| The first people didn't buy goods from other people with money. They used barter. Barter is the exchange of personal possessions of value for other goods that you want. This kind of exchange started at the beginning of humankind and is still used today. From 9,000-6,000 B.C., livestock was often used as a unit of exchange. Later, as agriculture developed, people used crops for barter. For example, I could ask another farmer to trade a pound of apples for a pound of bananas. | |
| At about 1200 B.C. in China, cowry shells became the first medium of exchange, or money. The cowry has served as money throughout history even to the middle of this century. | |
| China, in 1,000 B.C., produced mock cowry shells at the end of the Stone Age. They can be thought of as the original development of metal currency. In addition, tools made of metal, like knives and spades, were also used in China as money. From these models, we developed today's round coins that we use daily. The Chinese coins were usually made out of base metals which had holes in them so that you could put the coins together to make a chain. | |
| At about 500 B.C., pieces of silver were the earliest coins. Eventually in time they took the appearance of today and were imprinted with numerous gods and emperors to mark their value. These coins were first shown in Lydia, or Turkey, during this time, but the methods were used over and over again, and further improved upon by the Greek, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman empires. Not like Chinese coins, which relied on base metals, these new coins were composed from scarce metals such as bronze, gold, and silver, which had a lot of intrinsic value. | |
| In 118 B.C., banknotes in the form of leather money were used in China. One-foot square pieces of white deerskin edged in vivid colors were exchanged for goods. This is believed to be the beginning of a kind of paper money. | |
| During the ninth century A.D., the Danes in Ireland had an expression "To pay through the nose." It comes from the practice of cutting the noses of those who were careless in paying the Danish poll tax. | |
| From the ninth century to the fifteenth century A.D., in China, the first actual paper currency was used as money. Through this period the amount of currency skyrocketed causing severe inflation. Unfortunately, in 1455 the use of the currency vanished from China. European civilization still would not have paper currency for many years. | |
| In 1500, North American Indians engaged in potlach, a term that describes the exchange of gifts at banquets, dances, and various rituals. Since the trading of gifts was so important in figuring the leaders’ community status, potlach went out of control as the gifts became more extravagant in an effort to surpass others' gifts. | |
| In 1535, though likely well before this earliest recorded date, strings of beads made from clam shells, calledwampum, are used by North American Indians as money. Wampum means white, the color of the clam shells and the beads. | |
| In 1816, England made gold a benchmark of value. This meant that the value of currency was pegged to a certain number of ounces of gold. This would help to prevent inflation of currency. The U.S. went on the gold standard in 1900. | |
| Because of the depression of the 1930's, the U.S. began a world wide movement to end tying currency to gold. Today, few nations tie the value of their currency to the price of gold. Other government and financial institutions now try to control inflation. | |
| At present, nations continue to change their currencies. For example, the U.S. has already changed its $100 and $20 banknotes. More changes are in the works. | |
| Tomorrow | Tomorrow is already here. Electronic money (or digital cash) is already being exchanged over the Internet. |
This time of year is notorious for the growth of personal debt -- mostly due to purchasing Christmas presents with credit cards. Today we will be starting Dave Ramsey's video series on the Dangers of Debt.pred·a·tor
/ˈpredətər/Noun
- An animal that naturally preys on others.
- A rapacious, exploitative person or group.
Note: Texas Tech University did a study on the Texas Lottery and found that people without a high school diploma spent an average of _________ a month playing the lottery. College graduates spent _________ a month on average. When studies are done on the lottery, it's always the lower-income ZIP codes that generate the highest revenue on sales.
On average, a $28,000 car will be worth $8,400 in four years.Myth 8:
The adjustable-rate mortgage is here to keep the _____________ from losing money. It transfers the ____________ of higher interest rates to you.
According to carddata.com, U.S. consumers racked up an estimated $51 billion worth of fast food on their personal credit and debit cards in 2006, compared to $33.2 billion one year ago.
As soon as you get to college, you will receive offers from credit card companies. About 80% of college graduates have credit card debt before they even get a job.
Debt consolidation saves little or no _______________ because you will throw your low interest loans into the deal.
You cannot ____________ your way out of debt! _____________ payments equal more _________ in debt.
When surveyed, the Forbes 400 were asked, "What is the most important key to building wealth?" _____________ replied that becoming and staying ________ free was the number one key to wealth building.
Today we will be working through the creation of a personal budget spreadsheet. We will use it to keep track of income and spending, and use it to plan purchases, investing, etc.
After laying out the income and expenses in the first column (A), create columns for each month of the year (B) through (M). Next, create a "TOTALS" column (N).
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| Rows are horizontal... like the rows of a theater. And they are numbered -- row 3, row 4, etc. |
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| Columns are vertical... like columns in a building. They are lettered -- column A, B, C, etc. |
Most problems can be taken care of with a quick telephone call to the landlord or the person designated as the apartment caretaker. Sometimes a polite letter can be written to tell of your problem. If there is no reasonable response, further action can be taken.
