Mother's Day: Best Money Lessons from Mom

Jack Otter, executive editor, CBS MoneyWatch

Susan Otter

• Lesson: Shop around.

“My mother has never been taken in by a loss leader; the store just took the loss. When we shopped for groceries, we’d hit at least three stores in the neighborhood, picking up the best-priced items at each place. My mother instilled the comparison-shopping lesson in me so early that dad still remembers his surprise when, at all of 8 years old, I berated him for trying to buy cereal at Sloan’s. “Dad, we get cereal at A&P!" I said. “We buy bread and milk here.”

Eric Schurenberg, editor-in-chief, CBS MoneyWatch

Lorraine Schurenberg

• Lesson: The little silver coins are actually worth more than the bigger ones.

“My mom gave me this essential knowledge so I wouldn’t be scammed by the older kids on the lunch line. But it also illustrates a key concept economists call ‘the money illusion.’ Dimes, nickels, dollars, drachmas: They’re only worth what you can trade them for.”

Ali Rogers, blogger, CBS MoneyWatch

• Lesson: Work hard till you’re 40 ...

“My mother was born in the 1930s, so she was truly of a different generation. It was expected that she would support my dad through graduate school, but truly radical when she went to law school in the late 1950s. She went to Indiana University law school, class of 1961, and the dean of her law school came up to her one day and said, ‘I can’t believe that I had to let you into this class; you’re taking a place a man could use to feed his family.’

“Well, she used the place to feed her family, becoming first a successful lawyer and then a judge — I remember well the day she became the first elected woman on the state Court of Appeals. All throughout her career my mom would tell me: ‘Work hard until you’re 40, because that gives you a strong base to work off of, and after you’re 40, you get a little more tired.’

“Of course she didn’t retire until she was in her 70s, and even now she will stop to hear a case or two.”

Rachel Elson, managing editor, CBS MoneyWatch

Gail Elson

• Lesson: Outsource.

“When my dad was alive, he thought he should do everything himself – so every spring, we spent weekends on end with the dining room table buried in tax paperwork. After he died, my mother started hiring an accountant, and I’ve done the same since I was in my early 20s. Sometimes your time is just worth more than the money you wind up paying.”

Allan Roth, blogger, CBS MoneyWatch

• Lesson: Buy things when they are on sale.

“In March of ’09, the stock market had a half-off sale and investors sold their stocks and stock mutual funds. Now that prices have nearly doubled, investors are getting back in the market. In investing, we buy high and sell low.”

Ilyce Glink, blogger, CBS MoneyWatch

• Lesson: Common sense is money sense.

“According to my mother and grandmother, there’s no great money magic. You have to use some basic common sense when making money decisions. In my family, spending more than you had was never an option. You had to make the numbers work even if it meant living at home, not eating out, not owning or driving a car, and not taking fancy vacations.”

(For more lessons from Ilyce Glink’s mom, see her Mother’s Day post: ‘5 Money Lessons My Mother and Grandmother Taught Me.’)

Steve Vernon, blogger, CBS MoneyWatch

• Lesson: Spend less than you make, and make your spending count.

“She’s also giving our family a living lesson about staying independent and involved in her later years. She’s 89 years old, still drives, grows some of her own food, is active with all of her extended family, sends and receives e-mails, still lives at the family home, and still handles all her finances.”

Kathy Kristof, blogger, CBS MoneyWatch

Fran Kristof

• Lesson: It’s not about you.

“The first time I had to go to a business conference, I remember telling my mom how much I was dreading it. It was awkward. I didn’t know anyone. I’d be stuck in a hotel with a bunch of strangers for days at a time. Torture.

“Mom almost came unglued. ‘It’s not about you,’ she said.

‘Not only was my thought a selfish one that she considered completely beneath me; she also assured me that “if you stop thinking about yourself, you won’t feel uncomfortable.’

“‘Stop thinking about you; think about how you can make other people feel comfortable and welcome and you’ll end up feeling comfortable too,’ Mom said.”

“I went to the conference and noticed lots of people standing by themselves looking just as lost as I felt. With my mother’s words rattling through my head, I squared my shoulders and walked up to one of them, hand extended. ‘Hi. I’m Kathy. How did you end up here?’ By the end of the evening, I had met dozens of people by just saying hello. By the end of the conference, I was introducing my new friends to more people I’d recently met. And now, some 15 years later, I’m a former president of the group — the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. And some of the members — many of whom I met by sticking out my hand — are among my best friends.”

(For more from Kathy Kristof's mom, see her Mother's Day post: Mother's Day Lesson: Only Buy What You Value.')

Jill Schlesinger, editor-at-large, CBS MoneyWatch

• Lesson: The best retirement plan is to find a job that you love and to keep doing it for as long as you can.

Christopher DiLella, associate producer, CBS MoneyWatch

Pat DiLella

• Lesson: Money isn’t everything.

“Growing up, my mother often traveled three or even four consecutive days a week to her offices in New York, Arlington, and Philadelphia. Yet she somehow always found the time to be at every recital and extracurricular activity my brother and I ever did. (When we appeared in a regional theater production, for instance, she made it to all 20-plus performances.)

“From her I learned that there are more important things in life than money. She also taught me how to make a priority of the things that do matter most – like family.”

Nelson Wang, senior editor, CBS MoneyWatch

Gloria Wang

• Lesson: Have a sense of proportion.

“I think the best thing that my mother taught me about money was a sense of proportion when it came to spending vs. saving, in contrast to my father’s rather ascetic tendencies. ‘Spend a little, save most’ was typically her advice when it came to what to do with a sudden windfall or raise — and it’s a philosophy that’s held me in good stead as I’ve gotten older.”

Stephen Howard-Sarin, vice president, CBS Interactive (Business)

• Lesson: Do the math — and if being comfortable isn’t going to get you where you need to be, then change tactics.

“As a kid, we saved money in a jar (literally) for months to buy my dad his 40^th birthday present. Saving as a physical act was a powerful lesson for us kids, as was the satisfaction of buying something we never thought we could afford.

“My parents split up when my mom was in her late 40s. She moved into a ground-floor condo in a semi-hip metropolitan neighborhood — and she bought it outright. For the past 20 years, she’s been mortgage-free in a place she likes and can stay in well into her dotage. Now that was planning ahead.

“My mom had essentially no retirement savings when she started working in her 40s. She found a financial advisor she trusted completely, and she started saving aggressively. But even though it made her uncomfortable, she also allowed her advisor the leeway to invest aggressively. She knew that she had to make up for lost time.”

Rich Eisenberg, senior editor, CBS MoneyWatch

Renee Eisenberg

• Lesson: If you’re fortunate enough to have money you can donate to charity, do so.

“When I was a child, my mother was very involved in a charity for cancer research. We would often stand outside supermarkets with cans, asking for donations — and she’d often note that the people who seemed least able to help were the most likely to give.”

Lynn O’Shaughnessy, blogger, CBS MoneyWatch

• Lesson: Appreciate the power of an education.

“My mother, Jacquelin O’Shaughnessy, not only earned a bachelor’s degree, which was quite rare for a woman in the 1940s, but she also spent a few summers at the University of Wisconsin to earn her master’s degree in education. I was incredibly proud of my mother’s accomplishments, but she hated it when I bragged about her. She also disliked it when parents lobbied the principal at her elementary school in hopes that their children would be assigned to her coveted classroom.

“My mother stopped teaching before her oldest (that’s me) was born and soon enough she had a household of five kids born within six years of each other. She returned to teaching when I was heading to high school, so she and my dad could pay the college tab for all five of us. They paid the equivalent of 20 years of college costs at the University of Missouri without taking out a single loan.

“My mother and father’s selflessness allowed me to pursue my passion — journalism — and I will always, always be grateful.”

Megan Jordan, producer, CBS MoneyWatch

Meridee Jordan

• Lesson: Enjoy what you have, instead of worrying about what you don’t.

“My mom passed along this general attitude about money that I employ in all areas of my life.”

Marianne Wilman, executive producer, CBS MoneyWatch

• Lesson: Avoid debt.

“My mother taught me to always avoid debt. A big fan of the odd splurge and always leading with high standards, she encouraged quality over quality, but always within my means. It has served me well, I think!”

Robert Pagliarini, blogger, CBS MoneyWatch

• Lesson: Do what you have to do to survive, and don’t worry so much about stuff.