Sparking memories of my
childhood was Troutbirder’s post here yesterday about the neighborhood of his
younger years in St. Paul, Minnesota. His adventures of traveling alone at a
young age on the city’s trolleys reminded me of the city buses I grew up with.
A bus of my memory (Photo
credit: Detroit Transit History)
The freedom that
allowed him to travel alone is rarely available to young children these days.
Even though my childhood home of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was a tiny city compared
to Troutbirder’s St. Paul, it had a robust bus service in the 1950s and early
60s.
My use of that
service the summer I was about 12 years old sticks with me. Once a month during
that summer, my father entrusted me with a meticulously organized packet of
bills and CASH. He sat me down and carefully explained what each bill was and
where to pay it.
He told me that he
was saving money by paying me 10 cents a bill instead of paying by mail with
the associated cost of stamp, envelope and check. I didn’t realize then that
the 10 cents per bill was really no bargain for him. The bargain was financial
training for his clueless daughter.
On my bill-paying
trips I boarded the bus at the end of our street and rode all the way to the
stop in the center of town. That was about 1959, and at that time our vibrant
commercial center was fairly compact and well within my ability to walk to all
the places where I needed to transact business: power company, City Hall to pay
the water bill, a bank to make a deposit.
My father had several
rental houses, and on my first outing I successfully made the month’s payment
for one of those little houses at a mortgage company. The next bill was a
payment on another rental house at a different financial institution.
There I ran into a
snag. My father had not mentioned that the amount he gave me for that month’s
loan payment was more than the amount due. I had no idea what I was supposed to
do.
The young lady taking
my payment suggested I put it into the escrow account. I realize now that she
was young, probably in her 20s or early 30s. At the time I thought she was
quite ancient and a font of financial wisdom.
My father was not
pleased when I reported back about putting the extra cash into escrow. He
pulled out a long, printed list of dates and columns of figures. He proceeded
to introduce me to the amortization schedule for the loan on that property.
His explanation necessary
to enlighten the 12-year-old me took a lot longer than this one below that I
borrowed from Investopedia:
“Amortization
schedule: A complete schedule of periodic blended loan payments, showing the
amount of principal and the amount of interest that comprise each payment so
that the loan will be paid off at the end of its term. Early in the schedule,
the majority of each periodic payment is interest. Later in the schedule, the
majority of each periodic payment is put toward the principal.”
By the end of Daddy’s
Mortgage 101 session, I had grasped the fact that in the early days of paying
off a home mortgage, a little bit of extra money applied regularly to the
principal could make a huge reduction in the total cost of the home.
Putting that extra cash
in escrow had been totally superfluous, and I understood why my father was so
adamant about applying the extra to the principal.
Note: It seems I remember a little more green on the buses of my childhood, but maybe not. My memories are good, but my memory . . . not so great!
You got an amazing class on finance from your dear dad while riding the bus and doing the errands.
ReplyDeleteYour father was a very wise man. He gave you a sense of independence, confidence, and money management. I grew up with buses and streetcars! But the swaying motion of the streetcars made me really sick.
ReplyDeletemy cousin and I rode buses when we were children, just like these photos. we started when we were 10, going into town to the saturday movies. but we never paid bills. what an adventure for you and a learning experience. a great way to learn. and you never forgot it. the reason we could retire at 62 is because we paid a 15 year mortage off in less than 10 by paying extra.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention! Your right that such a trip in todays world would be unthinkable. My grandchildren are basically supervize 24/7. How sad that this is necessary. They live in the Phoenix area. My dad was a banker and I still depend a lot on his financial advice though he has been gone many year now...:)
ReplyDeleteVery important to get these memories down while you can. They are a treasure. I too rode a bus much like this one. Monlieu Ave to Main Street to high school. Thanks for jogging my memory. Dianne
ReplyDeleteGoodness, today you would be mugged carrying cash on a bus. What great lessons in responsibility you learned and also the gem about paying extra on the mortgage. Smart. I always did that when I had a mortgage.
ReplyDeleteLong-ago lessons stay with us. What a great life-teacher your father was.
ReplyDeleteI love that last line. That is a keeper. It describe how I feel so often.
ReplyDeleteYour father was an amazing man to give you this responsibility. You were fortunate to be able to do this.
Your post and Troutbirder's certainly awakened memories for me and my bus riding days of my youth. Yes we were so fortunate in those days. We had the roam of the town. Things were much different then.
Your Daddy was an amazing and wise man.
ReplyDeleteImportant lessons learned for your life time.
When I think of every place I went as a 10 or 11 year old...whew, we could never do that now. What a sad comment on society today.
I rode my bike everywhere.
We didn't have a great bus system in the suburbs where we lived, so I rode my bike to the store, parked it outside and it was there when I came out, put the items in my basket and rode merrily home.
What a nice memory. What a great teacher your dad was!
ReplyDeleteIt is remarkable that you have such great memories of your childhood. Your father was very smart to teach you about amortization.
ReplyDeleteHow blessed you were to have had this opportunity to learn about finances from your father! I had to learn the hard way--by trial and error.
ReplyDelete