😨 Daunted About Money Stuff + Club Sport Costs + Pointless Bank Account?

The money stuff that you wish they taught in school

Someone emailed a few weeks ago and said that if they asked a question the answer might be in the paid subscriber only section, so they wouldn’t get to see the answer.

That’s a great point!

So from now on, if you email through a question, I’ll unlock the full paid subscriber version of Money Chats for you for a month so you can see your answer. You’ll also get the benefits of a full sub for a month as my way of saying thanks for writing in 🙂. When you ask a question all you need to do is include the email address you subscribed with in the question form (here) so I can add your free upgrade.

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You know when you’re in class and someone asks a question and you go:

• “Oh, I was going to ask that” or,

• “Oh, I didn’t have that question before, but now I want to know the answer to it”

That’s what this is supposed to be like (but with money stuff, not English or Biology).

The format of this newsletter is simple:

• 3 questions from teenagers and young adults like you and my answers.

• 💬🤔 Got your own question about money that you want to ask? If you send it through this week there’s a good chance you’ll get an answer next week! You can submit it here (and it can be totally anonymous if you prefer 🙂).

• To find out why this newsletter exists (and a little about me), you can read the FAQs.

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A quick reminder…

🔒 Money Chats now has some content just for those who have upgraded their subscriptions:

• 📌 This post about Sam Kerr’s paycheck is an example. 

• 📌 This one about Taylor Swift tickets and ‘Brand Taylor’ is another. 

• 📌 And this once a month ‘Best Of’ newsletter is another.

• 📌 Upgraded subs also get full access to a searchable archive of all 40+ posts and 120+ questions from all past editions of Money Chats.

Also, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has upgraded their sub so far. The messages you’ve sent through when you’ve upgraded have made my day every time I’ve received them 😄.

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Your Questions & Answers

• 😨 Daunted About Money Stuff

• ⚽️ Club Sport Costs

• Pointless Bank Account?

😨 Daunted About Money Stuff

Q. “How am I supposed to learn about money stuff? There’s just so much to know and it’s so confusing and complicated and I just don’t know I’m ever going to get it all 😔”

- Jaya, 14, Qld

Answer

Hey Jaya. You’re 100% right. There is heaps to know. And it can be really confusing and complicated. You’re not alone. Lots of people feel that way.

But there is some good news.

You can learn. You won’t learn everything you need to overnight, or even particularly quickly. But here’s the other bit of good news: you don’t have to.

You only need to learn as much as you need for the age you are at the moment. 

A Couple Personal Examples

Let me try explain what I mean with some examples.

• When I was 19, I had no idea what needed to happen to save for and buy a house. I didn’t need to. I learned that when I had to when I was in my mid-20’s. 

• When I was 20 and had some savings I decided that I would invest some of it in shares. But I had no idea how to do that. But I just started with the basics (literally a Google search of ‘how do you invest in shares’). And I asked people a bunch of questions. I’m still learning how to do it better, and learning a bit more every year.

Putting New Knowledge ‘On Top’ of Old

And here’s the other thing that should take the pressure off a bit. Learning about this stuff is slow. It’s supposed to be that way!

Think about it. You don’t ‘learn something’ suddenly after reading it once or hearing about it a few times. You learn things by slowly layering new knowledge on top of older, more basic knowledge. 

What’s an example of this? 

Think about the guy or girl who was in charge of the kitchen of the best restaurant you’ve ever eaten at or seen on TV. The kind of place where there’s a long wait for a table and they charge lots for the food. Or a bakery that’s going viral on TikTok (you know the one I’m talking about 🍪)

When that person was 14, there is absolutely zero chance they would have been able to make the food that they are preparing today.

They might not even have known how to boil an egg. If they were like me at 14, their ‘cooking knowledge’ only went as far as making Mi Goreng Noodles and Chicken Nuggets.

• But at some point they learned how to boil that egg.

• And make nice salads, with tasty dressings.

• And marinate meat and cook it perfectly.

• And bake cakes and delicious cookies.

There would have definitely been some huge fails in those early attempts. But they kept at it. Learned from their mistakes. Learned new skills. Applied those skills to the ‘next level’ of harder dishes to make.

New knowledge on top of old knowledge.

Then they might have done an apprenticeship. That meant even more experience in a professional environment, learning from others. 

And after all of that, they got good. Good enough to go down a path that led them to running their own kitchen and making some fantastic food for people who visit their restaurant or bakery. 

At the moment you’re 14. You’re not supposed to know it all. You’re not expected to be able to cook a restaurant quality meal. And you’re not expected to know about all the money stuff you’re even going to come across either. 

• Just know that you’ll learn this stuff slowly, over time.

• Keep reading Money Chats. It’s here to make the complicated money stuff easier to understand.

• And it’s here to help you feel more confident about money stuff by building your knowledge slowly, over time.

• And any time you’re not sure about something, write in and ask. I’m here to help where I can. 

I really hope that reading that has made you feel a little less daunted Jaya, and I’m really glad you wrote in with your question.

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Club Sport Costs

Q. “I’ve played club sports in winter and really like it. But I think it’s expensive and my parents say we can’t play this year cause of that. Is there anything I can do?”

- N.W., 14, Vic

Answer

Hey N.W., thank you for writing in. Look, that’s really tough. You’re right, there are some costs that come from playing club sports. They include the cost of registration, the cost of uniforms, plus match fees.

Unfortunately, the cost of registration in particular has been going up a lot in the last few years. That’s because a lot of the registration cost is insurance. That insurance means that your club and the people who run it are covered and can pay the bills if an injury happens while someone is training or playing in a match.

It’s also a tough time for a lot of families in terms of money stuff. You might have heard about inflation in the news or online. Basically it means everything is a little more expensive than it used to be a few years ago.

And that means that many families have to make some hard choices about what they pay for and what they don’t.

I bet that if money wasn’t an issue, your parents would love for you and your siblings to be playing. They’re doing the absolute best they can, but sometimes they will have to make hard choices about this sort of thing.

If you’re really keen to play, here’s an option you could try.

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• The rest of this newsletter including the other 2 Q&A’s are available to paid subscribers.

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