalize what all of today’s youth know about money, but I think that the majority of our youth need to learn to separate their wants from their needs.”
“Parents should be responsible for educating their children about money and starting at a young age,” said Boomer. “In most homes the finances are a taboo subject. Schools should also have a money management course, at least in high school to give different approaches so they can make good decisions in the future. A lot of young people squander their earnings for several years before they start becoming aware of debt, credit, savings and different investment options.”
Often, it’s the things that we regret most that become the most valuable lessons we learn and, while I don’t have children yet, I can only imagine that some of the things I regret, like taking on more student debt than I needed to or not seeing the merits in frugal living earlier, will be some of the most important lessons I teach my children.
When I asked Boomer and Echo if they had any financial regrets, their answers were opposite one another; she said she wished she hadn’t always played it safe, while Echo said he regretted taking too many risks with his money when he first started investing.
Hindsight is 20/20 but that’s why a blog like Boomer & Echo, that shows people different ways of financially navigating through the stages in which they currently reside as well as those to which they’re headed, is a personal finance or frugal living enthusiast’s dream come true.
More than anything, Boomer and Echo hope to add a new perspective, or rather perspectives, to the discourse on personal finance:
“I've read a lot of financial books and articles that basically say the same thing,” Boomer said. “Also, working for a bank reinforced the same types of beliefs (which mainly benefit the financial institutions) and are mass marketed. With our blog I hope to give some alternative ideas and get people thinking about what's best for their own individual situations.”
“Like Boomer, I don’t believe in one standard approach to managing your finances,” Echo explained. “As a 30-something trying to balance my savings and investing while raising a family on a single income, I want to share my personal finance experiences with our readers and hopefully offer something of value while keeping them engaged in our journey.”
If nothing else, you’re sure to find some new financial topics to debate over dinner with your loved ones.
*Photos from Flickr, courtesy of: yosoyelmo1, tao_zhyn
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