Money matters.

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“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”
― Oscar Wilde

I studied a subject called Economics for four years in secondary school. It taught me lots of theory but nothing practical about money management. That stuff I think we learn from our parents … by osmosis. I know I did. I saw all my parents' mistakes and then turned around and made the same ones myself.

My parents spent every penny they ever got, mostly on drink. They believed in neither thrift nor saving and ended their lives with only the shirt on their back. I don't drink but I'm not thrifty either. I don't have children, but if I did, I'd give them a fine grounding in financial matters by withholding at least half of their pocket money, just to inure them to the pain of government thievery, you understand.

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I had my first lesson in matters of finance when I was about four. My brother and I were saving for a magnificent Easter egg we’d seen in a local shop, in a wicker basket it was with yellow ribbons and bows. In a little piggy bank, we stashed every penny we could scavenge or earn doing messages for the local aul wans. And then one day the piggy bank was empty. The contents stolen, misappropriated, taken by one parent or other They were entitled to it, my father said. Lesson learned.

I’ve never been a saver. I tend to be flaithiúlaigh (read foolish) with money. Cast your bread upon the waters an’ all that. This is certainly not what endears me to everyone though. Well almost everyone, just not my brother-in-law. But that shyster apart, I am universally admired and appreciated. I like to think that it’s my warmheartedness and joviality that render me so endearing to one and all, but I suspect that my renowned skill in impersonating a doormat does me no harm at all in the endearment stakes.

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Posted in response to @galenkp's Weekend Experiences prompt asking 'Do you feel feel giving children a grounding in financial matters is the parents' or a schools' responsibility and why? If you do it for your children how have you done so?

What makes you special to others, endears you to them?'

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