Mother's Day celebrates all that our mothers have done for us. But…no one's perfect, right?

母亲节歌颂的是母亲们为子女所付出的一切。但是……人非圣贤，孰能无过，对吧？

One mistake moms (and─let's get real─dads, too) sometimes make is failing to teach their children how to be smart about money.

母亲们（让我们现实一点，也包括父亲们）有时候会犯这样一个错误：没能教会孩子们该怎样聪明地理财。

A whopping 65% of people say their mother is intimidated by money, considers money-management a necessary evil or has never managed money, according to a new online poll by the nonprofit National Foundation for Credit Counseling. About 730 people responded to the poll on the NFCC's website, DebtAdvice.org.

非盈利组织美国国家信贷咨询服务基金会(National Foundation for Credit Counseling，简称NFCC)最近进行的一项网络调查显示，高达65%的受访者表示他们的母亲在金钱面前颇为胆怯，这些受访者的母亲要么视理财为在所难免的烦心事，要么从来都没管过钱。共有约730名受访者参与了NFCC在其官方网站DebtAdvice.org发起的这项调查。

Just 35% agreed their mother is 'pretty savvy managing money, and enjoys it,' according to the poll (which, granted, could be skewed toward people who are having trouble with their finances and visiting the website for help).

调查结果显示，只有35%的受访者认为他们的母亲“相当精于理财并以此为乐”。当然，这项调查的准确性可能会受到受访群体的影响，受访者或许是遇到财务问题而来这个网站寻求帮助的人。

With the aim of finding out how we can all improve our personal-finance skills, we talked to financial planners to find out what one money lesson they wish their mothers had taught them.

为了探究如何让大家提高个人理财技能的方法，我们采访了多位理财规划师，请他们谈谈他们期望当年母亲教会了自己哪一堂理财课。

Our informal survey found that generally these money experts said their mothers did a good job modeling smart money habits. But there were some gaps in the education.

我们进行的非正式调查显示，总体上来说，这些理财规划师认为，他们的母亲在培养子女的良好理财习惯方面做得不错。但是在子女理财观的培养上，仍有一些不尽如人意的地方。

The Big Picture

全局观念

Ian Arrowsmith, vice president of investments at Scarborough Capital Management in Annapolis, Md., says his mother has always been good with money and, like his father, enjoys investing. She taught him to enjoy it, too. He made his first investment at age 16.

马里兰州安纳波利斯(Annapolis)斯卡布罗资产管理公司(Scarborough Capital Management)的投资副总裁伊恩•阿罗史密斯(Ian Arrowsmith)说，他的母亲一直都善于理财，并和他的父亲一样享受投资带来的乐趣。母亲也教会了他享受投资之乐。阿罗史密斯在16岁时就做出了自己人生中的第一笔投资。

But one thing was missing: the importance of assessing long-term goals.

但是他的投资教育缺失了一点，那就是建立长期目标的重要性。

Being financially successful, Mr. Arrowsmith says, requires answering the question: Where do you want to be in the future? 'Every single financial decision should be made based on the necessary steps to accomplish the future goal,' he says.

阿罗史密斯表示，要想做到财务上的成功，你需要回答下面这个问题：未来你希望取得什么样的财务目标？他说：“每一个财务决定都应该建立在为达成未来目标所需的必要措施的基础之上。”

His mother's approach, he adds, is not uncommon. 'It's a do-it-yourself approach,' he says. 'You can get bogged down in the minutiae of what's going on inside investments.'

他补充道，像他母亲这样理财的人并不少见。他说：“概括起来，这是一种DIY的理财方法。投资中细枝末节的波折都可能让你陷入困境。”

Mr. Arrowsmith adds: 'My mother taught me to save and invest, but without learning to focus on the big picture, the saving and investment strategies lacked any real focus.'

阿罗史密斯还表示：“母亲教会了我储蓄和投资，但是如果没有放眼全局的观念，储蓄和投资策略就会变得无的放矢。”

All That Glitters Isn't Gold

闪光的并不都是黄金

Money was not a topic of conversation in Brian Parker's childhood home. 'We grew up in one of those households where money wasn't really spoken about at all,' says Mr. Parker, a certified financial planner and managing director of EP Wealth Advisors in Los Angeles.

在布莱恩•帕克(Brian Parker)的童年时期，家里的谈话主题并不包括金钱。帕克说：“我们成长在那种完全不谈论钱的家庭中。”帕克现在是一名注册理财规划师，也是洛杉矶EP财富顾问公司(EP Wealth Advisors)的常务董事。

Wealth 'seemed to be defined by what other people saw─a Louis Vuitton purse, a Mercedes,' he says. 'If you seemed to have money, then people would believe it. That was my definition of wealth growing up.'

他说，财富“似乎是以其他人能看到的东西来衡量的，比如路易威登(Louis Vuitton)钱包、梅赛德斯(Mercedes)汽车等等。如果你看起来有钱，那么其他人就会相信你有钱。这就是我小时候对财富的定义”。

In his years working with clients, he has learned otherwise. 'Defining wealth by what you see can be very misleading,' he says. 'I've found that Ferrari owners can struggle to make payments, and multimillionaires may choose to ride their bike to work.'

然而，在服务客户的职业生涯中，他却获得了截然相反的体会。他说：“以你看到的东西来衡量财富可能非常具有误导性。我曾经见过多位法拉利(Ferrari)车主艰难偿贷，也见过不少百万富翁选择骑自行车去上班。”

One of his goals is to make sure money is providing financial security for his clients. Rather than ostentatious shows of wealth, 'you have to feel contentment,' Mr. Parker says.

帕克的职业目标之一就是确保金钱能为他的客户带来财务安全。帕克说，“你是要获得满足感”，而非大肆炫富。

The measure of wealth is a sense of security. 'You've done well,' he says. 'Other people may not ever know that, but does it really matter?'

对于财富的衡量标准是能否给人带来安全感。帕克说：“你在财务上很成功，其他人或许对此永远一无所知，但是这真的有关系吗？”

It's a Family Affair

理财是家庭事务

In many households, the money-management duties typically fall to one person; and in past decades, especially, that meant the man of the house.

在很多家庭中，理财的责任通常会落到一个人的肩上。特别是在过去的几十年间，这个人通常都是家里的男主人。

But demystifying the money-management process can be good for children, says Sheryl Garrett, a certified financial planner and founder of the Garrett Planning Network, a group of fee-only financial planners.

但是，注册理财规划师谢乐尔•加勒特(Sheryl Garrett)表示，向孩子们揭开理财过程的神秘面纱对他们来说大有裨益。加勒特是理财规划师团体加勒特财务规划网络(Garrett Planning Network)的创始人，加入该网络的理财规划师只向客户收取咨询费用，而不收取任何交易佣金。

'I would have loved seeing [my mother] take charge of financial decisions or even discuss them with me,' Ms. Garrett says. 'I believe my father did a good job of this, and my mother supported him. But to a young person, seeing your mother be in charge, make important financial decisions and discuss these with us would have been wonderful and very empowering.'

加勒特说：“如果小时候能看到母亲负责家庭财务决策，甚至和我就此进行讨论，我肯定会特别开心的。我认为我父亲在理财上做得很好，母亲也支持他。但是对孩子来讲，看到母亲负责理财、做出重要的财务决定并和子女就这些决定进行讨论应该会是非常美妙、令人鼓舞的经历。”

It's All Risky

万事皆有风险

When Kent M. Grealish decided to become a stockbroker, his mother thought he was gambling with his future. She wanted him to find a steady job─with the U.S. Postal Service.

当肯特•M. 格里利什(Kent M. Grealish)决定成为一名股票经纪人的时候，他的母亲认为他正在拿未来做赌注。她想让格里利什在美国邮政(U.S. Postal Service)找一份稳定的工作。

Mr. Grealish, now a certified financial planner and partner with Quacera in San Bruno, Calif., says his mom wanted a risk-free career for him─one with a steady paycheck─not realizing that a job at the post office did hold risk: He might have spent years trying to squeeze into a career that didn't suit him. (And then, there's the fact that a job at the post office is far from safe these days.)

格里利什现在已经成为了一名注册理财规划师，他还是加利福尼亚圣布鲁诺(San Bruno)的Quacera公司的合伙人。他说，他母亲想让他从事一份毫无风险的工作，一份能拿稳定薪水的工作，可是他母亲并没有意识到，邮局的工作也存在风险：他或许得耗费多年的时间硬着头皮做一份并不适合自己的工作。（之后的事实证明，如今邮局的工作并不安稳。）

'The most important lesson I had to learn on my own was that there are no safe choices. We have to choose the risks we wish to assume and try to avoid─or pay someone else to assume─the risks we can't tolerate,' he says.

格里利什说：“我不得不自己补习的最重要的一堂课就是，世界上根本没有稳妥的选择。我们不得不选择那些我们愿意承担的风险，并试着避免或者付钱让别人去承担那些我们不能承受的风险。”

For advisers, that means often pushing people to go against conventional wisdom. 'Everyone's focusing on returns. Managing risk is a lot more important to long-term success,' he says. 'It's easier to avoid a big loss than it is to recover from one.'

财务顾问的职业意味着常常要敦促别人做出背离自己惯有思维的决定。格里利什说：“每个人都关注回报。但是，要想获得长期的成功，风险管理是更为重要的。避免巨额损失要比从损失中恢复元气容易得多。”

Perceptions Matter

观念的重要性

Allison M. Stutts's parents divorced when she was a child; at times, her mother worked two jobs to support the family.

艾莉森•M. 斯塔思(Allison M. Stutts)的父母在她很小的时候就离了婚；她母亲为维持家用，有的时候要打两份工。

'She always lived within her means─never had any credit-card debt─but we lived paycheck to paycheck,' says Ms. Stutts, now a certified public accountant and founder of A.M. Stutts Financial Management, in Lombard, Ill., a Chicago suburb.

斯塔思说：“母亲一直省吃俭用，她从来不欠信用卡债，但是我们从来都没有过积蓄。”现在，斯塔思是一名注册会计师，也是A.M.斯塔思金融管理公司(A.M. Stutts Financial Management)的创始人，该公司位于伊利诺斯州芝加哥郊外的伦巴德(Lombard)。

'I grew up in a family with very little money and I developed this idea that because I didn't come from money, I wouldn't be able to achieve the same monetary success as others who might have been raised in a more-affluent family,' she says.

她说：“我成长在一个经济拮据的家庭，小时候我有这样一种观念：因为出身贫寒，我不可能取得足以与那些在富裕家庭中长大的人相提并论的财务成功。”

'I've learned as an adult that I had to change that perception,' Ms. Stutts says. 'It's not anything my mom said─it's what she didn't say. She encouraged us to be the best that we could be, but we never talked about how where you come from is not where you're always going to be.'

斯塔思说：“成年后，我意识到我必须要扭转这个观念。这并不是我母亲说的话，她从来不曾说过这样的话。她鼓励我们要做最好的自己，但是我们从来没有谈论过‘英雄不问出处’这个话题。”

Budget Basics

记录基本收支状况

Jeanne Gibson Sullivan, a certified financial planner and founder of Financially in Tune in Wakefield, Mass., says her mother always taught her how to save money. But the one lesson she wishes she'd learned earlier? To live below one's means.

珍妮•吉布森•苏利文(Jeanne Gibson Sullivan)是一名注册理财规划师，也是马塞诸塞州韦克菲尔德(Wakefield)的财务合拍公司(Financially in Tune)的创始人。她说，她母亲总是教育她该如何省钱。但是，当被问及她期望母亲教过她的一课是什么时？她说，那就是量入为出。

'I learned the hard way,' says Ms. Sullivan, noting that she wasn't prepared for the expenses she faced after graduate school. She was living in New York, trying to pay student-loan and credit-card bills. Eventually, she moved back to Massachusetts.

苏利文说：“我在挫折中才领悟到这一点。”她说，在从研究生院毕业后，她对于自己要面对的花销没有任何心理准备。那时她住在纽约，疲于偿还学生贷款和信用卡账单。最终，她搬回了马萨诸塞州。

'I moved back up here and paid it all off,' she says. 'Then I started living below my means.'

她说：“我搬回了家乡，并付清了所有的欠款。之后，我过上了量入为出的生活。”

She's teaching the same lesson to her clients. 'Sometimes, people don't really know what's coming in and what's going out.' One new client had a $1,500 monthly gap. The money 'was going somewhere and she didn't know where. That's a lot of money.'

现在，她总是告诫她的客户不要犯同样的错误。“有的时候，人们并不真正清楚自己进账多少，花销多少。”有位新客户每月的收支缺口是1,500美元。钱“被花了出去，但她并不知道去向了哪里。这笔钱可不是个小数目”。

Which brings up another lesson: 'Write your budget down,' she says. 'It doesn't mean you have to write every nickel down, but you need to know every nickel coming in and going out.'

苏利文说：这给了我们另外一个教训：“记录你的收支。这并不是说你必须用笔记录下每一分钱的进出，但是你心中要清楚每一分钱的来源和去向”。