Money Matters

By Stephen Joel Trachtenberg

1 While informing freshmen about the hazards of irresponsible alcohol consumption, our educational institutions should also be providing instruction into the mysteries of money. Too many students drink more than they should and do not have a clue about the relationship between working, earning, spending and saving. Not all. It is a socio-economic thing. Those from the middle are most vulnerable.

• 我們的教育機(jī)構(gòu)在告知大一新生不負(fù)責(zé)任的酗酒帶來(lái)的危害時(shí)，也應(yīng)該教授他們關(guān)于金錢的奧秘。太多學(xué)生飲酒過(guò)量，在處理工作、收入、花費(fèi)和儲(chǔ)蓄之間的關(guān)系時(shí)又無(wú)所適從。不是所有學(xué)生都這樣，這是一個(gè)社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)問(wèn) 題。來(lái)自中產(chǎn)家庭的學(xué)生最容易中招。

2 I think it was in the fifth grade at primary school that banking was first introduced to me. A representative of Lincoln Savings, which had a branch only a few blocks from school, visited my class. With the encouragement of our teacher, the banker extolled the virtue of saving, and by explaining compound interest he demonstrated how the pennies put away each week would over time mount up to something meaningful. A few days later many of us returned to class with newly filled out documents, complete with our parents’ endorsement and a handful of coins. With a dime and a nickel, I opened my first account. Once a week, on behalf of the bank, the teacher collected our passbooks and the change we placed into small brown envelopes marked with our names. And little by little, we watched our accounts grow.

• ?大概是在小學(xué)五年級(jí)的時(shí)候我第一次接觸到了關(guān)于銀行業(yè)方面的教育。有一位來(lái)自林肯儲(chǔ)蓄銀行分行的代表走進(jìn)了我的課堂，該分行距離我們學(xué)校僅幾個(gè)街區(qū)遠(yuǎn)。在老師的鼓勵(lì)下，那位銀行工作人員大談儲(chǔ)蓄的好處，并且通過(guò)分析復(fù)利，向我們展示了怎樣使每周省下的幾個(gè)便士增加為一筆數(shù)目可觀的資金。幾天后，我們中的很多人回到課堂時(shí)，都隨身帶來(lái)了新填好有父母簽字的文件和一堆硬幣。用幾枚硬幣，我開(kāi)通了人生的第一個(gè)賬戶。每周老師代表銀行收集我們的存折及裝有零錢的棕色小信封，信封上寫有我們的名字。漸漸地，我們看到存折里的錢多了起來(lái)。

3 Those were the days when young people lived in a cash economy; you didn’t have credit cards. By the time I graduated from elementary school, I had developed an understanding of the relationship between work and money. This knowledge was gained partly in school but also because I had begun delivering prescriptions for Hoffman’s drugstore, in good weather or bad, doing business on one of those fat-wheeled bicycles with the big baskets on the front. And, yes, the tips were always better when it was pouring and I quickly learned to pedal between the rain drops!

• 那時(shí)候的年輕人生活在一個(gè)現(xiàn)金交易的經(jīng)濟(jì)時(shí)代，沒(méi)有信用卡。到我小學(xué)畢業(yè)的時(shí)候，我已經(jīng)了解了工作和金錢之間的關(guān)系。這種了解一部分源于學(xué)校，另一個(gè)原因是我開(kāi)始為霍夫曼藥房送藥方，不論天氣好壞，我都騎著前面有大籃子的寬輪自行車工作。當(dāng)然，在下大雨的日子里小費(fèi)更多一些。我也很快學(xué)會(huì)了如何在雨水中騎行。

4 My wife, when I was telling her what I was writing, asked me where I was going with all of this. The answer is that I am troubled that our schools, much less our colleges, don’t teach students enough about how to handle money. Some might say that life and the confrontation of high tuition and the need for jobs to get through college takes care of that, but I’m not sure.??

• 當(dāng)我告訴妻子我在寫什么的時(shí)候，她問(wèn)我意欲何為。答案是，我很困惑為什么學(xué)校，特別是大學(xué)，沒(méi)有教授學(xué)生足夠的理財(cái)知識(shí)呢。有人可能會(huì)說(shuō)生活會(huì)讓他們明白，或者面對(duì)大學(xué)的高額學(xué)費(fèi)，學(xué)生們得去工作才能完成學(xué)業(yè)時(shí)，他們也會(huì)明白。但是我表示懷疑。

5 The experience of college has many lessons to impart: socialization — getting along with strangers with whom you share confined spaces; time management — organizing for class, study and relaxation; nutrition — eating and drinking thoughtfully; and finance — earning, accumulating and budgeting limited resources.

• 大學(xué)階段有許多課程需要教授給學(xué)生：交際方面——如何與共享有限空間的陌生人相處；時(shí)間管理方面—— 如何安排上課、學(xué)習(xí)和休閑的時(shí)間；營(yíng)養(yǎng)方面——如何合理地安排飲食；金融方面——如何掙錢、存錢，以及對(duì)有限的資源進(jìn)行預(yù)算。

6 Over the years, I watched students struggle with the allocation of time — cramming a semester’s work into the last three weeks; I’ve seen them gain excess weight from eating and drinking unwisely; and, I’ve seen students run through a semester’s cash before midterm break.

• 多年來(lái)，我看到學(xué)生們苦于不會(huì)分配時(shí)間，把一個(gè)學(xué)期的任務(wù)擠在最后三個(gè)星期突擊完成；我看到他們因不合理的飲食而體重超標(biāo)；我也看到學(xué)生們?cè)谄谥蟹偶偾熬桶岩粋€(gè)學(xué)期的錢花光了。

7 On many campuses, students have credit accounts filled with funds deposited at the beginning of the academic year, either by the students themselves or by parents, which are then spent throughout the term whenever the plastic card is “swiped” by the student when she wishes to make a purchase. Buy a book — swipe once; eat a few meals — swipe two or three times a day. Swiping is easy — all it takes is a swift movement of the wrist.

• 在很多大學(xué)，學(xué)生們自己或者他們的父母會(huì)在學(xué)年初往他們的信用賬戶存錢，這些錢供他們?cè)谡麄€(gè)學(xué)期里使用，當(dāng)學(xué)生想購(gòu)物時(shí)，隨時(shí)可以刷卡。買本書，刷一次；吃幾頓飯，一天刷兩三次。刷卡很簡(jiǎn)單，只需動(dòng)一動(dòng)手腕。

8 But there is often inadequate comprehension of the finite nature of the size of the account, of the bottom line. In September, a student estimates how much money he needs for each upcoming week, and multiplies that number by a 14-week semester, getting the dollar amount to be deposited into the account. And then he forgets and too often the reverse doesn’t take place. The student doesn’t take the total amount in the account and divide by 14 to figure out how much money is available to spend weekly. Likewise, borrowing funds for tuition at a single digit interest rate doesn’t seem too overwhelming to the student until he looks at the total amount owed at the end of four years. Sums grow when you borrow as well as when you save! ?

• ?但是學(xué)生們通常對(duì)這筆錢是有限的這個(gè)本質(zhì)，以及對(duì)自己的底線缺乏足夠的認(rèn)識(shí)。 9月，一名學(xué)生會(huì)估計(jì)在接下來(lái)的每周他大約需要多少錢，將這個(gè)數(shù)字乘以一學(xué)期的14周，得到需要存入賬戶的總額。而后，他就忘了這筆錢是怎么算出來(lái)的。通常，他花錢時(shí)不會(huì)進(jìn)行相反操作。他不會(huì)把賬戶里的金額總數(shù)除以14從而計(jì)算出每周可供花 費(fèi)多少錢。同樣，以低于10點(diǎn)的利率借來(lái)的學(xué)費(fèi)在他看來(lái)并不算多，直到四年后看到總數(shù)時(shí)，他才會(huì)覺(jué)得數(shù)額巨大。 不論你是借錢還是存錢，日積月累，數(shù)目都會(huì)變大。

9 Frankly, too much credit in the form of magic cards is accessible to undergraduates. In fact, I think banks and credit card companies often take advantage of students’ ignorance of financial risk by offering multiple cards and giving them an opportunity to spend without thinking about how the bill is ultimately to be satisfied. Many young people are not adequately educated about credit cards and debt. They may know that they have to pay the money back, but they may not be prepared to understand the effect of high interest rates, minimum payments, and the devastating effect that late payments can cause. And when most young people have relatively low-paying jobs, it can become difficult to keep up with credit card payments if they get out of control.

• ?坦白地說(shuō)，大學(xué)生們很容易得到各種有魔力的信用卡，而且給他們的信用額度太高。事實(shí)上，我認(rèn)為銀行和信用卡公司通常利用學(xué)生對(duì)財(cái)務(wù)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的無(wú)知，給他們提供各式各樣的信用卡，并給他們提供機(jī)會(huì)，使他們?cè)谙M(fèi)時(shí)無(wú)須考慮賬單最后怎樣償還。很多年輕人并沒(méi)有接受過(guò)關(guān)于信用卡和債務(wù)足夠多的教育。他們可能知道必須還錢，但是他們還不了解高利率的影響、最低還款額以及逾期還款所帶來(lái)的毀滅性后果。因此，在大多數(shù)年輕人收入還偏低的時(shí)候，如果刷卡過(guò)度就很難還清信用卡欠款。

10 Students who start out this way are behind the eight ball even before commencement; they enter the next stage of life with a negative dowry. They are denied the opportunity to build good financial habits and some are obliged to take jobs that they might not otherwise, jobs that pay a little more but offer less satisfaction and ego nourishment, and no long-term opportunity. Some students never catch up, or find the dollars needed to buy a home almost impossible to save; and they always “owe” the company store. It is a sad and debilitating state of affairs. Ask students how much a ticket costs to an upcoming rock concert and they’ll quickly tell you. Ask about the price of a keg of beer and they will surely know the answer. Ask how much of their gross monthly salary will net out for rent and utilities and they will be stumped. Ask how much they have to save in order to go on vacation, buy a car, put a down payment on a mortgage, send their kids to college or — the big one — retire, and their eyes will glaze over.??

• 以這種方式走出學(xué)校的學(xué)生，甚至在畢業(yè)前就已經(jīng)陷入困境了；他們帶著負(fù)債進(jìn)入人生的下一階段。他們沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)養(yǎng)成一個(gè)良好的財(cái)務(wù)習(xí)慣，一些人不得不接受他們?cè)静粫?huì)接受的工作，這些工作報(bào)酬相對(duì)高一點(diǎn)，但無(wú)法給予同樣的滿足感和個(gè)人提升空間，也沒(méi)有長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)的發(fā)展機(jī)會(huì)。有的學(xué)生永遠(yuǎn)跟不上，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)幾乎不可能存下買房所需的錢，而且總是欠公司商店的錢。這是一種令人痛心又無(wú)能為力的狀態(tài)。問(wèn)學(xué)生下一場(chǎng)搖滾音樂(lè)會(huì)的門票價(jià)格，他們會(huì)馬上告訴你，問(wèn)他們一桶啤酒的價(jià)格，他們也肯定知道。但是問(wèn)他們的月薪除去房租和水電費(fèi)后的余額，他們會(huì)被難倒。若問(wèn)他們?yōu)榱硕燃?、買車、按揭首付，以及送他們的孩子上大學(xué)，或者更遠(yuǎn)的目標(biāo)——退休，需要存多 少錢，他們肯定會(huì)目光呆滯。

11 Too many of our young people live here and now. Teachers, elders, parents and bankers need to stimulate them to think about the future in an even more informed way.

• 我們周圍有太多年輕人只活在當(dāng)下。老師們、長(zhǎng)輩們、家長(zhǎng)們以及銀行從業(yè)人員都要激勵(lì)他們，給他們更多的信息，使他們能更清楚地思考未來(lái)。