My daughter, Nina, turned 25 years old last month. I know it’s cliche, but I truly do remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.
I’m happy to say that Nina has always been a natural saver and good at managing her money — and when it comes to personal finance, that’s more than half the battle!
Anyway, to honor my daughter, I’m going to take a trip down Memory Lane by rerunning a very popular article that she wrote for my blog in 2011, when she was just 12 years old.
Believe it or not, her post was so popular at the time that, after I first published it on my blog, the article was quickly picked up by MSN; they featured it on their front page for a couple of days where, I’m happy to say, it received a much bigger audience — not to mention a lot of attention for Len Penzo dot Com, for which I was very grateful.
Enjoy …
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Hello! It’s me, Nina, again! My dad asked me to write another post for him. He let me pick the picture too!
He paid me $15 for this, by the way. (Thank you, Dad!)
That money’s going to come in handy too because lately I’ve been trying to save up for a new laptop computer. The one that I have my eyes on is made by Compaq, which is the same laptop that my brother, Matthew, has. My mom and dad only use Macs, but since Macs are very expensive, I decided to get a PC.
In order to get my laptop, I need to gain around $240.
Back in April, I saved up enough money to buy a new iPod 4G, which was around $300. So I know for a fact that I can save enough money to get a laptop in no time.
Now, I have many ways that I can earn money in my house. For each chore that I do, I get about 25 cents.
I know what you’re thinking: But Nina: 25 cents? Isn’t that such a small amount? Actually, no! If I do every chore right every single day, it adds up to about $2 a day, which would give me $60 each month. Not bad.
I keep track of everything I earn in a special book called a ledger. It also has a list of all of my chores in it and the amount I get paid for each one. If you think about it, a ledger is very similar to a savings account.
My dad also gives my brother and me a chance to earn extra money once a week with something he calls The Monday Ten Dollar Question of the Night. (We have a theme song too, which is really just the “Dancing With the Stars” tune.) Every Monday night during dinner, my dad tells me and Matthew to get a piece of paper and a pen. He then asks us a very difficult question that we might never guess.
Our most recent question was this one: When you go to a carnival and you hear people shouting out, “Get yer red hots!”, what are they really selling?
I got it right. (It’s hot dogs!) So I got to add $10 in my ledger this week.
Matthew guessed “hot tamales,” so he lost out.
To earn extra money I used to have a lemonade stand, but now I wash cars. My best friend, Ashley, and I have a car washing business that we began in late May. We call it the “Rubber Duckiez Car Washing Service” and our motto is: “We leave your car SQUEAKY clean!” We wash on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and we charge $10 for cars and $15 for trucks and vans! We rake money in very fast.
I’m hoping to raise enough money for my laptop by the end of the year. The effort that I’ll have to put in will be incredible, but I can do it!
I have enjoyed writing for you all once again! I hope to come back soon!
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(Editor’s note: Nina did manage to meet her savings goal that year — two months early!)
Photo Credit: Alan Cleaver
Contrary to current politically correct dogma, Nina’s personally responsible acquisition and use of money cannot be instilled by schools.
She got her value system at home, by way of the example set for her by her parents.
Kudos, Mr. and Mrs. Penzo, Nina and Matthew.
Families matter.
Thank you, Dave.
“I know its cliche, but I truly do remember the day (Nina) was born like it was yesterday.” Len
I know that feeling too, Len. Our firstborn, a daughter, was an early member of the rising “natural childbirth” movement. It was a lengthy delivery and I wrote a diary describing it, the next day.
It’s too clinical and personal to publish, but it’s available for my children to read and for me to remember.
I’ve written elsewhere about the miracle of birth and how it inspires thanks to God.
Happy birthday to Nina! It is nice to see her old article again.
Thanks, mt! I enjoyed it too … I can honestly say it brought a tear to my eye!
Most weeks I only read your “Black Coffee” segment. I’m so glad I checked out Nina’s article as well this week. My two sons are in their forty’s and it has been a comfort to know that the one lesson that seemed to stick was simply: “The only way to save money is to spend less than you earn.” Thanks for a great blog and for sharing Nina’s wisdom with your readers.
Thank you, Steve.
I’ve always talked to my daughter about money and a PROUD moment was when she called me up and said “hey Dad, I got my 6 months emergency money all saved up”. She was a year out of grad school and working her first ‘real job’. So very proud. I also got ‘ I’m getting a match alert, and “I opened that Roth thing”.
Fantastic, Joe!