Update: WWGD? What Would Grandma Do?

This updated post first appeared on November 11, 2008. The concept is even more relevant today.

It was no surprise President-Elect Obama gave so much credit for his success in life to his beloved late Grandmother ‘Toot.’ Grandmothers have long been the rockbed of solid values, common sense and abiding love. Some 2.5 million children in our country are being raised by their Grandmas, ensuring that new generations are growing up with daily nudges about thrift, frugality, common sense and substance, along with hefty helpings of broccoli and roast chicken with too much limp parsley.

If Grandmothers had been in charge, Wall Street would never have imploded, gas would never have hit $4.99 a gallon, little Johnny would never max out his (Kardashian) Visa and no one would have heard of IndyMac or AIG. No one would be subsisting on high fructose corn syrup, partly hydrogenated fats and maltodextrin. No one would be suffering from an extended case of Affluenza, feverishly fed by what Grandma would call “stuff and nonsense.”

This is why so many savvy folks on the brink of life and business decisions are asking themselves one key question: WWGD? What Would Grandma Do?

Here’s a snapshot of Grandma’s Financial Policies:

• Grandma would applaud KMart and Sears for their return to the Layaway Plan. (She’d also applaud eLayaway, the pioneering layaway technology company, which recently launched Spanish version eApartado.com for this 50-million strong segment.)
• Grandma would mourn the Sarah Palin who shopped at Saks while applauding her for (formerly) bringing the whole family in to buy at Anchorage’s Out of The Closet secondhand store.
• Grandma would applaud the rise in trust of local banks — 66% of consumers in a recent study said they had confidence in local banks, versus fewer than 25% trust US (big) banks. She’d nod sagely when learning (via Edelman’s 2011 Trust Barometer) about the dramatic three-year drop in trust in banks in the West that keeps this industry stuck at the bottom in global industry rankings
• Grandma would applaud signing up for the local bank’s Christmas Club. Remember, Grandma put $5 in her Christmas Club account every week or month –frugally setting aside her ‘egg money’ (okay, sorry that was Aunt Bea) so by Christmas she would have a nestegg to spend. She’d likely invest in the smart daily deals on classic childhood toys and goodies (think footies & tricycles with streamers) at the newly re-launched Hopscout.
• Grandma would be suspicious of gift cards.
• Grandma gave you US Savings Bonds on your birthday. (Okay, not so fun) (Grandma would likely recommend EFTs –and she surely would have bought Apple early because of that nice boy Woz who looks like his Nana cooks for him.)
• No credit cards, no interest rates, no late fees. Cash is king, especially when saved painlessly week by week. (Grandma would like Bundle’s list of the Top Spending Cities and suggest you get the heck out of Austin and relocate to Toledo.)
• Grandma knew no one in Nigeria, much less a Prince who left her money.

If things get really tough, Grandma would find herself a part-time job, probably by social networking with her Facebook canasta group or selling her tea cozies on etsy. She could always take up knitting, like these famous Swiss Net Grannies, who will personally knit you a pair of socks. Just pick your Granny!

What would YOUR Grandma do?