We baby boomers grew up being told that money can burn a hole in your pocket. The adage meant that unspent windfalls can leave one with a powerful urge to splurge.
Our sons, ages 13 and 18, seem to have a related problem. Unspent money burns a hole in their brains. In today’s wired world: Money plus the internet equals delirium.
As they get older, both of our sons are apt to get cash for their late-fall birthdays and sometimes for Christmas. These cash piles leave them hunched over their laptops looking for ways to liquidate these funds as quickly as possible.
And it’s just a short hop from consumer research to obsession.
Case in point: Our 13-year-old son decided a few weeks ago he wanted a new phone. “Wanted” is the operative word here; he didn’t need one. But using middle school math, he determined that if he bundled all his birthday money with all his potential Christmas money and folded in a pinch of earned income he could maybe, possibly, pay cash for an upgraded telephone.