We are socialized from elementary school or earlier to value the most exciting toys, cool clothes and awesome food. If your family attempts to be frugal, it af

We are socialized from elementary school or earlier to value the most exciting toys, cool clothes and awesome food. If your family attempts to be frugal, it affects your social life. Kids grow up almost inevitably developing a magnetic, unconscious attraction to spending more than they can afford. If we could teach sound financial discipline to younger people (say, by 'gamifying' it like we do everything else these days) while easing off on the consumerism, and somehow make it cool to be smart with money & limited resources, I think it would put a dent in the problem. We made computer geeks cool, maybe we can do this, too.