Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to try talking more openly about finances
Speaker 1: with your family, friends, and colleagues. Money is an important
Speaker 1: part of life, and by normalizing conversations, we can start
Speaker 1: using money just like we use time as an instrument
Speaker 1: for achieving the lives we want. For many, if not most,
Speaker 1: of us, talking openly about money feels uncomfortable. Perhaps we
Speaker 1: were taught growing up that it was tacky or rude
Speaker 1: to talk about finances in the workplace. Some supervisors ask
Speaker 1: their employees not to discuss salary, and that general prohibition
Speaker 1: puts a damper on any money talk, even about things
Speaker 1: like student loans or mortgage rates. Since we so really
Speaker 1: have these conversations, the conversations we do have can feel
Speaker 1: fraught today. However, I want to suggest that you push
Speaker 1: yourself out of your comfort zone a little and try
Speaker 1: talking about financial topics with at least one person in
Speaker 1: your life. There are several reasons why talking about finances
Speaker 1: is important. First, it's hard to learn about money without
Speaker 1: talking about money. If you didn't grow up with a
Speaker 1: family that had any sort of investments. The entire stock
Speaker 1: market might seem like a casino until you talk with
Speaker 1: normal people like you who have invested for retirement and
Speaker 1: index funds. It might not seem intuitive that a small
Speaker 1: difference in interest rate could have a huge impact over
Speaker 1: the life of a long loan until you talk to
Speaker 1: fellow students who are also financing higher education. We can
Speaker 1: learn a lot from candid friend to friend conversations with
Speaker 1: people who have their act together, and if you have
Speaker 1: your act together, you might be able to prevent into
Speaker 1: relative or friend from making a big financial mistake. Second,
Speaker 1: and this is not a small thing, a little transparency
Speaker 1: is good for the cause of equity. There can be
Speaker 1: huge disparities in salary for similar jobs. When you're negotiating
Speaker 1: the salary for a new position or asking for a
Speaker 1: promotion and raise, you'll feel far more confident if you
Speaker 1: know what other people with similar salaries earn. If an
Speaker 1: employer offers something on the low end, you'll know that
Speaker 1: it is absolutely expected to ask up, but to know
Speaker 1: that you have to talk. Of course, that doesn't make
Speaker 1: it easy. As with any fraught topic of conversation, it's
Speaker 1: better to have lots of smaller talks than one big one.
Speaker 1: You might start by listening to other people talk about
Speaker 1: money and then use that as an opening to start conversations.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of great money focused podcasts. My
Speaker 1: personal favorite is the how to Money podcast. You could
Speaker 1: ask a friend, family member, or colleague to listen to
Speaker 1: a particular episode and then discuss it. You might also
Speaker 1: think of some money related conversation prompts that you would
Speaker 1: feel comfortable broaching with friends. Maybe these could be questions
Speaker 1: like do you give your kids an allowance and if so,
Speaker 1: how much? Or what's the most important thing your parents
Speaker 1: taught you about money. Having open money conversations doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you have to divulge your exact salary, though perhaps that
Speaker 1: would come up at some point. In any case, I'll
Speaker 1: say that the world is a lot more transparent now
Speaker 1: than it used to be. Perhaps you have noticed that
Speaker 1: if you google someone's address, one of the first things
Speaker 1: that tends to come up is how much they paid
Speaker 1: for the house. When you know that, other topics start
Speaker 1: to seem a little less totally taboo. In any case,
Speaker 1: when you're having money talks, try to remember that there
Speaker 1: are no dumb questions. If you aren't sure of what
Speaker 1: a money related term means, or you're curious just how
Speaker 1: others are planning to save for their kids college tuition.
Speaker 1: Ask others in the room maybe wondering the same thing.
Speaker 1: In the end, money can be an emotionally charged topic,
Speaker 1: but it can also be a fun one, and once
Speaker 1: you start talking, it usually gets easier and the payoff,
Speaker 1: if you will, can be significant. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our money and our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's b the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia
Speaker 1: dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.