"Lets talk Money"

"Lets talk Money", a friend of mine greeted me with that line today. Growing up in Malawi, we have traditions, well, at least my family didn't get to see most of the common traditions. We grow up with the concept that men are the heads of household. They get to work and provide for the family, the woman usually doesn't provide financially for the family. A few women (Mothers and daughters) could have access to family finances. Do you think something like this might have affected the way most people handle money now (as adults)? Think of other countries that provide jobs for high school kids and young college students to work while going to school? I believe the kids who grow up with the idea of how to make money and be able to manage their own finances stand a better chance at succeeding in life than those who wait to finish college and get a job and live on their own. On the same note, the opportunities of prospering while we are still young is limited because we stay at our parents' houses for so long and we become lazy and irresponsible and when the responsibilities of life come up, we fail to deliver and redeem ourselves from the hardships that our parents fought for us.

I see this as being harder when it comes to women. Dependence on men often make us lazy and spoiled. We think we cannot do some things that men do. This for instance, move out of your parents house when you turn eighteen. In my country, where there are really no jobs for eighteen year olds, its a taboo just for the thought of it. Even your Mom is going to ask you, how do you plan to pay the rent? Who are going to live with? On the contrary, the western world can't usually wait for their kids to turn eighteen so they can get their own place and be independent. If there were opportunities in Malawi that could provide the means to younger people to be independent at an early age, how many could utilize them? Would it be a matter of culture, or would the perception change that kids just want to grow up? Just wondering!!

I believe if the opportunities were there to allow women and even men, to get access to money, and be able to manage their own finances, a lot of people wouldn't be facing the problems they are facing now. If, say, you got a job when you were fifteen, you live in your parents house but saving for college or furniture for your own place once you turn eighteen, imagine how many people could have a savings account with money in it. I know some friends who never even have a bank account until they graduated college. How can someone manage an account and be able to invest at the same time when they don't know how to handle money in the first place.

Coming to that note, I want to know if people know the difference between income and wealth. What do you strive for in life? Is it more income? or is it more wealth?
Will take it from here next time....this was too broad, I will be narrowing down the Money issue little by little