Surveys show that most families never discuss money at home. Parents worry that a child who hears about the 11 will be frightened. Yet children who never see a household 12 often reach twenty without knowing how much rent costs. Some schools now run a simple course. Students are given an imaginary monthly 13 and a list of bills, and must decide what to cut. Almost every class chooses to cut food first and later regrets it. Teachers say the point is not to produce an 14, but to let young people make an expensive mistake while it is still only a 15 on paper.
A young couple in Taichung saved for six years before they could pay the 16 on a small flat. The bank then lent them the rest as a twenty-year 17. Their monthly payment is now slightly lower than the rent they used to pay, but the couple say the real change is psychological. Repairs are their own 18 now; nobody else will fix a leaking pipe. Their adviser told them to keep three months of 19 in the bank for emergencies. That advice, the husband says, has already proved more useful than any 20 about interest rates.