I love Danielle Bautista and you will too!
I am just getting to know her. We are LinkedIn connections! We share a passion for financial literacy.
She is a young, articulate leader who inspires confidence in the present and future! She is smart, committed to empowering others and dedicated to life-long learning. She has just completed the first half of her postgraduate degree in Diplomacy.
Danielle was a participant in Sammy Rabbit's Teen, College and Young Adult Discussion Panel 3. Here was her response to the question: What is your favorite quote about money?
“You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.”
It inspired me. It also inspired and was cited by two of her fellow Panel Members as their favorite response to the question:
Sidhant Srivastava, student, Livingston High School, in New Jersey; and
Jedidiah Collins, CFP® , Seattle, Washington (and retired NFL player).
It is a pleasure and honor to highlight her writing and thinking!
My Favorite Childhood Money Memory
It's not my first money memory, but it's certainly my favorite from when I was younger.
It was the first birthday/Christmas present I had ever bought myself and the experience taught me the value of a dollar.
When I was about 14 years old, I really wanted a new desk. The one I had in my room was a hand me down from my parents and it was falling apart. At the time I decided to start looking for a new one, I was using tape to hold the desk up.
I had been babysitting for about a year by then and charged $10 an hour. The desk I had been eyeing for some time was on sale for $125.
I didn't receive an allowance from my parents, so I calculated how many hours I'd have to babysit in order to buy the desk in cash. One day, my family and I were running errands and I asked if we could stop by Staples. My parents were a bit confused because I never asked to go into an office supply store on a whim. So we went inside, I inquired about the desk, and they had one left. My folks gave me the funniest look as the store employee pushed the unassembled desk to the front. On the way to the front of the store, my mom asked me in a hushed tone, "Danielle, how do you plan on paying for that?" I smiled and pulled out my Hello Kitty wallet that I had stuffed every hard earned dollar into. She was definitely taken aback.
At 14, I didn't know much about taxes—never mind anything about sales tax. It turned out I didn't have enough money to pay for the desk post-sales tax. My parents were kind enough to cover the last few dollars, and my dad built the desk the next weekend he was home.
Personally, things have more value when you buy them with your own money. That desk is still my favorite part of my room because it brings back such good memories of what it took for me to save up and buy it on my own (less sales tax :-)
What was your first money memory?
Did it stick in your head and heart? How has your first (or favorite) money memory and experience informed your money mindset and relationship with money over time? Did it become a habit and help you build more financial stability, security and freedom in your life?
The purpose of these blogs and our series on early childhood money memories is to share and talk about these experiences with one another with the objectives of building a community of advocates who expand each other’s knowledge and inspire ourselves and others to teach and talk to children about money while they are young, around ages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Making it easy to talk to and teach children great money habits while they are young is a key component to Sammy Rabbit’s mission and strategy to create systemic change, giving current and future generations of children and families the knowledge, experiences and skills they need to build more financial stability, security and freedom in their lives and communities.
We hope you find these stories entertaining, educating, and inspiring. We find them to be an excellent way to champion early age, youth and family financial literacy.
We welcome you to join us. We invite you to share your story with us!
If you have questions, suggestions or would like learn more about Sammy Rabbit and his mission, contact us!
CLICK to contact Sammy via our website contact form; or
email us at: contact@SammyRabbit.com
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