UNIT 8: MONEY AND FINANCE
My name‿ is Nina. Two years‿ ago I hel(d) three credit cards│ an(d) no notion‿ of│ where my salary went,│ an(d) what rescued me was not‿ a larger‿ income but‿ an‿ accounting‿ exercise│ whose findings were humiliating.
The method was crude:│ I tracked‿ everything for‿ a month‿ an(d) retained‿ every receipt. My disposable‿ income was being consumed by purchases‿ individually trivial‿ an(d) collectively decisive,│ which‿ is the mechanism‿ of mos(t) consumer debt. Coffee,│ snacks‿ an(d) taxis‿ accounted for two hundred monthly,│ and‿ each transaction had fel(t) beneath consideration. Discipline,│ I concluded,│ is not‿ a personality trait but‿ a structure. Once the fixed costs were visible‿ an(d) the interest‿ upon the cards‿ honestly calculated,│ my behaviour‿ altered without‿ any exercise‿ of will.
I now prioritise‿ in‿ a fixed‿ order:│ housing,│ food,│ savings,│ an(d) whatever remains. I maintain‿ a contingency fund‿ as well,│ a single‿ unexpected‿ invoice being sufficien(t) to convert‿ a budget‿ into a debt. Austerity is not the objective,│ and‿ I rejec(t) the implication that poverty results from purchasing coffee;│ that‿ argument‿ is generally advanced by people│ whose consumption nobody audits. Financial literacy is nevertheless the difference between‿ a difficul(t) month‿ and‿ a crisis,│ an(d) nobody taught‿ it to me at school,│ which‿ is‿ a deficiency of the curriculum rather than‿ of character.