This is the Moth Radio Hour.
I'm your host, Suzanne Rust.
I admire and envy the financially savvy.
In most aspects of my life, I feel like a fairly well-adjusted, well-informed adult.
But there's something about talking finances, budgets, investments, 401ks, long-term goals that shuts me down.
My New Year's resolutions almost always include a promise to get better with managing money.
And while I did fulfill that promise last year with a financial consultant,
which was really helpful, by the way, I still have a way to go before I feel as confident as I would like.
I think all of this is what drew me to the theme of sense,
as in coins, and sensibility, because I'm curious to see how others navigate those sometimes murky waters.
This hour is about money, but also about the things we value beyond it,
like a sense of security, love, respect, and knowing when what we have is enough.
Our first story was told by Steve Zimmer at Islam in Chicago, where we partner with public radio station WBEZ.
Here's Steve, live at the Mock. 1973, I'm 10 years old, and my dad works at a tool and dye company,
which does n't pay much money, but he 's also an inventor, which pays negative money.
So every night after dinner, he goes down to his basement workshop, and I never follow him.
I'm very similar to my father's father, and they really never got along.
And that might be okay, except that my parents fight a lot,
and I get kind of pulled over to my mother's side, which just widens the rift between me and my father.
Now, my big new hobby is coin collecting.