Shearling coat cost me twice as much as my car
THE best-selling author, Kate Kerrigan lives in Ballina, Co Mayo, with her husband and children. She launched her latest book, That Girl, earlier this year. Kerrigan’s first book, Recipes for a Perfect Marriage, was published in 2006. Other novels of hers include The Miracle of Grace and the award-winning It Was Only Ever You. Visit katekerrigan.org.
What’s the most important lesson about money which your career has taught you? Don’t spend it all at once. You can earn a fortune one year and nothing for the next five. Money management is very difficult as a writer when you are working on an advance-payment system which may or may not pay off.
What’s the most expensive thing about being a parent? College, though I’m not there yet. Otherwise, investing all that love and worry into a child and not getting a chartered accountant or a doctor at the end of it.
What’s the most expensive country you ever visited? I have never been to an expensive country but I have a home in London and I’m constantly shocked at how much money I spend when over there. London makes me literally haemorrhage cash on coffees and walk-in manicures.
What’s your favourite Irish coin? I liked the old Irish money. I still feel slightly put out about the euro.
Apart from property, what’s the most expensive thing you have ever bought? When I got my first book deal, I bought myself a shearling coat in Brown Thomas. I still can’t say out loud how much it cost me but it was twice the price of the car I am currently driving. It still looks fabulous though…
What was your worst job? At 15, I started a hairdressing apprenticeship and spent two years cleaning toilets and sweeping up hair. The boy that started the same day as me was trained to do blow-dries in his first month. I hope things have changed.
What was your biggest financial mistake? Selling our first marital home in Dublin when we could’ve hung onto it and rented it out without stretching ourselves.
What was your best financial killing? My first book deal. It was a six-figure deal and felt like winning the Lottery. Years of rejections were forgotten. When you work in the arts, you understand that an income is as much to do with luck than anything else.
Are you better off than your parents? At times. But I won’t earn anything like their pensions. I crave the security they had as teachers.
If you won the Euromillions, what would you do with the money? I would take my family to the Caribbean Island where my husband and I had our honeymoon.
What’s your favourite song about money? Money by Pink Floyd. The Dark Side of the Moon was my favourite album as a teenager — I love that rebellious ‘don’t matter’ attitude to money you can have when you’re young.
Have you ever made an insurance claim? Someone crashed into my car a few years ago. Luckily I wasn’t in it. I got it all back on the insurance.
iTunes or Spotify? I am partial to a bargain disco classics CD in my local pound shop. Nobody will get into the car with me.
Would you buy property now? I’d buy-to-let if I could. Although it’s a pain managing property, it’s the closest I’d ever get to a pension.
What three things would you not be able to do without if you were tightening your belt? Chai latte from Cafe Mocha in Ballina, Cloon Keen candles, and Friday night fish and chips in The Village Inn, Killala.