I was recently asked the question, “What is your first memory of money?” As I started to think back to my childhood, I made it to about age five, when I remember swimming in a lake with my Mom and Dad. My Mom was sitting on the bank of the lake with my baby brother; I was splashing around in the shallow water with my Dad. My Dad would dive under the water and come back up with a silver dollar. I remember him pretending he had found a buried treasure chest full of silver. He would hand the silver dollar to me, and I would run and show my Mom and shout, “Look we found another one.” Then I would turn and run back into the water where my Dad would dive under the water and come up with another silver dollar. At age five, it was a real adventure. 

One of the things that fascinates me is trying to understand how early experiences shape who we become later in life. What is your first memory of money? How did your early experiences with money affect the person you have become? 

As featured in the Sept/Oct 2018 Westsound Journal.