the world: money

When I was little I used to believe that the banks would randomly choose who went into foreclosure. I used to read the foreclosure sections of the paper to make sure my family wasn't in it.

I used to think that when people talked about the stock market crashing, they said sock market, and that everyone had to wear old socks with holes in them because they couldn't buy new ones.

I grew up in Mexico, and in spanish the word for cashier is the same word used for box. I went to the bank with my mom and she told me she had to go to the "box" to deposit some money. I believed that money was kept in cardboard boxes in the bank until I was 8.

I used to believe that credit cards had compressed money in them. I thought that every time you swiped your credit card the machine would cut open the credit card, pull just the right money out and seal it back up.

I used to believe that pennies functioned as dollars. My mom told me I needed seven dollars for the toy I wanted so I rushed and grabbed seven pennies. I swear I had enough.

I used to believe that if you went to the bank, you can take out as much money as you want even if you don't have an account and you don't need to pay it back. I believed this until I was 12.

When I was little I used to believe that ATM's just gave you free money. Whenever my parents said "we can't buy that, we don't have money" , I would reply "why don't you just get some from the ATM??"

when my son was 8 he overheard his mom & I talk about a
family we knew that had fallen on hard financial times.He looks at me & says well why don't they just go to the ATM & get more money.I hugged him to keep him from seeing me cry.

When I was little I used to think that the money in the bank account was unlimited. I thought that all you had to do was to buy checkbook for about 40 Euros and then you could write out cheques until you ran out of paper, then you'd just buy a new one.

When I was younger proabaly around the time I was 5 to 7 years old when my family and I went to the mall my two older brothers told me the maniquins were people who didn't pay thier credit card debt to the stores and were killed and filled with concerte to pay for thier debt. I used to worry everytime my parents bought something.

My mother told me that every time I spent a dollar of my allowance, a butterfly would die. Needless to say, I had about 500 dollars racked up by my 8th birthday.

Around age 8, I got to help my mom work the concession stand at the recreational soccer fields on Saturdays. She couldn't understand why I was so excited to sit in a hot shack all afternoon. I cried when I was told that I didn't get to keep the money from all the candy and Gatorade I sold.

I used to believe that money literally grew in the bank. Our parents tried to teach us to save money, and they told us that if we put all the change from our change jar in our own little bank account, it would grow. I always pictured the quarters and nickels just growing to larger sizes.

When I learned about exchange rates from traveling young, I thought any country whose money went into the dollar was inferior, and any country where the dollar was worth less than their currency was superior. Hence the UK was superior, Canada was inferior, etc. I found out I was wrong in 12th grade but by then convinced a lot of people, including myself, that I knew what countries were superior or not.

My Dad told me when i was about 5 that there was a little man behind the ATM that took your card and handed you the cash. He described it to me as kinda like the guy who lives in the top of our garage to open and close the garage door.

I used to think that checks turned into receipts. I saw the cashier stick my mom's check under the thing that would read it, and above it was the receipt printer. I saw the check go in underneath and the check come out above, so I believed that somehow the check became a receipt.

When I was little, I wanted a toy and my mom said she didn't have the money for it. I said, "Write a check!", never considering that the checks had to take money from her bank account.

My mom still likes to tell that story to this day. Mothers sure know how to embarrass their kids.

I used to believe vending machines would rip me off and not give me my change back. I always hated math so I thought, how could a vending machine be so smart and figure out how change was needed to be given back.