Matriarch Money Stories
Long before banks served us, the women in our families were earning, saving, lending and giving.
These questions help you ask them about it.
I never got to ask my great-grandmother Ezequiela about the lending circle that bought my mother a piano. She died the year before I was born. These are the questions I wish I could have asked her. Read her story →
Working through our relationship with money is a big part of Mosaic. Much of what we believe about money, we learned long before we had any, from the people who raised us. Asking them is a good place to start.
Choose an elder whose money story shaped yours: a mother, a grandmother, an auntie, or anyone who came before you. Then take the questions one at a time.
Download the cards (PDF)How to ask.
Make it tea, not an interview
A walk, a phone call, a cup of something. One or two cards is plenty for one sitting.
Any card can be skipped
For any reason. Some memories are hard ones, and that is theirs to decide.
Write a few words afterwards
Or record, but only if they say yes.
One card at a time.
-
1
The first money
What was the first money you ever earned? What did you do with it?
Ask how old they were, and who they told.
-
2
Who decided
When you were growing up, who earned the money in your home, and who decided how it was spent?
Did that change when you had a home of your own?
-
3
Where it was kept
Where did you keep your savings? In a bank, a tin, a mattress, with someone you trusted?
Who knew it was there?
-
4
The circle
Were you ever part of a group that pooled its money and took turns? A tanda, susu, partner hand, hui, paluwagan, chit, gye, equb or tontine, or a name of its own.
How did everyone trust each other? Many more names, on Money, our way
-
5
When money ran short
When you needed help, who did you turn to? What did it cost you, beyond the money?
And who turned to you?
-
6
A closed door
Was there ever a bank, a job or a loan that was closed to you? What did you do instead?
Only if they want to go there.
-
7
A risk worth taking
What is the biggest risk you ever took with money? Would you take it again?
What did it teach you about yourself?
-
8
Giving
Who did you give to without being asked? Why them?
Time and food count too.
-
9
Your money rule
What was your money rule, the one you would want me to keep?
-
10
If you were me
If you were starting my business today, what would you do first?
The story belongs to the person who told it.
Ask before you share any of it, even with family. Keep it for yourself, write it down for the people who come after you, or let it change how you run your business. All of those are perfect.
Bring one line of it to our circle.
Matriarch Money Stories, on Zoom, Tuesday, December 1, 7 to 8 PM Pacific. A candlelit hour with no agenda, no slides and no pitches. Everyone is welcome, and it is free. Bring a story, or simply listen.
Save your spotWhere the story goes next.
How the money works here
Lending circles, a ladder anyone can climb, and the circle of ten women this all started with.
Money, our way →What your business needs
Four lines of arithmetic, and how many customers it takes to pay yourself.
Your real number →Come and build it with us
Ten weeks, a cohort of founders, and a Village of mentors, for a business funded by its own customers.
Apply for Spring 2027 →