It was 5th grade. I was a young ninja about to embark on an epic journey. A journey into the unknown. A journey into the land of cracking voices, armpit hair, and a world where girls towered over their male classmates. That’s right, it was a journey through puberty.
I was 10 years old. Sitting in sex education, with a bunch of 5th-grade boys, when my teacher uttered a word I never thought I would hear him say. He said “Class, we are all a bunch of mature men right? Well being that we are all mature I’m going to say a word, and when I say that word I expect each of you to act like adults. Today, we are going to talk about a man’s penis.”
Whoa, hold the phone! Did my teacher really just say the P word!? Surely he didn’t mean to say that….did he? Turns out he did.
Not only did he use the P word about a bajillion more times…
But we also watched movies, read textbooks, and had discussions about a whole slew of things I knew nothing about…
“Wait, what? What happens to girls every month? Ewwwww.”
The whole idea of puberty, adjusting, and changing was brand-spankin’ new to me and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t been privy to any of this knowledge before.
Fifth-grade sex education was my wake-up call to adulthood.
Well just like I had an “awakening” to the physical changes I would endure over the course of my life, I have also had a financial awakening.
That’s right, I’m going through financial puberty right now and I’m proud to admit it.
All through high school and college, I knew nothing about money, nor did I have the desire to learn about it. Sadly, I graduated college not even knowing how to transfer money from my savings account to my checking account. I was financially prepubescent.
But just like I went through sex education in 5th grade, my day of financial education also came. It was after a conversation with a good buddy of mine. He opened my eyes to the beauty of money management, the power of compound interest, and the importance of saving.
I began financial puberty in late 2007.
I’m not fully developed just yet, but I am definitely on the right path. Just as puberty lasts a good ten years, I can’t expect to know everything there is about money in just a couple of years. It is a continual process. One that I am excited about completing. Hopefully, in another five or so years, I will be on the tale end of this financial puberty gig and can put my finances on autopilot and coast through life.
Do you remember going through sex education?
How old/what grade were you in when you went through it? Did it make you giggle every time your teacher talked about genitalia (or was I the only one that was that immature)? When did you begin financial puberty? What caused it (a conversation? a book?)
p.s. Please forgive my crazy analogies. I’ve now compared puberty to finances, debt to unicorns, and checking accounts to wiping your butt. I have no idea where these ideas come from. I’m sorry.
I started financial puberty when I was 15 and decided I wanted a car. 10 years later, I think I’m about halfway through finishing puberty
I like the idea of us financial bloggers spreading our seed throughout the blogosphere and impregnating others with our financial DNA. I’m about to take your analogy too far. Actually, I probably already did.
I don’t remember sex ed… could it be that I blocked it out because it was horrible? Financial puberty hit though the last semester of college when I realized that I was going to be graduating with tens of thousands of dollars of student loans and I needed to get my act together so that I didn’t add credit card debt on top of that.
I think I went through sex ed in the 6th grade. I was 11 going on 12 at the time. I definitely was grossed out by it all, but was happy for the free pads we got. I SAID PADS. Financial puberty came with my first job at 22. It was triggered by my low-paying job and my desire to build wealth inspite of my situation. So I learned a lot about investing/saving. I think I turned out alright.
I was always fascinated with money! I think I entered financial puberty at an extremely early age (7 yrs old). I think I cam into my own (climaxed) when I was 17 years old. I used my summer earnings as spending money in college. I had to budget, save, and many other things to survive. Great OJT (on the job) training!
I think using these analogies really helps people relate and get a better understanding.
Sex Ed in Grade 6; ah yes, I remember it well! Our 20-something, VERY good-looking male teacher giving us the 411 while the girls blushed and the boys snickered.
Grade 7 Sex Ed wasn’t nearly as much fun, given our not-so-hot male teacher, but he was seeing another teacher in our school… who’s brother was in our class! Seriously, could you imagine learning about Sex Ed. by the guy that’s doing your sister? Wonder if my classmate from back then still has flashbacks?
I was a late bloomer as far as financial puberty goes; I was in my late 20’s when I started saving for retirement.
We had our “video” on my 11th Birthday!! It was the worst birthday present ever!!
We didn’t have sex education when I went to high school. It is beyond me how the human race still managed to reproduce itself.
Puberty, what a great thing. We had “the class” in 5th grade.
REAL BAD CARTOONS made growing up horifing
I am still waiting for my financial puberty –
I am more aware of finances thanks to you Debt Ninja
Hair on stick figure is actual size. : )
Haha! I remember bringing home a slip of paper that my mom had to sign saying I could take sex ed. When she asked me where babies came from I told her I didn’t know but “I know where guinea pig babies come from.” (I had a pet guinea pig and a book on how to take care of him including a chapter on breeding. My mom just laughed at me and signed the note. I got the shock of my life the next day in class.
I think in entered financial puberty when I was 15 and started my first job. Oh filling out W4 forms and direct deposit slips and paying taxes.
Well, my mom started talking to me about the bills and the bees ever since middle school, so I guess I was an early financial bloomer! 🙂
Yikes! My son starts “that class” next week …
I went to catholic school, so our sex education class consisted of a disgusting video on abortion and a priest preaching abstinence. It wasn’t nearly as educational as yours.
[…] from Punch Debt In The Face made me laugh last week, when he compared financial knowledge to puberty. What the analogy highlighted was that we really should have financial education classes […]