Another year, another birthday and work anniversary. This year’s milestone brings added irony, given that I’m on the verge of retrenchment. While this is horrible news by traditional standards, I’m actually quite excited with where my career will pivot to. So I’ll be ok. Really. As is tradition now, I usually would share a personal story about money at these milestones. 2 years ago, I talked about my personal drive to reach $100k by 30. Last year, I shared about my close relative’s relationship with money. This year I thought I’ll go back in time and share about my early relationship with money, till my university days. Here’s a collection of short stories about my relationship with money growing up.

Without a worry

I grew up in a middle class family with graduate parents. My parents earned solid middle income salaries which more or less paid for our needs and wants. While we were never outrageously rich, I...