Hi friend,
In honor of Halloween, I’d like to share some financial superstitions that my grandmothers taught me.
An Itchy palm means money is coming to you. Whenever my grandmother caught me scratching my palm, she’d say, “You better pick lotto numbers. Money is coming to you.” Even now, when I scratch my palm, I think of grandma.
If you gift a wallet to someone, always put a little bit of money in it (or else you risk financially ruining the receiver of your gift). My grandma never used the words “financially ruining” to describe the act of gifting a wallet without money. But when I asked her why it was necessary, she looked at me as if I were an alien asking about a truly heinous act. It seemed more like an act of fear instead of an act of giving—fruit to the gods of money.
Always have money that you don’t spend in your wallet. When I got my first wallet, my grandma put a silver dollar wrapped in duct tape inside of it and told me to always keep it in there. Some of my friends would see it and ask me about it, and I’d say, “I don’t know, dude. My grandma asked me to carry it around.” I’d also get $2 bills from other family members that, per their advice, would take up permanent residence in my wallet, never to be spent. Money begets money, I guess.
On New Year’s Eve, put coins in your pockets and jangle them around as the clock strikes midnight. Bonus: Wear polka dots. These small acts are supposed to bring prosperity in the year ahead. New Year’s Eve seems to be the night of countless superstitious acts, from buying bags of round fruits to an inexplicable ritual that involves removing the stuffing from a pillow only to put it back into the pillow.
Some of these superstitions were inherited from the Spanish and Chinese cultures which heavily influenced the Philippines. I’m curious, did you grow up with any financial superstitions or cultural traditions? Don’t be shy; hit reply.
Your favorite finance friend,
