Credit cards weren’t always a part of daily life. In the days before they were so common, money worked differently, and this affected how boomers dealt with their finances. A lot of their spending & saving habits come directly from physical systems that existed prior to credit. Here are eight things that boomers learned about money before credit.
Save for holidays on a calendar
Holiday spending didn’t affect boomer families the way that it does now, and they learned to prepare for it using Christmas club accounts. These were specifically designed to encourage people to start saving months ahead of time by depositing a little money on a fixed schedule. You did so either weekly or monthly.
Then, you couldn’t touch the account until the end of the year, meaning that the account itself decided when you were allowed to spend. Boomers only had money for the holidays when they planned for it. As a result, they learned early on to save for things based on the calendar, rather than feelings.
Walk away from the item until it was paid off
Buying something big before credit was a completely different experience, thanks to things like layaway. These worked by choosing an item & paying toward it over time. You couldn’t take it home until you finally reached zero on your balance, and such an approach to money meant that kids grew up watching their parents make payments on coats & appliances.
These stayed behind the counter for weeks on end. But that was a good thing. The whole process of waiting to get something felt very literal, as ownership only came after you had made the final payment.
Automatically save from your paycheck
Boomers couldn’t exactly remember to save cash later. No, they saved cash almost immediately, thanks to payroll savings plans that came from U.S. Savings Bonds, and money came out every paycheck before boomers ever received it. These savings became bonds over time.
However, unlike today, such a practice wasn’t necessarily framed as “investing” because it was simply a part of how savings worked. You earned money & paid part of it into bonds. Really, these bonds only existed because the money came out straight away, and that taught boomers about the importance of saving before making any extra purchases.
Keep a paper savings record
Savings accounts in the past used to come with a small book, and these mattered quite a bit. They were called passbooks. The only way to update them was in person, line by line, and the printed record of these books was practically the only account history people had back in the day.
As such, losing the book became a real problem. But that was useful for boomers. They learned relatively early on that they should keep an eye on their financial records and make sure that they kept them somewhere they could easily access.
Learn money skills in home ec
The basics of money management were normal topics in the classroom. Many boomers remember taking home economics classes, where they’d learn how to write checks & track household expenses. They’d also learn to balance simple ledgers. However, rather than being treated as something optional, it was seen as an essential part of having your own home.
It helped to remove the mystique of managing money because it became something routine. They learned step-by-step, on paper, with a teacher who corrected their mistakes in real-time, and it completely changed the way that boomers viewed their finances.
How to carefully grocery shop
Every grocery store trip came with an extra task, which was managing trading stamps. Boomers would collect stamps & bring them home, then paste them into booklets to trade for household items later. Many kids would help their parents with the pasting part of the task. As such, planning grocery shopping trips became something far more careful and planned.
The goal wasn’t necessarily instant rewards. Instead, you had to track your progress over weeks or even months, until your books were complete & ready to be traded in. It taught boomers about how to play the long game with their savings.
Compare products using unit pricing
A lot of boomers remember when unit pricing became a common sight on the grocery shelves. It completely changed how they went shopping. Rather than simply reading the price on the package, they began comparing the cost per ounce or pound, and that encouraged them to read the small print on shelf labels. They learned to do comparisons while they were in the aisle.
Essentially, they learned that a product having a bigger package didn’t necessarily mean that they’d get a better value for the product. It’s hardly a skill you can learn from using a calculator or an app.
Pay installment bills using coupon books
Paying bills was quite different for boomers because, rather than appearing as a surprise in the mail, they appeared in small booklets that they already had at home. Installment purchases came with a coupon book that had one page for each payment. These included exact amounts & due dates.
When the time came to pay, they’d tear out the right slip and write a check to mail or bring to the office on the coupon. It taught boomers how to track payment dates. They don’t simply wait for the bills to come out, but rather, they make an actual effort to make sure they know what exactly they owe, and when to pay it.
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15 Things Gen Z Thinks Are New But Boomers Did First