2/21 MON ~ Do you get asked for money advice?

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Do you get asked for money (financial / budgeting / Smart Spending) advice or suggestions by family, friends, co-workers, neighbors?

[thinblue]

Yes, quite often actually.....one recent funny request was a neighbor (that I know quite well) came knocking on my door because it was her daughters birthday and she wanted a particular item from Dunhams Sports. She knew I would have a coupon for 20% off and I did! It was fun to share it with her.....even funnier that she knew to ask me for it!

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

That's great!

[pepperdoo]

I'm learning about finances. If getting asked to borrow money counts, I'd say yes, they ask, but I politely decline, and tell them if they need a loan to go to a bank.

[NancysSummerSip]

Yes, and then I get the stink eye/hairy eyeball when I provide it.

I am usually asked by people who seem to want the answer they expect. I usually give them what they don't want to hear. They seem to hate that, for some reason.

I've written some personal finance articles that have a fairly firm tone to them. I don't come across as a meanie, but I do it from the point of view of someone who has been there, done that and made the stupid mistakes, and does not want to see someone else make them.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I suppose there's a big difference between ASKING for advice, WANTING TO HEAR that advice, and FOLLOWING that advice, huh?

[motherto2]

Truth be told, like you have pointed out, people don't want to hear things that would be helpful to them. I've tried to gently feel out a few friends and rather stealthily tried to give people some tips and it seems to be met most of the time with those glazed eyes. I go about it in a round about way, like what I've gone through and things that I realized about my spending/saving shortcomings, but most people just let it pass by. So now I pretty much keep it to myself.

[Peace77]

No, I don't get asked for money advice. One neighbor does ask me to borrow money sometimes. I turn her down because she is an alcoholic.

I once called relatives as I had found their parents names on the list of unclaimed funds. They suggested that I could get some money from it. Sure, dead relatives are going to pay me .... Ya think so???.....

[4hatsandfrugal]

I mostly get asked how we do what we do, i.e. frugal grocery shopping, having no car notes or credit cards(we did away with those 3 years ago). When I tell them the ins and outs of how we did, or do, it, they say "oh well, there's no way I can handle doing that?!" So why did you ask? Silly rabbits...

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I think people are hoping there's some easy trick or instant gimmick that will make their debt go away...

[share88]

I'm sure everyone who knows me thinks I'm dirt poor if they are basing it on all the normal "middle class" items I lack.

[Waffle]

Only one time comes to mind. My youngest goddaughter/cousin wanted to buy a house in Las Vegas, she reasoned that the mortgage payment would be about the same as the rent she was paying. I pointed out that there were a lot of expenses to owning a house in addition to paying the mortgage.

This was maybe a year or so before the housing bubble crashed. Fortunately, she listed and didn't buy a house. She moved out of Vegas a couple of years later and I was very happy to know that she wasn't tied to a piece of real estate with a rapidly declining value.

[998fbird]

I actually work with many ppl who are also frugal, but my friends just think I'm a hoot and I try not to offer money management advice unless asked. Several ppl I know got slammed hard by the credit crunch and are now interested in how I handle money.

[Anne_in_VA]

I've had a couple of people ask me about how I can afford the things I have, but they don't really want to hear how I do it - frugal living, shop sales, cut out "wants" and unnecessary things, save, etc.

One friend who is constantly short of money has three adult kids who live with her, don't pay rent, she buys all the food, gas money, etc., etc., etc. Her DH will only eat what he likes - no casseroles, no soups or stews, smokes, drinks, etc. She has a cell phone plan for the entire family and refuses to even entertain giving up anything.

Another works a full time and part time job but is constantly going to GNC for special vitamins her chiropracter told her about, takes spiritualist classes (very expensive ones), eats pricy food from Trader Joe's and other specialty stores, has a new cell phone, etc. She's always saying how she hates working two jobs but refuses to look at the ways she spends her money.

I've stopped giving them advice and just make sympathy noises when they complain.

[patchwork150]

I had a friend that constantly complained about her life. She went on and on and on and nothing was ever her fault. I'd make suggestions instead of sympathizing after hearing the same old sob story over and over. She always had an excuse why my suggestion wouldn't work. Needless to day, we're not good friends anymore, and she is still in the same situation she has always been in- broke and with no ambition to succeed.

[isabella]

Most people I know don't want to talk about money, rather private about it.

[Deleted]

I've done a little bit of talking about it at work or at school. Mostly talking about how to find the best deal.

[nalto]

Sometimes. Usually it's after someone recieves a good chunk of cash (tax refund, etc...) When I suggest they should open a Roth, pay off some bills, or simply save it, they laugh and say, "where's the fun in that?"

[bobbysgirl]

I don't offer advice because no one really wants it. If they ask, I tell them something small. If they come back and say it was helpful, then I know they really want to move forward.