Irish Independent: Me and my money
What has been your biggest spending mistake?
Ive never had enough money to have had a big spending mistake. But I make plenty of other mistakes. I regularly miss trains and flights and lose my phone. Im sure if I ever get any money ill be making just as stupid decisions with my money as i do with everything else.
What has been your best ever buy?
Probably either my bicycle or my laptop. Im either on one or the other most of the time.
Also traveling, the trip I did to India while I was in college was the best money I ever spent. It opened my eyes and hooked me on traveling.
Do you have a savings plan? What does it include?
No. In fact, anyone who knows me and sees that i have been asked to answer an article about ‘Me and My Money’ will be rolling around the floor laughing
What is your biggest on-going waste of money?
I probably spend too much in the pub, but so does everyone else. Also my phone bill is always mysteriously huge even though i hardly ever call anyone, i should probably look into that…
If you could buy anything, regardless of price, what would it be?
While i was in Korea doing my book I got very into Korean bathhouses called ‘Jimjirban’, they are like large public baths with little swimming pools and saunas. I really miss those. Its a really nice way of relaxing at the end of the day. I dont think Id be ever bothered enough to have my own one but i wish there was one nearby here. Really I would just like to travel more and get into doing interesting book projects and have the time to focus on doing work that interests me, anything else is just a bonus.
What type of car do you drive? How much was it?
Ive never had a car. I have always just cycled around on my bike. It cost £90.
Do you own/Have you ever bought shares? What were they and did you make money on them?
I got a big cheque a few years ago from an illustration job and I put it in the Co-operative bank’s renewable energy trust. All of the investment goes into funding renewable energy projects which seems like a pretty good idea. The co-operative bank are member owned and have an ethical policy so unlike everyone else they dont invest all your money into arms, oil and multinationals who don’t need to answer to anyone. Its been doing very well considering what has been happening recently.
If you won €5m in the Lotto, what would be the first thing you would buy?
I dont think i would buy anything in particular… id just travel around more and have more time to do the work that I like. I have just come back from India and Nepal where I was doing work Id love to do more projects there more or go into business with them in a bigger way.
Which is more important – more money or more time off?
Time off. Money can always stretch but we only have a fixed amount of time.