MONEY IN THE BANK? WHAT'S THAT?

Remember when you used to have money in the bank? Cha-Ching! You looked forward to the interest added to the account monthly.

Life got so complicated. In my blog post dated October 24, 2022, What Generation Are You From, I spoke of the changes in gadgets, e.g., the new-fangled ways of turning on the television, tuning in the car radio, and answering the telephone.

When my generation was in grammar school, as we called the elementary schools then, we saved money in the local bank. In my case, the bank was the Roselle Savings and Loan Association.

Bringing money to class for a deposit in our personal savings account was often challenging. I can recall it being hard for my parents, but they sacrificed and gave me a dollar or sometimes less, and on rare occasions more, to fulfill our weekly classroom assignment.

I wonder how many of my Lincoln School classmates remember that exciting activity. The complex that housed the bank, a modern building for its day, was and still is situated on the corner of Chestnut Street and Third Avenue in Roselle, New Jersey. Wait, I stand corrected. A Google search shows that Roselle Savings and Loan no longer exists, but now that familiar financial institution is Columbia Bank.

In the days that we banked at Roselle Savings and Loan when I was in grammar school, there was a real incentive to “put money in the bank” and watch the interest grow. Today, with savings rates negligible, it’s a whole new ball game of earn and spend. That sadly took the fun and importance out of saving for a rainy day.

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Okay, minimalists, not only do I remember the school savings program back in 1959 when I was in first grade, but miraculously, the canceled savings books were easily accessible in my “old bank books” folder in a file cabinet in our house. Check out those dividends I received in December 1962.

Each entry, initialed by my grammar school teachers, allows me to remember them, even the old schoolmarms, with a certain sense of fondness. Plus, there’s a picture of the bank building on the cover. Memories. Those are the added dividends.