“I don’t want to pay for it.”

“I DON’T want to pay for it!”

“I DON’T WANNNNNNNNT TO PAY FOR ITTTTTTTTTT!”

I nervously smiled at the cashier while checking out at Whole Foods, all while Jackson chanted over and over again that he didn’t want to pay for the groceries.

Before long, I noticed the cashier peering into the bottom of the stroller to make sure there weren’t any items I had “forgotten”. Of course, to make it obvious that I was not stealing, I made an over-the-top gesture to double and triple check the stroller basket while loudly telling Jackson about the importance of paying.

I’m sure this was quite the sight to see…!

You see, at 2.5 years old, Jackson is starting to grasp the concept of money. Of course, he doesn’t actually understand it yet…but enough where he deems there are some things worth buying (like toys) while other things (like groceries) don’t make the cut.

And every time we check out, he’ll remind me whether or not we should pay.

Even though Jackson is just starting to learn about money, he already understands that money makes the world go around.

And this is what I want to talk about today.

Why should you care?

Ultimately, my goal is to help you, as a fellow parent, understand why you should care about bitcoin. (sneak peek – I believe bitcoin is the most important thing to build financial freedom for your family)

But in order to do that, we have to first get on the same page about how critical money is in our lives. Once we’re there, we can then explore how and where bitcoin fits into the equation.

Ready? Let’s get started!

Money makes the world go around

For every kid you have (or want to have), plan to set aside roughly $300,000. That’s right, more than a quarter of a MILLION dollars, according to Investopedia!

That’s because there are going to be expenses like:

• food and diapers…which requires money to pay for
• school…which requires money to pay for
• extracurricular activities like soccer camp or music lessons…which also requires money to pay for

As parents, this is our responsibility. Put another way, when the bill comes due, the money needs to be there to pay for it. Else, there will be some kind of financial stress on the family to make ends meet.

Making sure the money is there

For most of us, we make money by working at a job. And it doesn’t matter if you are a doctor, teacher, cashier, or like me, a Product Manager working at tech startups.

At work, each of us trades our time (ie. by showing up, doing the work, and helping our respective company achieve their goals). And in exchange, we receive a paycheck for that time we put in.

Money is the tool that makes all the back-and-forth trading possible. This is what I mean when I say that money makes the world go around:

1. We trade our time for money at work
2. We then trade our money for products and services we need
3. Rinse and repeat

And just for shits and giggles, let’s imagine how chaotic life would be without money:

• how would you trade for groceries?
• what happens when your kids’ school sends a tuition bill to reserve a spot for next year?
• if it weren’t money, how would you get compensated for the work you do?

Again, to hammer the point home, money makes the world go around.

What if we just get rid of money?

Sure, maybe in some distant future, we’ll evolve past the need for money.

But for me, as a parent living in the here and now, with a need to buy food, diapers, pay for school, etc…I have no choice but to anchor to the reality that money makes the world go around.

Lesson learned

If you’ve gotten this far already, congrats! Even though it might not feel like it yet, you are already ahead of 80% parents on your way to understand bitcoin.

That’s because you now understand lesson #1: money makes the world go around.

But now, knowing that money is central for all the trading we need to perform, we need to look one level deeper at the quality of the money we are using.

Why? There are 100+ different kinds of money like US Dollars, Euros, or Argentinean Pesos. And simply put, not all those are good quality money. Meaning…some are bad quality money.

Why does this matter? Like it or not, if you are using a bad quality kind of money, sooner or later, your family is going to have problems. Big problems.

And as a parent, it is our responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen. Because if it does, it means your family is going to face some kind of pain.

So let’s take a look at what makes money good or bad. And of course, we’ll then be able to compare against what we are actually using day-to-day.

Continue reading here!