00:00Talking about money makes me feel
00:02Conflicted
00:02Disciplined
00:04Poor
00:05Powerful
00:05Slightly uncomfortable
00:08What's the one thing that makes you feel most uncomfortable talking about?
00:13Politics?
00:14Sex?
00:15Well, for me, it's money.
00:16Why is it so weird to talk about money?
00:19Well, it turns out I'm not alone.
00:21According to a Wells Fargo survey,
00:2344% of Americans say that personal finances
00:26is the most difficult thing to talk about.
00:27That statistic is pretty hefty.
00:30So it got me thinking, why do people hate talking about money?
00:33Money makes me feel uncomfortable because I didn't have it growing up.
00:36It ultimately depends on who I'm talking about it with.
00:38If it's with a guy who I'm dating or my friends, not so comfortable.
00:42But if it's with my family, you know, you can talk about basically anything with them.
00:45I grew up with a wealthy background.
00:48That made it often difficult for me to be candid and honest about money,
00:53especially with friends who didn't come from the same background.
00:55I'm very comfortable talking about money.
00:58I think a lot of people should be, just in general,
01:00because it's something that we all deal with on a daily basis.
01:04No one's really honest about how much money they have.
01:08I have a lot of questions.
01:09Who deserves money?
01:10And also, like, who is able to get money?
01:12And what sort of things that money gives you in life,
01:15like access to certain conversations that a lot of people will never get to see
01:20because of, like, the way they exist in the world.
01:23When I was growing up, my parents told me not to talk about money with friends.
01:26And in fact, 70% of Americans agree that it's rude to talk about money.
01:31There have been instances where, for some of my friends,
01:35doing certain things isn't as comfortable financially.
01:38So then, at that point, we all kind of adjust and do things that we can all afford and feel
01:43comfortable with.
01:43I will say friendship and money can be weird.
01:46My best friend in the whole world comes from India,
01:49but his family in India is more well-off than mine is here.
01:53There would always be situations where, like, he would want to go out to a nice place
01:56or go to a place that I couldn't necessarily afford,
01:58and so he would often buy me drinks, and that always made me feel strange.
02:03Talking about money makes me feel uncomfortable with my friends
02:05because I feel like I never have enough.
02:08We definitely do talk about needing to save money.
02:11We definitely do talk about how we like to budget our money.
02:14Talking about it with your friends is better in a lot of ways
02:17than talking about it with your parents because they're in it,
02:19and they're, like, living the same kind of issues that you're having.
02:22Not talking about personal finances with your friends is one thing,
02:25but are you supposed to talk to your family about everything?
02:28My parents keep pushing off talking about money.
02:31They would rather discuss it later after the situation arrives.
02:34There's always one person, my mother, who would handle all the emergencies.
02:38Like, she'll talk about the money for it later.
02:40I said to my mother, we're rich, and she looked at me with this disgusted face
02:46and said, no, we're not.
02:48And I was like, yeah, we definitely are.
02:50I think my family thinks I make a lot more than them
02:53because I live in New York City, but I think money doesn't go as far,
02:55and we don't account for that.
02:56Parents never want to see you struggle.
02:58My parents do not want to ever see me struggle
03:00because that's not how they raised me.
03:01We never struggled.
03:03I never had to worry about finances in terms of my parents.
03:05They definitely drill into me how important it is to save, how important it is to budget.
03:10My parents are very much cautious around not getting into debt,
03:14so I think that's really an important thing that I keep in mind,
03:17is like, yeah, to not spend more than you have.
03:19I think if you're a teenager, you should be talking to your parents about it.
03:23Just so you begin to, like, understand basic things,
03:26like how much you should be spending on rent.
03:28When I go on a date, sometimes I'm really unsure, like,
03:31who's supposed to reach finances more or happier than those that don't.
03:34Money subconsciously kind of came up with a guy who I just started dating
03:38where the check came on our second date,
03:40and there was this awkward kind of moment where he was like,
03:43are you going to get that?
03:44I thought that maybe he would have treated me, you know,
03:47being that it was a date, but he didn't.
03:50At least the first date, I do think splitting dating costs
03:52is a conversation that needs to be had down the line.
03:54I think on the first date, it really is a way for a guy to be like,
03:58hey, I am romantically interested, but a way that's nice
04:02and doesn't put pressure on the other person necessarily,
04:04but just to be like, hey, I'm going to get dinner.
04:06First three dates, you're paying.
04:07If I really, really like you, then maybe I'll suggest on the fourth
04:10that I get it because, you know, you got the other ones,
04:12but no, you're paying.
04:13Did you know that there's a study that shows that people feel
04:16more comfortable talking about their STIs than their salary?
04:20Are you kidding me?
04:21Why is it easier to talk about sex than money?
04:23Largely speaking, in sex, everyone's kind of on an equal playing field,
04:27but when people talk about money, I think there are all kinds
04:31of different relationships with money.
04:34I don't think it's easier to be honest with you.
04:36I think it's all pretty awkward if you're asking me.
04:38However, not everybody is rich.
04:40Not everybody is poor.
04:41Not everybody is struggling.
04:42Not everybody is well off.
04:44Society, at least in America, has progressed to the point
04:46where, like, sex is out there.
04:48I guess in terms of, like, when people talk about sex,
04:50it seems more of a choice where sometimes for money,
04:53it doesn't seem as much like you're making your own choices
04:56or that you, like, chose your way in life.
04:58Money is a very important aspect of our lives
05:00and we should not feel ashamed discussing it.
05:02Everyone has a different relationship with money.
05:04So as long as we can be sensitive to that,
05:06then we can all help each other use it.
05:08You can get to be careful.
