Unique Money Traditions from Around the World! 

Wallets out for Harambee.

I am Muslim and giving Zekat is a big thing for me. I live in western county and nobody is forcing me to do it but I have strong beliefs about it. So I give it monthly the same I would pay for any taxes. As I am fortunate to have a very large income, mine 2,5% are enough for scholarships of 3 children which I do not personally know. This money does not stay in my family. And I truly believe this is purifying the rest of my money and bringing me more wealth.

In Mexico we share the Philippine tradition of pinning money to the groom's clothes, guests line up to share a brief dance with the couple after placing the money on their garments. Fittingly, we call it baile del billete, the Dance of the Bill.

In the Philippines, our sou-sou version is called "Paluwagan". I've been doing that in my early teens with my neighbors.

Two things: first, in Japan is frowned upon to give loose cash when not paying for something or when giving it to children, so cash is always handed out in an envelope when it is a present. Second, thank you for pointing out the creepines of the so-called tooth fairy. For some people outside the US, it's very odd, to say the least, that someone would exchange cash for teeth.

In Egypt there is a tradition similar to sousou. It's called gam'eya. From my understanding people put money into the gam'eya every month and one person is picked each month to receive all the gam'eya money. This works better with a bigger group of people and is traditionally used for funding big expenses like weddings especially for those who would not otherwise have the means to do it.

My dad just told me he really enjoys this channel! He’s a 60+yo Brazilian guy with very little RU-vid literacy, but I often send him this and other channels’ videos because he knows some English and wants to expand his vocabulary. I just called him, as I do every week, and he said these are the videos he gets the most excited to watch when I send him links. He said he likes that you don’t use complex vocabulary even when dealing with more complex themes, that the simple and direct language is very effective. It reminds him of a very good Math teacher he had when he was young. I thought it was very sweet to listen to my dad saying this, so I really wanted to share this. Keep up the good work!

Am a Kenyan, and a huge fan of two cents. Loved it when you started with Kenya! ❤❤🇰🇪. I also research these informal systems of social protection.Because across most of Africa, formal social protection systems are weak or non existent, communities have numerous strategies to cushion themselves from risks.

I dont know if this custom is widespread, but in Quebec, when you are gifted a knife, you need to give a dime back so the knife doesnt "cut" the friendship.

The origins of “off the hook” came from the practice of paying for someone else’s item. The shop keeper would put the paid for item on a hook. Later a person could walk in a shop and ask for something “off the hook”.

In Poland we have a superstition that you should never put your bag, purse, or wallet on the floor! (Like, you have to hang it up or put it on a table when you're not using it). Otherwise you're just "tossing aside" the money you have in it and you're more likely to lose money! :)

Great video, loved hearing about these different traditions from across the world. I'm not sure why folks are disappointed that you didn't include their specific traditions, this is a quick dive in, not an encyclopedia of money traditions. On a unrelated note, really really appreciated the effort you took into practicing correct pronunciations of many of these terms. It honestly surprised me that you said Pakistan correctly, and that many of your other pronunciations were solid attempts at native pronunciation and not anglicisations of those words. Really makes me feel seen and heard.

Very cool. In Jamaican a sou sou is called a “partner” plan.

I'm from Liverpool England, and my mother always insisted that a purse or wallet should never be empty. So she would wrap a 6d (old money, pre decimalisation!) in sticky tape, so it wouldn't be spent, included in the gift. (When my purse was lost/stolen, I lost four of these good luck talismans). If given a knife, scissors or any sharp item, she also insisted on "paying" (usually 6d) for it, so that the friendship wouldn't be cut. When she was young 6d would have been quite a lot of money - my weekly pocket money from her in 1960 was 1d - though by the time I was old enough to actually have a purse, it wasn't worth much (my first paper round in 1968 paid 15 shillings, so 30 x 6d).

In Iran we share some of these traditions and even more: 1. "Gol Rizan": people gather and collectively donate (substantial) money to help someone in need. 2. In weddings, attendees donate money. It must be new and crisp bills. Also some wedding's organizers, throw money in the air so children can rush to pick them up. 3. Some people buy from a bakery, its whole shift's breads. Then any customer who appears to buy bread in that shift, can get it for free.

In Uruguay on the 29th of every month it's traditional to have gnocchis for lunch or dinner, and at least with children it's a tradition to put coins under the plate and once they finish eating they can have the coins : ). It was always awesome for me.

"In Greece an empty wallet is considered..." Me:"...normal?"

Thank you for all these videos. As newlyweds, my wife and I have been learning a lot about financial strategies that we weren't taught in schools or by our parents. We also appreciate your commitment to evidence-based practice.

The Sou Sou sounds very similar to a form of investment we call "consórcio" in Brazil, where people pull their money together each month to pay for an expensive good upfront. One of the group drawn to cash in the savings and but the product, usually a car or a house. It used to be extremely common in the 80s and early 90s, when Brazil lived with hiperimflation. It's still pretty common today, but it is not as impossible to acquire goods with direct credit today.

I showed this video to my high school students in Napoli, Italy yesterday and they were so happy and proud that you included them and they felt represented in this way.

We also have sou sou in Kenya. They are called chama. There are different types of chama's: 1. Merry-go-round: Like the one you described. Pool money and give someone. 2. Investments chama: Pool money and invest it. Share returns. 3. Household items chamas: Pool money and buy household items for members. 4. Food chamas: Pool money and buy food at wholesale prices and share among members. 5. Loans chamas: Pool money and lend to members. 6. Welfare chamas: Pool money for members use incase they need help e.g. hospital bills or funeral expenses.

Aa, the tooth fairy. My brother got really tired of trying to sneak the money into my bed, that he told me what up. And so after I loss one, (or two, or four, I swear half the dentist trips were just pulling teeth) we exchanged teeth for money in the kitchen.

Thank you for describing the tooth fairy in the way that you did. So many people get use to their world view and judge others without realizing it’s so similar

In Turkey our version of the sou-sou is called “altın günü” or gold day(?), sort of. Women from usually 3 to 8 families get together once a month. Each time, they get together in someone else’s house from the group. Everyone gives gold (or nowadays foreign currencies such as USD or EUR) to the person hosting. It’s usually not lira so it doesn’t lose as much value in time. After everyone hosts once, you start the rotation again. The host usually gives a mini feast to their guests. You also only get put what you put in, but it’s a good way to save money. And because it’s usually married women who participate, it also allows these women to socialize, to talk about their problems, and maybe even gain some financial independence.

Thanks for bringing this interesting money traditions. In Serbia, we put a coin in special bread made for Christmas before baking. Then people gather around the bread, hold it with one or two hands (depends how many people there are in the circle) and turn constantly the bread around in horizontal plane, while someone recites the prayer. When the prayer is done, everyone breaks the bread. The person who finds a coin in their piece of bread will have a lot of luck with money for the next year.

I am Russian from Uzbekistan. In our family, as in many Russian families, there is a tradition to show their earned and / or saved money to the new moon. yes, we just look out the window at night, take a wad of money and just show it. sometimes, if some banknote is badly worn or torn, we simply burn it by directing smoldering pieces of paper towards the moon. I can’t say anything about the origin of this, some ancient Slavic custom, which is now just like a small ritual for good luck in multiplying your money.

Great video. In Colombia we call "cadena de ahorro" (savings chain) to the African Sou Sou (the putting together a pool of money that goes to a different person at every turn until we have all gotten the pool). It helped me several times to save money when I had poor saving habits.

Great portrait of Tooth fairy :D That was weird tradition when we moved from Europe to North America.

In India, when we gift money to someone (generally as a wedding gift, but true even for festivals and other special occasions) we never put an amount that is an even number. Odd numbers are considered lucky, and that is why, regardless of the intended amount, a single Rupee coin is always included in the envelope for good luck. In Hindi we call it a "Shagun ka Sikka" (coin of good fortune.)

You know, the Tooth Fairy IS really creepy when you think about it...

Oh god, "maybe it's the currency in nightmare land" made me laugh too hard!

In Bangladesh, close family members contribute moderate amount of money to help with the wedding expenses. People also give money as a wedding gift sometimes which is either used for the expenses or given to the new couple to use it however they want. We also give money to children as blessing on Eid or other important events ( such as board exams) .

In Vietnam, we have something similar to the sousou, it’s called đóng họ. This practice only works in the very close- knit community, mostly in the village area where banks are not popular

We have a tradition in some places in the Philippines of throwing coins to be scooped up by kids. After the new year fireworks

Something same is here in India, Its not considered respectful if money, purse or books gets touched by leg or falls off the hand. And the Donation part is called 'Shagun' Gifted on weddings and other community ceremonies

It's always great to hear about wonderful money traditions from around the world, despite money being the source of the current economic crisis we're facing. Great presentation guys!

My sister gifted me a wallet once and it had a $20 bill in it. She said it was for good luck. I didn't know this was a Greek tradition. We are Armenians so I guess we share this good superstition. 😀 Speaking of superstitions, my mother was very superstitious. She had told me if your your right palm itches, you're going to lose money as you hand away money with your right hand. The opposite is true. If your left palm itches, you will be receiving money.

RIP Harambe!

in Pakistan there's a tradition in marriage to give money to both bride and groom at the wedding dinner. Tradition is called SALAMi.

In some parts of Czechia, people put dried fish skin (in little paper folds) into their wallet. This should assure that you always have money in your wallet.

I suddenly feel like going out with a ton of pennies and dropping them at random throughout my day

In Brazil, we "sell the tie" in some weddings: someone, typically a groomsman or any particularly shy-less guest, will grab a pair of scissors and the groom, take him to the others guests and "sell" a piece of the tie he is using. After the guest give some money, the person will cut a piece of the tie (sometimes the size of the piece will be proportional to the money given), give it to the guest, and move to the next. Its quite funny to see the groom with a ever smaller tie at every interaction and being moved from one place to another during the party, and it's really important that nobody is forced to give anything, it's just a good joke to earn more money so they can start the couple's new life

Zakat is like taxes, except the money goes to charity for the poor, someone with a lot of debt, etc.. It's quite a way to help those in need in your community. Also, if you're not a certain level of rich, you dont need to do zakat.

where I come from we have the ancient tradition of the bride losing her shit when friends don't give a big enough gift of cash during the wedding

That was an awesome video, I really appreciated learning about all the different money traditions across the globe! Thanks for all the effort put into the videos :)

My Lebanese friend kept telling me to stop putting my purse on the floor or I'd always be poor. In French Canada (don't know if that applies elsewhere) growing up in the 80s we were told to not accept a gift knife without giving back at least a cent back to 'pay for it' or it would bring bad luck or something. As though the knife or knives would be considered an ill omen or wishing someone ill because it's a weapon.

Here in Bolivia, our version of the suo-suo is called Pasanaku. In some regions of the Bolivian highlands, money is also given to the bride and groom by hanging the bills on their clothes.

love all the info yallbring to it. i know that is the point. but i learn so much from yall

I love the idea of giving anonymously. Nothing makes you feel better.

In the US it is customary for small students to give larger students money, normally the equivalent value of a meal. Not doing so often brings you more bad luck than you already have.

Love your effort in correct pronunciation

as a Filipino, i remember pinning money (or small envelope with the money, similar to the chinese am pao), to either groom or bride. sometimes i just tell the groom to put the money in his pocket to ensure the money doesn't fall off to the floor, because i don't think the bride has pockets in their gown. i also swap money under my kids' pillows when they lose a tooth. it's probably influenced by this "tooth fairy" thing. as for the tooth, i leave it to my partner on what to do with it. hahahah.

Here in France, it’s not the tooth fairy but « la petite souris » the little mouse who collects the teeth and give money. And there is a movie that take place in the tooth collecting mice world explaining what they do with it (Ernest et Célestine)

Your Finimize demo is pre Tesla's recent 3-1 stock split. May want to get an updated demo video since the price now looks significantly different

Explaining the tooth fairy at the end like that shows how unusual it actually is 😂

The Indonesian version of Sou Sou is called "Arisan"

In Iran we have the throwing money at the wedding dance floor and the gifting crisp cash as gift tradition.

The traditions of sou sou, etc remind me a little of modern day workplace retirement plans. Specifically the employer matching contribution part of it. I wonder if these traditions are where the accounting/hr industries got the idea.

The video was cool... but these comments are amazing. I didn't realize all this happened. thanks for giving everyone an opportunity to share!

Awesome video!

I loved this so so much

Sou Sou, is also known as Njangi or Tontine.

In South Africa, our version of "sou sou" is called a stokvel. It's an Afrikaans term and doesn't really translate, so I don't know what it means in English.

Money superstitions from the Philippines: 1. Place a dried bay leaf in your wallet so you'd never go out of money. Bay leaf symbolizes continuity. 2. Never allow your wallet to go empty. It's bad luck. A coin or two would suffice. 3. Never carry receipts in your wallet. Also bad luck. 4. Place your cash face in to your wallet. 5. Never ever place your wallet or bag on the floor. Its a symbol of poverty, and shows lack of attitude or care for money. I know money is the root of evil, but heck, money runs this world baby!

It's a special moment when you realize that other cultures are as foreign to you as you are to them😊 In my culture, we have 'arisan' which is similar to a sousou but with rotating payouts which are usually used to fund meals and entertainment for get togethers. Members can even pull the funds early for emergencies. They have been helpful in allowing people to collect enough capital for expensive purchases like mortages, home renovations, and vehicles We also have this thing where adults give children money during eid al-fitr to reward them for fasting. Even employers must give additional pay called 'THR' to their employers, which as you can imagine would be a great time for employees and a headache for employers😂

SouSou is called “Stokvel” in South Africa… people use stokvels to save money mostly for December groceries where they take advantage of collective bargaining and they buy groceries in bulk and share amongst members, but you can have a stokvel dedicated to anything really. Also a lot of (black) people in SA belong to what we call “burial societies”… Where a big group of people save money in the bank as a collective, and each member registers their spouse, children and other relatives as beneficiaries, if someone dies, the receive a payout from the society to help cover funeral expenses. Insurance companies have adopted this tradition and they’ve design insurance plans for funeral services which use the same principle.

Here in Chile is a tradition to have bills in your wallet before celebrating New Year's Eve to have good luck in the incoming year

Ahah I am Italian and Yes we do have Toothfairy, collecting children's teeth and leaving coins instead for it. It is to console the suffering kids that lose milky teeth when they grow up, "don't be scared my son, you'll get money for it!" they used to say.

The empty wallet from Greece is also the same in the Philippines. Also it’s bad luck to leave your purse on the floor 😅

Man, the toothfairy is a legit thing. I don't know why they would suggest otherwise.

Love this one, thanks

In the UK we throw coins into fountains and down wells for good luck- I think and assume it’s a pretty widespread custom though? 🤷‍♂️

RIP Harambe

I am from Morocco and we have the same thing as ( Sou Sou ) we call it ( Daret ) and it means : in turn / taking turn. I believe Egyptians do the same only under a different name.

Sou-sou is similar practice of saving money in Malaysia. We call it 'main kutu'.

In Brazilian weddings the new husband is taken around the party by his best men and they cut up his tie and sell pieces of it to the male attendants. It's not uncommon for them to make several rounds, with closer friends and family often donating what would equivalate to 50 or 100 dollars each.

This was my favorite video so far.

the sou sou thing is how many people in Germany paid for their houses for some time just with contracts and stuff and a couple of smaller fees its called "Bausparvertrag" in german where bau -> build spar-> save/savings kinda word Vertrag-> contract

Maybe it is common for other countries, but we in Russia “believe” that when you want to return to some place you liked then you should throw a coin somewhere there. More often the fountains are covered with coins if tourists like the town. :) In St. Petersburg our kopeikas are everywhere. 😁

The Sou Sou in Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 is called "San" and "Sociedad"

I'm from Southern California. My family is Mexican American and we, too, have the dollar dances that were mentioned in this video as a Filipino tradition. We use pins to stick dollar bills to the bride and grooms' attire. If you're lucky, you can make some good money.

The wallet thing is not exclusive to Greece either. It's tradition here in Denmark, too.

I love your explanation of the tooth fairy 😄😄😄

Great content. Love this ❣️ thank you

Yeah sou-sou very common in west African immigrants communities as well

In El Salvador we have the Sou Sou but we call it “cuchubal” 😅. Also, I thought the tooth fairy was worldwide 🤔 One more thing, we never put our purse 👜 down on the floor, because it will bring bad luck.

In fact here in Brazil we call this "vaquinha".

In India, when people visit their relatives, they usually give some money to the younger members of the family :)

In Angola the "Sou-sou" tradition is called "Kixikila". It's basically saving your money to another person and then they return it to you a few months later.

In South Africa, we call the sou sou "Stokvel"

In the mexican State of Chihuahua, to the north, the Raramuri (aka Tarahumara), a native american group, practice what they call "korima", and it essentially means sharing what you've got with others. They will often ask for "korima" everywhere in the big cities and people look down on them for doing that but if you go to their communities in rural Chihuahua they openly share everything with everyone - you could go to their house and ask for a plate of food or whatever you needed and nobody would look down on you. On the contrary, the Raramuri would those situations as an opportunity to do good to you.

We actually also have sou-sous in Kenya as well, we call them chamas.

Oh I just remember something! In both China and in New Orleans, they sometimes have traditions of hiding coins in food and whoever finds the coin gets good luck. In Northern China especially, it would be hiding coins in dumplings during New Year. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, it would be a coin in a king cake during Mardi Gras. But of course, these days, plastic babies are more common in king cakes. But I can say for certain that this year at Mempops, which is an ice cream shop in Memphis, TN, they started a tradition of having patrons find plastic babies in their king cake ice pops or Mempops as they’re called during Mardi Gras season. Whoever finds a baby can exchange it for another Mempop at the shop. So yeah, just thought that I’d reshare something from the American Midsouth that I think does tie into money traditions around the world. :)

In muslim communities second biggest tradition about money is eidi in which on occation of eid once ka year elders gives money to childern as a gift to spend or save.

love ur content

In France we have the tooth fairy except it's called "la petite souris" (the small mouse). Same principle but I think it's cuter.

Get this... there is more than just the tooth ferry... there is a "dummy" ferry too sometimes.

The Greek superstition about giving money inside a wallet you want to give as present is also believed here in Venezuela.

Tooth fairy got DRAGGED

In Colombia the tooth fairy is called "The Perez Mouse" Raton Perez