đ¨ Daunted About Money Stuff + Club Sport Costs + Pointless Bank Account?
The money stuff that you wish they taught in school
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You know when youâre in class and someone asks a question and you go:
âOh, I was going to ask thatâ or,
âOh, I didnât have that question before, but now I want to know the answer to itâ
Thatâs 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.
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Your Questions & Answers
đ¨ Daunted About Money Stuff
â˝ď¸ Club Sport Costs
Pointless Bank Account?
đ¨ Daunted About Money Stuff
Q. âHow am I supposed to learn about money stuff? Thereâs just so much to know and itâs so confusing and complicated and I just donât know Iâm ever going to get it all đâ
- Jaya, 14, Qld
Answer
Hey Jaya. Youâre 100% right. There is heaps to know. And it can be really confusing and complicated. Youâre not alone. Lots of people feel that way.
But there is some good news.
You can learn. You wonât learn everything you need to overnight, or even particularly quickly. But hereâs the other bit of good news: you donât have to.
You only need to learn as much as you need for the age you are at the moment.Â
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 didnât need to. I learned that when I had to when I was in my mid-20âs.Â
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 âhow do you invest in sharesâ). And I asked people a bunch of questions. Iâm still learning how to do it better, and learning a bit more every year.
Putting New Knowledge âOn Topâ of Old
And hereâs the other thing that should take the pressure off a bit. Learning about this stuff is slow. Itâs supposed to be that way!
Think about it. You donât âlearn somethingâ 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.Â
Whatâs an example of this?Â
Think about the guy or girl who was in charge of the kitchen of the best restaurant youâve ever eaten at or seen on TV. The kind of place where thereâs a long wait for a table and they charge lots for the food. Or a bakery thatâs going viral on TikTok (you know the one Iâm talking about đŞ)
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 âcooking knowledgeâ 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 ânext levelâ 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.Â
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.Â
At the moment youâre 14. Youâre not supposed to know it all. Youâre not expected to be able to cook a restaurant quality meal. And youâre not expected to know about all the money stuff youâre even going to come across either.Â
Just know that youâll learn this stuff slowly, over time.
Keep reading Money Chats. Itâs here to make the complicated money stuff easier to understand.
And itâs here to help you feel more confident about money stuff by building your knowledge slowly, over time.
And any time youâre not sure about something, write in and ask. Iâm here to help where I can.Â
I really hope that reading that has made you feel a little less daunted Jaya, and Iâm really glad you wrote in with your question.
Club Sport Costs
Q. âIâve played club sports in winter and really like it. But I think itâs expensive and my parents say we canât play this year cause of that. Is there anything I can do?â
- N.W., 14, Vic
Answer
Hey N.W., thank you for writing in. Look, thatâs really tough. Youâre 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. Thatâs 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.
Itâs 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 donât.
I bet that if money wasnât an issue, your parents would love for you and your siblings to be playing. Theyâre doing the absolute best they can, but sometimes they will have to make hard choices about this sort of thing.
If youâre really keen to play, hereâs an option you could try.
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