Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
We NEVER spoke about money. My parents owned their own restaurant and worked very hard, long days. We never went without (nice house, pets, clothes, holidays) but now I look back I realise there was a lot of debt, stress and bad spending habits that meant we probably weren’t as stable as we seemed. When my parents split, they had to sell the house and the business and my dad declared bankruptcy. We moved often for a few years and money was nonexistent, to the point where we sometimes didn’t have dinner money at school, and there was never any extra for pocket money etc. I know my dad hated the situation he/we were in and he always did his best to make us feel secure, keep a roof over our heads and give us extra when he could, but financial anxiety is embedded in my sister and me, even though we are more secure now than most people we know.
