Show me the money

It's so very interesting to experience different cultures first hand. I've lived in 5 countries and in one aspect Australians beat absolutely every other nationality I've ever met. They talk about money. Like all the time, it doesn't really matter what people started to talk about they will end up talking about money. I had always thought the Finns like to discuss and are obsessed with their euros but that was before I came to this side of the globe.

Everything has a price tag on it. If you tell someone their couch looks pretty, they'll tell you how much they paid for it, if it was on sale, if it was bought second-hand or how much they were able to save buying this couch in comparison to buying some other couch. If you ask them to recommend a nice cafe nearby, you'll not only get recommended a cafe, you'll receive the menu with prices. I wouldn't be too surprised to learn the cost structure of the business and how many coffees they need to sell in a month to break even.

Sometimes I feel like this money thing is getting a bit out of hand. If you are invited for a dinner at someone's place, they'll tell you how much did it cost to procure the ingredients for the meal. It leaves kind of a bad taste in my mouth. I eat the meal and can't help thinking that the hostess is likely to produce the bill in the end of the evening.

In Finland people don't talk about personal finance with acquaintances. Salary, budget and expensive purchases are usually considered to be a bit of a secret. The Virtanens don't want the Jokinens next door feel pissed because the Virtanens brag about their riches. In a society that does its very best to forcefully equalize its population, it is considered a social blunder to clearly show you are better of than the lesser mortals.

Between good friend it is ok to discuss even this nasty matter of making the ends meet. But we really are amateurs in this field, let's admit it. It takes dedication to think about money all the time. Actually, I just realized I don't even know how much my parents earned when they were still working. We always had money if we needed to buy something and I've never ever heard my mother to ask our guests to help themselves to second serving by telling them "it's ok to take more of that Greek salad, the tomatoes and feta cheese were only 1.99 per kilo!" I don't mean to claim that people in Finland would not be happy to find something is on sale, what I'm trying to say the fact that something is cheap is not advertised so openly. Indeed, it would even be a bit offensive to tell the guests they are being offered something cheap. It sounds like, well, it sounds like they are only worthy of cheap and possibly low-quality products.

I don't remember people in Poland talked about dough all the time, there were other topics to discuss, too. Polish people often mentioned that their nation likes to complain and criticize, but complaints and critic often originated from things that were happening in the society. Salaries were off limits as a topic, it was even stated in the employment contract that we were not allowed to reveal our salaries. In Ireland I never got to know many Irish people, but the ones I knew did not obsess about their pesos. We talked about weather (although I can't understand why is that such an interest on an island where it rains most of the time), we talked about hobbies, jobs, school. Well, I only knew the Irish people through a charity I was volunteering for. It could be that people involved in charity are less prone to measure everything in gold. In Korea I talked about everything with my friends. Absolutely everything. Money and finances did not dominate the discussion or the thoughts.

It has been difficult to adapt to a culture where money features every aspect of human communication. In my childhood home money was never such an important, central part of life. I was told money should serve people, not the other way around. Here in Australia it feels like money is the local religion, a god that's dutifully worshiped daily. Even people who enjoy an above-average salary are complaining they can't afford this and that, they are poor. It seems like the more people have, the more they want to have. And there you are, listening to that and thinking you haven't had any income for 8 months but who cares. At some level it seems to be an international tendency to whine about being poor but according to my experience, elsewhere those kind of talks have their time and place. Well, maybe it's so in Australia, too. Everywhere and all the time.

All this has made me think that I must cut my own money-talk by half. Especially my mom always says I think and talk about money too much. Now I know how tiring it can be if people only have one topic to talk about. But on the other hand I was thinking, maybe we should be more open about money. It can lead to positive salary development and maybe people feel better about their own financial situation if they know they are as well off as the next person. Or maybe not. Who knows. Anyway. I will try and stop telling everyone i don't have any money and I will start it right now. And to be more open about money in the same sentence, I will say " I have always had a below-average salary but I have always been able to afford the things I need and most of the things I want, within reason".