Money talks – Home education

 

[Balancing money and a potato*]

There is nothing like innocent questions from children to cause us to consider our values. Recently, I told my adult daughter that I had sold my car. She immediately and straightforwardly asked “for how much?”. My equally immediate and straightforward answer was “none of your business”. Not for the first time, I was forced to consider the nature, background and correctness of my responses, this time in regard to financial education.

Attitudes are a matter of spectrum. On the subject of family finance, on one end of the spectrum are those parents that do not discuss any money issue in the presence of their children, often on the grounds that children should be protected from this type of stress and worry or in the belief that children are not capable of understanding such matters. On the other end are families that discuss everything at the kitchen table from the nitty-gritty price negotiations in their business to the challenges of staying within the monthly budget. These parents believe both in the virtue of the knowledge and their children’s capacity to dealt with these facts. In between are various degrees of openness about the process and numbers of financial management.

The background of these attitudes includes parental attitudes, immediate circumstances and cultural norms. Clearly, if parents never discussed their salary or the monthly budget, children require a great effort to change the approach when they become parents themselves. In my case, I never knew nor would never ask how much my father was earning or how much they paid for their car. Of course, diffcult circumstances often force parents to discuss finances with children especially when negative events force a radical reduction of the budget. During the Corona crisis, countless families had to sit with their children of all ages and explain why and how spending had to be cut to the minimum. A major factor in financial openness is the attitude of the surrounding culture. Israelis are one of many cultures that enjoy the game of “downsmanship”, i.e., wanting to know if they purchased an item for less. Therefore, it is natural for most Israelis, including my daughter, to say two things upon hearing that someone purchased something new: tithadesh – congratulations on a new item, and "how much did you pay". This behaviour would be extremely rude in many local societies. For example, according to my parents, in the 1960’s such questions were considered faut pas in New York but perfectly acceptable in Los Angeles. So, our total environment determines our approach to discussing finances.

An interesting issue is how parental attitudes affect our children. Clearly, “protected” children have less stress about money during childhood but often lack basic budgeting and negotiating skills when they become adults. They then take a crash course in financial management and sometimes do crash. An extreme example of this was Japanese women, at least in the past, who were encouraged to remain childlike even in young adulthood but were expected to manage the entire family budget when they got married. By contrast, children that learned about budgeting and negotiation throughout their childhood not only are more equipped to find better deals but often enjoy the process. The question is whether the concomitant stress is emotionally beneficial to children. Clearly, financial discussions in the presence of children do have an effect

Preparing children for life should involve giving them the tools to manage their finances. Ignoring such vital matters (like ignoring sex) can lead to disaster. In my view, at minimum, parents should teach their children to value money and stay within budget.  Beyond that, it is a matter of individual judgment. In any case, children are our mirrors, whether we like we see or not.

* Picture captions help the blind access the Internet.

Picture: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/stevepb-282134/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1015125">Steve Buissinne</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1015125">Pixabay</a>

Render unto Caesar – A businesslike approach to freelance business

 

[Roman coin*]

Max Weber, the great German sociologist, discussed the transition from status-based state management in which bureaucratic relations are keyed to the status of the petitioner, to modern citizen-based bureaucracies in which everybody receives the same treatment based on set procedures, at least ideally. He linked the transition, which occurred over the 19^th century in Europe, to the increase in State power and efficiency. Freelancers and small business owners often face the same situation, i.e., personal vs objective, when running their business. While natural when people work outside their house for strangers, it is difficult to create a divide between personal and business when the distance between the kitchen and office is only a handful of meters. Yet, in practice, great success as an entrepreneur is dependent on this differentiation in that it determines our approaches to people, tasks and money.

[Anonymous people]

Effective business practices require entrepreneurs to ignore the “person” with whom they deal. B2B and B2C relations involve the exchange of goods and services, not friendship. While it is a pleasure to meet like-minded clients and even befriend them, that relationship is rare, unnecessary and sometimes even undesirable. Both purchasers and providers both essentially desire to complete the transaction as efficiently as possible, i.e., with as little effort and time as the matter allows.  It is clear that certain businesspeople and consumers are argumentative, overly suspicious or even antagonistic. Like modern government employees, business people need to provide the same level of service as they would to pleasant people, sometime even better. Often these challenging customers, once they are satisfied, provide the best source of references as they believe that if we satisfy them, we can satisfy anybody. By contrast, emotional reaction to obnoxious behavior only fuels the flames and loses the customer. Business is not personal.

[Donkey with load]

In business, to quote my father, anything task worth doing is worth doing well. Freelancers are obliged to wear many hats regardless of their initial ability and inclination. These essential tasks include accounting, marketing, bill collection and putting out fires. Without proper execution of these tasks, a business cannot fulfill its potential. Unfortunately, few of us are born with the natural skill for some or all of these nor truly wish to achieve mastery in them. Successful entrepreneurs perform these tasks as if someone else were paying them well to do them, like a clerk at the bank. Once of the tricks is to do them first so that you can go onto to more enjoyable tasks. Avoidance and half-measures directly lead to failure, including bankruptcy. Freelancers must prpoerly execute the tasks while suppressing their emotional reaction to them.

[Currency symbols]

As Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli sang in Cabaret, money makes the world go round. Furthermore, as accountants remind us, income and costs have to balance. Complicating the picture, nobody can predict the future in terms of economics and technology. Combining the three, a sustainable business invests in itself, controls its spending and provides for changes in fortune. Unlike personal finance, which is often a matter of individual whim, business financial decisions must be rationally based even if they are also intuitive. To paraphrase the song, “it’s my business; I can do what I want to” may be technically true but success is governed by hard (or not so hard) reality. A good technique for distinguishing intuition from whim is to consult trusted and knowledgeable outsiders. The entrepreneur may not like their answers but they can prevent much sorrow. The main purpose of any serious business is to make money for its owners, which of course does not preclude enjoying one’s work. Therefore, it is vital for entrepreneurs to astutely manage their business finances.

In Mathews 22:21, it is written "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's”. The quote is in reference to the issue whether paying taxes with coins with the head of Caesar stamped on them (no credit cards then) is a form of worshipping other gods. The answer is that every obligation has its manner of payment. Even if the office is only across the hallway, entrepreneurs need to render unto it the respect it deserves and separate it emotionally, as much as possible, from personal life. Granted, it is easier said than done but it remains one of the keystones for freelancer success.

* Picture captions help the blind access the Internet. Pictures via Pixibay.

LA signing and the art of the translation

 

[Ventura Blvd, Encino with light traffic*]

I took a two-week break from posting blogs due to a family visit to Los Angeles. On my twice-daily trips to my mother’s house from the hotel in the San Fernando Valley, I had plenty of time to notice interesting billboards along the way and even consider how they would be translated. On the flight back, I realized how these signposts illustrate the craft of translation.

Mental Health Matters – This simple three-word text is subject to interpretation depending whether the word matters is a noun, verb or part of a name. In the first case, it would mean issues of emotional stability, which would refer to some counseling service, quite necessary in these Corona times. In the second case, it states that emotional health is important, which is obvious, without saying what should be done about it. In actuality, the text plays on the well-known group Black Lives Matters, and states the name of a charity. “Mental Health Matters” demonstrates why context and cultural knowledge matter.

Corky’s We Control Pets – The advertising message is completely clear in the American context but poses issues in translation. Since the company deals with rats and other nuisances, it is obvious that people pay Corky to get rid of their pests. Yet, the word “control” is translated in most languages as to limit, master or expertly use, none of which applicable in this case. The translator that sticks closely to the dictionary translation, at least in many languages, loses the main point of the message. Professional translation goes beyond word-to-word replacement and requires complete control of the vocabulary nuances.

Serious injury lawyers – The nature of the English language renders this sentence ambiguous, allowing a double meaning. In contrast with most languages, the only English nouns that have gender are natural, e.g., boys, girls, men and women. Thus, adjectives have only one form and do not reflect the gender or number of the noun they describe. In most other language, an adjective in a plural, feminine form must be used with plural, feminine noun, as in les grandes villes in French. In this sentence, we start with the adjective, serious, which is followed by a singular noun, injury, and a plural noun, attorneys, with no grammatical clue to which noun the adjective refers. So, it is possible that the attorneys handle matters of a serious injury, the attorneys are serious or both.  While the first is probably the primary meaning, as a marketing text, the additional implication of legal competence is vital to the message. Thus, the translator must be aware of the purpose of the text so as not to injure its message.

Thus, even a routine drive down Ventura Boulevard can provide food for professional thought. For purchasers of translation, it is vital that the chosen translator is aware of the cultural context, lexical complexity and intended purpose of any text. As for translators, they ignore any of those at their peril. By the way, it is good to be back home in Israel.

* Caption pictures to allow the blind full access to the Internet.