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MY WIFE AND I ARE traveling to the U.K. This will be my first time in England, Wales and Scotland. We’ll spend a week in London before taking a train to Cambridge, where we’ll rent a car for the balance of the vacation.
My wife planned the trip, doing an enormous amount of research. It took her a couple of months to put this adventure together. I thought we’d be staying mostly in major cities with well-known attractions. But my wife has us visiting a lot of small towns I’ve never heard of.
She insists each of these small towns will provide us with a memorable experience. For instance, my wife points out that the Porch House in Stow-on-the-Wold is the oldest inn in England, dating back more than a millennium, to the year 947.
But I also know there’s another reason she wants to visit these small, beautiful towns. It’s the bare wall behind our living room couch. My wife wants to take a gorgeous photo that she can hang on that wall. She thinks one of these small towns will give her that opportunity.
I’m really excited about our upcoming trip. But I’m not the only one. No, I’m not talking about my wife. It’s Michael, our 14-year-old neighbor. He’s excited because we hired him to water our plants and get our mail while we’re gone. It’ll be his first job.
Of course, I asked his mother first. She was on board with the idea. I think Michael’s father—who is quiet and reserved—is, too. The other day, he gave me a rare smile, as if he was telling me it was a good idea.
We’ll be gone for five weeks. My wife and I decided $50 a week would be a fair wage for Michael. I thought I would pay him $125 before we left. That way, he doesn’t have to wait until we return to get all his money.
I remember my first job. I delivered newspapers. It was a good money experience for me. I was confronted for the first time with the question: What should I do with the money I earned? Should I save it or spend it? I decided to spend it all.
I spent my earnings on a small television and record player for my bedroom. I bought comic books and junk food at the neighborhood market. I walked away broke from that job—just the way I started it.
Who knew years later I would become a saver who lived well below his means? Maybe my old paper route taught me an important lesson about money, after all. Hopefully, Michael will learn some lessons about money from his first job. At the very least, he’ll have to answer the same question I did: What should I do with the money I earn, spend it or save it?
When I got my paper route at age 13 they offered an automatic savings account paying 5.14% interest. My mother thought it would be a good idea and signed me up for it. I made about $4/week and saved $2 of it. I loved watching the balance grow every week. I think that’s what turned me into a super-saver for the rest of my life. I continued to use some form of payroll deduction automatic savings in every job I had. Now I have a very comfortable retirement.
Thanks, Dennis, for your always interesting articles. My 15-year-old grandson came to live with me from a non-English speaking country. I struggled to find reading material that would interest him and improve his skills. Recently, neighbors have hired him to do yard work, take out trash and wash dishes in a restaurant one neighbor owns. What to do with his earnings? He read Jonathan’s book “How to think about money,” and then immediately asked me to purchase several other short, simple investment guides. We opened a custodial account at Schwab and he’s working on his first million – lol. He’s got a ways to go. Hope your neighbor Michael enjoys deciding how to spend his money.
While in Cambridge, be sure to see the American Cemetery on the outskirts of the city. It’s very beautiful, especially if it’s sunny and the flowers are in bloom. I’ve been to the cemetery twice and Cambridge is my favorite city in England.