I feel like the most recent addition to my family's stock and bond portfolio, after making them incur a ridiculous amout of debt on my behalf and having no gurantee on their 'investment' beyond filial piety and a commercial life insurance policy. I don't think I would have told them to go for it if I was their investment advisor, to be honest, but that's probably why parents never ask their children for financial advice. There were a few pipe-dreams of being a New York district attorney -- TV's always been a strong influence on my life -- but six figures of debt kind of makes a convincing argument to become a corporate law whore, no? My mother is slowly trying to reconcile me with the idea of going into global finance or international tax law. This is ironic, because she worked in foreign exchange for years before I was born and considers accountants bankers to be generally evil.
When I was small, I also thought money was generally evil and that the bartering system, as I understood it (namely as explained to me by my father, always the more sketchy of sources), was a fantastic idea we should go back to. Chickens for medical services seemed brilliant, and was also where I figured all the chocolates my Dad brought home from work came from. The day I found out about Medicare, income tax, equity and bond investments, mortgages, and the real meaning of Monopoly was a sad day indeed.
When I was small, I also thought money was generally evil and that the bartering system, as I understood it (namely as explained to me by my father, always the more sketchy of sources), was a fantastic idea we should go back to. Chickens for medical services seemed brilliant, and was also where I figured all the chocolates my Dad brought home from work came from. The day I found out about Medicare, income tax, equity and bond investments, mortgages, and the real meaning of Monopoly was a sad day indeed.
