Grade 1 Lesson 2: What is #Money
Money is something (such as #coins or #bills) that is used to buy #goods and #services and to #pay #people for their work. Different countries have different forms of money, called #currencies for e.g., the #USDollar, the #British #Pound, the #Chinese #Yuan. But the underlying concept of money is similar across all #countries.
A long time ago when money did not exist in the form of #paper #notes or coins, a system of #bartering was used. Bartering is a #direct #trade of goods and services. For example, a farmer may exchange a bag of wheat for a pair of shoes from a shoemaker.
While bartering existed for a while, and still exists in some forms, it was cumbersome. For e.g., let's say that my job is to build computers. And I want to eat bananas and drink milk. If money did not exist, I would probably first go to the banana vendor and exchange or "#barter" my #computer for bananas. Now, I have bananas but still don't have milk. So I find someone that #sells milk, and I give them some bananas in exchange for milk.
As you can see, this entire #process takes a lot of effort even for very simple scenarios. And it would become increasingly more cumbersome if I want more than just bananas and milk. Also, in the above scenario, I will likely end up with a lot of bananas and milk and it is highly likely that a large portion of both bananas and milk will #perish before I can consume them.
The other issue with the #barter #system is the determination of a standard #value of products or services offered.
Money, as it exists today, makes the above process so much simpler.
#finance #financialliteracy #kids #education