For richer or for poorer

OUR sister newspaper, the Sunday Times, runs a feature in its Money section in which it asks celebrities what they do about money, how they save, how they spend and so on.

Since they’ve never asked me for my opinions, I thought the next best thing would be to express them here. (Does anyone care? Probably not!)

First question:

What did your childhood teach you about money?

It taught me that if I spilt too many glasses of milk over the breakfast table (and I did that a lot) my mother would send me to the Model Dairy in Frere Road to buy a pint with my pocket money. I came home once with two pints and mom said: “Why two?” I replied that it was in case I spilt more the next day. You could say it taught me foresight and insurance!

What was your first job and how much were you paid?

My first (and last) job was at the Daily Dispatch. I was paid R70 a month and not much more at the end. (Jokes!)

Have you ever been really hard up?

Not really. I suppose during my student days I could have done with a bit more. Beer money was hard to come by. (Probably a good thing.) And when my wife and I married and the children arrived, there was some tough budgeting, especially when my wife stopped working to care for the kids. It was nine years before she started working half days again. One of my favourite photos is of us four looking quite poor in old clothing. It reminds me of those times.

Are you a saver or spender?

I’m a saver, relatively careful with money. However now, as time gets short, I spend a bit more.

What is the one thing you wish you had never bought?

A holiday plan. It was a setup; pressure salesmanship and we signed. There was no turning back. What a waste. It was an expensive lesson learned and didn’t break the bank, but it left a sour taste.

What’s the best/worst investment you ever made?

Supreme Holdings, back in the 1980s/’90s went belly up taking a lot of pensioners and elderly investors to the brink. I was listening to the radio one morning when a respected investment adviser said creditors had been offered Profurn (Protea Furnishers) shares in lieu of their Supreme holdings and he advised them to take it.

I thought about it, and if the old folk were being advised this, it must be a good bet. So I phoned a broker and said I wanted to buy 10 000 Profurn shares which were trading at 27c each. Next day they were 33c, so I bought another 10 000. My total investment: R6 000. Well they went up and up until at their peak they were worth R140 000 to me.

A lot of money in those days.

Then they started falling. They’ll recover, I thought, thinking long term ... an investment for the future.

They didn’t. Profurn was liquidated and absorbed into JD Group. I got R8 000 back. If only, if only, I thought. Why didn’t I get out sooner? My dad’s sage advice still rings. “When it comes to shares, you can never sell too soon,” he’d say. Now I leave it to professionals who are doing fine.

Chiel today is Robin Ross-Thompson;