Are you a saver or a spender?
I'm a recovering spender. Apparently, there is little Pisceans can do about it but I am trying hard to learn to take the longer term view.
Do you shop around for better value?
I've gotten much better at this – including comparing prices online. I'm also a big Aldi evangelist – personally and professionally – and have family and friends sick of me but also converted and happy.
What has been your most extravagant purchase and how much did it cost?
I bought an Amstrad computer in 1987 with the tape recorder and the green screen. It was £450 and I paid for it with money my aunt Mary and I won on the soccer pools. Six years later in DCU doing communications, I learned my computer genius housemate had gotten the one with the colour screen and floppy disk drive. Sliding doors moment?
What purchase have you made that you consider the best value for money?
€80 on a passport every 10 years. The joy, the experiences, the learning and the sharing with family and friends is immeasurable.
What ways do you prefer to shop – online or local?
I get the same satisfaction in finding an obscure book from an anonymous online trader via Amazon as I do a wonderful artisan product from a market stall. It's the retailers in the middle – taking money with little engagement or passion about their wares or customers – that will suffer in the technology age.
Has the recession changed your spending habits?
Day to day it has meant some belt-tightening but not as much as those who have lost jobs or have been forced to emigrate, who I really feel sorry for. It has prevented me and a lot of friends from getting proper family houses, and that, I suppose, is a type of spending impact.
Do you haggle over prices?
As a normal consumer, I've tried but can never pull it off without feeling cheap and/or deflated when I don't succeed. I know a guy who claims all major stores have a 10-15 per cent discretionary discount that he can always get. You just need to say "push the button!" I get told it doesn't exist and fold.
Do you invest in shares?
Except for my disaster of a pension, not really. I did have a very small amount back in the good old days of the Irish Stock Exchange and did quite well. More for fun than anything else. I have a tiny amount left that I'm about to liquidise and probably won't have lost out too much.
Cash or card?
Both. I'm the impatient person in the queue who doesn't like the delay other people cause with cards. But advances in near-field technology are doing away with all of that, and ATM charges are driving us to cash back at the till.
What was the last thing you bought and was it good value for money?
We bought a new(er) car to accommodate our growing family. Very happy with it so far.
Have you ever successfully saved up for a relatively big purchase?
We're saving for a house right now. Very challenging when you're already sitting in significant negative equity but a new baby creates her own imperatives. I've just heard the ESRI on the radio telling me my generation is in a difficult position here. Thanks.
Have you ever lost money?
Thankfully no. I guess to truly lose, you actually have to have money in the first place. I am convinced property losses will eventually come right – in actual terms if not in real terms.
Are you a gambler, and if so have you ever had a big win?
King Spruce at 12/1 in the 1982 Irish Grand National and Ireland vs England at 7/2 in Euro 1988 (very proud). The fact I can remember those so clearly should answer the first part of the question.
Is money important to you?
Only in so far as it facilitates living. But I've seen enough, in the last few years particularly, to confirm for me that there are much, much more important things.
In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea
