PF Weekly Reading List #11- Free Money, Want Some?
Free Money, imagine how fast that would spread like wildfire at the office.
I had a laugh then a jolt of concern this morning while I was reading the news about this 12-year-old student who was handing out money at school to her classmates.
I’m sure you can imagine hoards of kids running up to this student wanting to see what she had in her bag.
The article stated it was quite the “show and tell” but I say likely none of the kids cared where she got it from so “show and get it while you can” was on the playground agenda. It’s free money after all who would turn that down?
Most kids that age know that money can buy “stuff” so why not get in on the action.
The money was later all retrieved by the school so they could hand it over to the police to investigate. To shorten up the plot a girl who lives in Detroit, Michigan (Student B) is given a backpack from her friend (Student A) who lives across the street from her.
The scenario below is what I imagined going down with the money although likely far from it.
I just like to think crazy stuff up in my head. I’m just having a laugh with it but really I have to wonder what goes through the minds of young children and why they do what they do. We may never understand but we certainly can teach them wrong from right.
Maybe the child truly thought by handing out money that she was doing something good. Same as the young person who gave her the bag of loot in the first place.
Fictional Scenario
- Student A: Hey Student B wanna see what I found at my house?
- Student B: Sure, what did you find Student A?
- Student A: Opens her backpack and shows Student B lots of money.
- Student B: Wow, that’s alot of money what will you do with it?
- Student A: I was thinking about investing in my education but my parents taught me to share so, I’m giving it to you.
- Student B: Wow, thanks Student A. I think I will pay it forward as my parents taught me to share as well.
Student B proceeds to bring her new backpack to school and starts handing out cash to all her friends paying it forward.
This is a true story although I made the fictional scenario up. Don’t you wish you had a friend like that at the office who was so generous and kind-hearted? Well that’s likely never to happen but led me to wonder, why people keep so much money at home?
Sure we can come up with all sorts of scenarios as to why the parents of Student A had that amount of money in the house but it would all be assumptions.
For all we know they despise going to a bank and the old “stash your cash” under your mattress (or in a backpack in this case) seemed like the way to go.
We read everyday that we should teach our children about money from an early age but maybe we should also teach them to not touch it if it’s not theirs.
Although this child was 12 years old and I’m sure had good intentions this scenario could have turned deadly in an instant. Anything could have happened to her if word got out that she was carrying that much money and the school was unaware.
There are lots of crazy people out there that would do just about anything to get their hands on some cash.
I’m just happy to hear the school stepped in right away and that someone alerted them to what was happening.
We hope that the school system is listening to not only what happens in the classroom but also outside the class.
Hiding Money
I think it’s OK to stash a bit of cash at home but not all in one place and certainly not $20,000 worth BUT again, they may have been on their way to the bank to pay off a chunk of the mortgage or it was a windfall or a gift they were hoping to take to the bank.
Some people have a fear of not having enough money or losing money so they save it in a safe spot knowing that they will always be OK.
If parents have this kind of cash around, at least stash it in a good hiding spot and get it where it needs to go fast.
I know that if I touched anything like that in my parents house I’d be in my room thinking about why I did what I did.
Plus, If your house were to catch on fire or someone was to burglar it you can bet your insurance company may tell you to go swing on it if you try and say a backpack with $20,000 went missing or burned in the fire.
Ya right! Be smart with your money and house it in a financial institution so you can sleep better at night. Heck you might even make 1% interest keeping it in a high interest savings account (cough) that your mattress can’t offer you. See there is a perk!
A popular blog post here at Canadian Budget Binder is “5 Unusual Places To Stash Cash At Home“ which leads me to think that many people like to stash a bit here and there in case of emergency. I’m also guessing that “would be thieves” or other interested parties are scratching their head going, “wow I never would have thought to hide cash there”.
Do you keep cash in the house? Why?
Why would you think that someone would keep $20,000 in cash in their house?
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Geez, I forgot to write – thanks for the mention! (I guess the beer is making my brain foggy on a Saturday afternoon!)
We don’t keep barely any cash at home. Everything goes on plastic. That way, I get some rewards 🙂
$20,000 kept at home? I can’t imagine!
I think the most money I ever carry on me is about $60.
Same here. I use my crappy tire card as I’m in there quite often.
Thanks for the link!
Great post. :-). I love your idea in the link article about stashing cash in the toilet. We have a few friends who keep cash laying around the house. I was helping a close friend move once, and as we packed up, I kept finding wads of cash EVERYWHERE; in the china cabinet, cupboards, inside cups, etc. She must’ve easily had 5k laying around the house. :-).
hahah That would be so funny helping a mate move and finding wads of cash. I’m sure they were super happy!!!
We only keep a little cash because we never know when the tooth fairy might need to visit these days. Our daughter, however, has a stash of about $100 in her piggy bank. She doesn’t like to spend money very often. I hope that trait sticks around.
Your daughter sounds exactly like me when I was young. Me mum told me I hated to spend my money that I would collect it and like to watch it grow!
I’ve read too many stories about older people who are robbed by relatives because everyone knew they had cash at home. I can’t fathom a reason why I’d have cash at home when I can easily hit my ATM machine. If the banking system fails, how good is my cash going to be?
I think it makes sense to keep spare pocket money at home but 20k is a bit much.
drug dealing and tax avoidance are the first things that come to mind. When we switched to the Euro, a lot of cash magically appeared from old people who didn’t trust bank or didn’t want to pay inheritance tax. I guess it was a great time to launder money since you could go exchange any amount of francs for Euros. Thank you for the mention!
Lol, it does sound strange to have a bag of money at home.
I seldom have more than $20.00 cash on me at any time as I’m not a fan of carrying cash money around in general. I do try to keep a small stash of cash in a separate section of my wallet in case I see a really good deal for something to use as a gift. Saves letting the cat out of the bag when hubby sees a charge on the M/C or in the bank book….. But I still remember as a kid finding my Dad’s stash in the dictionary at home!!!!! He had a few tens and twentys tucked in there not realizing I’d be using it for my homework…… I gave the money to my Mom…. she thought it was funny but I have no idea what Dad thought when/if he found out!!!Good article!!
At least you gave the money to your mom and not your mates.
I try to avoid having cash whenever I can. Unlike my debit card, cash burns a whole in my pocket and I never seem to have it for long.
We keep a bit around for those occasions when we need it and can’t get to a bank.
That’s the thing. There have been two times I needed cash in the last 4 years, but they were for planned purchases. At the greenhouse, a burrito guy came ’round and there were plenty of times that I “needed” cash. But do I really need to buy a burrito when I already packed a lunch?
I was going to ask what burito guy was but I kept reading. So is that like a burito truck? you should sell them your spices lol…
Thanks for the mention! If I keep any money of a sizable amount at home it’s going to be in a LARGE immovable safe.
Darn I thought you were going to tell us where haha!
We keep small amounts of cash in a fireproof box in our home. We like being able to have our vacation fund, or other small, short-term savings projects in cash. We feel it keeps us from accidentally spending it!
That’s a good way to look at it. I also think you are smart to lock it in a fire safe box something many people don’t do or know about.
I keep cash at home for various reasons………For door to door charities that I want to support,…To treat my grandchildren with a bit of cash,….to accumulate untill I have about $50 or so then take a trip to the bank to deposit,…COH for small shopping trips,…yard sales,….buying items for sale from friends,neighbours and relatives,……for a ‘rainy day’,…..I just feel more comfortable with a bit of cash stashed away for what ever I may need it for. As for having $20.000 in the house….the only thing I can guess is that one just received it and had not made it to the bank or they had just withdrew it and were preparing to make a cash payment or deposit on an item!
Same here Susan, we keep some cash kicking around for those occasions we may need it but not enough that it would put a dent in our net worth if it happened to be stolen.
Thanks Mr. CBB for the mention (from Mrs. Moneyseed) 🙂
I wouldn’t stash money in my house. I rarely take money out of the ATM unless I have to chip-in for something at work (which is very rare). I don’t trust the banks too much more, but at least the money is federally insured when it’s in the bank!
Well, that’s just it at least it’s insured in the bank. We keep a bit for the odd occasions we need cash but other than that it’s in the bank.
I thought that story was super interesting and weird. Handing out $500 to other little kids? WOW.
Thanks for the mention also! Have a great weekend.
I’m sure the kids were already planning their shops with the windfall hahaa