by Maxwell Martin-Bean. E-mail mcjlmb@gmail.com

Photography: Sumerlin Brandon

It’s true what they say: with age comes experience. Whether those experiences are good or bad, you, as a relative youngin’, can learn from those who have had more time to make, and correct, their mistakes. With this in mind, I asked my parents for their best financial advice. Now you’re probably thinking, “why should I care about what your parents think about finance?” In my defense, my father retired at 50 and my parents bought their house up front. I consider them very financially responsible. The most firm advice they gave me concerned credit cards. They are not toys!

So many young people fall victim to debt, and few realize how slippery the slope is towards insurmountable credit card debt. Interest rates on credit cards are ridiculously high, and I don’t care how much you want that new dress/video game/watch/gold-plated toilet seat, if you don’t have the money to pay for it, don’t buy it! Instead, save your money until you can pay for it in cash.

Once you have that shiny new whatever in your hands, you’re a lot less likely to muster the motivation to pay it off your card, and then the interest kicks in. Credit cards should ideally be used for convenience and emergency situations, not as a magic ticket to instant material satisfaction. On the same topic, my folks also stressed the importance of completely paying off your credit card payments every month.

This may be unrealistic for some people, but keep in mind that the longer those bills stay unpaid, the more you will suffer in the long run. I’ve heard that credit card companies ironically refer to those who pay their bill in total every month as “dead beats,” but trust me, this is the one kind of dead beat you should aspire to be. Another great tip is to save 10% of all your earnings. This may seem extreme to some, but if you make it a habit, you won’t even think about the portion you’re tucking away. Plus, that money, if properly invested, could eventually turn into its own source of income. One classic way to save money is by opening an IRA. This way you can take advantage of, as my parents put it, “the miracle of compound interest.” While their phrasing may be a bit over dramatic, there’s no denying the sense in saving smartly. With an IRA you can take advantage of that same concept of compound interest that the credit card companies use to screw you over (that phrasing is mine).

Finally, they left me with an apt quote from a true elder, Charles Dickens. “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”