Kids and Money

I recently started reading BPM on a regular basis. They don't try and sway me towards "The Dark side", their reviews appear to be unbiased, and I absolutely love there interviews and other articles. Oh yeah you can also read the entire magazine cover to cover for free on their website. I discovered one such article in the November issue.

Conveniently titled "Material Girls (+ Boys). The short, 5 paragraph piece talks about a new 'docu-short' by award winning filmmaker Lauren Greenfield and in conjunction with The New York Times Magazine's Money issue. The film was shot in LA and Lauren asks different teenagers about money and its effect on their lives.


I'm not trying to pick on the "well-to-do" people in the world, I just find it amusing to listen to people explain their spending...almost rationalizing it to you. The film doesn't just stick to the upper crust. Miss Greenfield talks on all walks of life, from the "4-digit" girls ($1000+ FYI) to family's that share a one bedroom house. It's somewhat humbling to see these kids, none of them are portrayed as unhappy or in an unsatisfactory light. They're all on different tiers revolving around the same city.


I commend Lauren Greenfield for this unbiased look at what could become a major problem for children and teenagers especially in the next decade or so...


You can watch the entire 14 minute film here and then find out more about Lauren Greenfield at her website.


Quotes from the documentary that I just love:

"Going to the things that are 4-digits I think that's very inappropriate for school."..."But, if you want like a really nice classic bag. Its definitely appropriate to spend that kind of like 4-digits..."
-Gabby, 16

"Its just something you have to do. You have to be popular, you have to be in-style. And in order to be popular you have to be in-style, so like you know. So to achieve popularity you have to have a lot of clothes, a lot of shoes."
-Sean Michael, 17 (as an added notation, Mr. Michael says he spends $700-$800 a month just on clothes, which is over twice what I pay in rent every month.)