‘The value of money came to me when I got my first job’ £14k

Ruby Thresher’s parents are in financial services, and her mother, Jo, is the author of What’s Your Excuse for Not Being Better with Money?

But when she was younger, Ruby didn’t give it much thought. She received pocket money, but not as a direct transaction. “I’m one of four,” she says, “and we’ve always all helped with dinner, putting the recycling out, doing the Hoovering. It didn’t feel like we were doing it for the money – but for ourselves and the house.”

Ruby says, “I didn’t get into spending until I was about 12. My friends and I used online games like Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters

to communicate on our laptops. You could buy upgrades, and I always did.” It was fun, but, she reflects now, “it wasn’t worth it”.

Ruby’s parents let her learn. “My bank statement would come through – and they’d be like, ‘What have you been buying?’ And then they’d go through it with me: ‘Did you need this?’ They’d show me a real-life equivalent – and 12-year-old me would normally prefer the thing in real life.”

Working as a waitress at 16 also influenced Ruby’s attitude. “If I wanted something, I’d be like, ‘I’ve earned this, I’m going to buy it.’ I was buying quantity not quality. Especially clothes – going to Primark and going

on a spending spree.”

Eventually, she thought, “why?” and “do I actually want these things?”

She says, “The value of money came to me when I got my job. I was on £5 an hour. I’d think, ‘If I want to buy that, it’s four hours’ worth of work.’ Now, if I’m going to get a T-shirt I think I might as well get a good one that will last.”

Her parents have set up a Help to Buy Isa for her. They all contribute, though Ruby says, “The money I earn goes into my debit account and I usually spend that. My Isa money is separate and I won’t touch that until I need to buy a house.”

She’s organised and conscious about money management. “I write lists – I’ll allocate that to online shopping, this to my savings, and this to a new phone. I’ve got a diary, with my budget.”

But she’s balanced, too, “I’ve also got a ‘Wants and Needs list’. Sometimes I do splash out on the Wants. I’m not saying I stick to it all the time, but I try!”

Mabel, three, from Cornwall ended up buying a real £14,000 tractor on eBay while using her grandmother’s

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