The secret life of money

A book so boring should not be filled with such amazing information. Anyway, read it, and here are the startling revelations:



1) You are ashamed to put a worth on yourself

Is your own money harder to talk about than sex? Do you know how much your parents earn? Why does it feel so invasive if someone looks in your wallet? Do you hesitate to aska friend how much they paid for their new couch or car?



2) Money is not just a store of value or a medium of exchange:

A $1000 paycheck is not the same money as $1000 stolen from a bank or $1000 borrowed from a friend. And certain monies remain indivisible - an inheritance, for instance, or a wedding gift of money. The latter is a qualitative unit that should not be spent partly for a gift and partly for groceries.



3) Money is psychologically complex

Money gifts can be given to those who are younger, but not comfortably to your mother. In many relationships, no amount of money can substitute for a gift personally selected.


4) Money is not discussed in some professions

The patient pays the receptionist, not the doctor or the therapist. Teachers asking for payrises is looked upon as immoral.


5) Freudian explanation for spenders and hoarders

The psychological urge to save or spend apparently stems from the early childhood anal stage where children derive pleasure from either expelling faeces, or retaining it. The same pleasure is apparently expirienced while hoarding money or letting it go. Or hoarding it for a long time and suddenly letting it go.


6) Money has genders:

Public money is strong and masculine, private money is feminine.