Three teachable television moments about finances

SEX AND THE CITY: In one of the more sobering moments on the show, leading lady Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) made the startling realisation that she had squandered a potential home deposit on her extensive stiletto collection. “I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes,” Bradshaw famously lamented.

FRIENDS: After newly engaged couple Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) argued whether it was worth spending his savings on a lavish wedding, they brokered a compromise, with Monica coming to the conclusion: “I don’t want a big fancy wedding… I want a marriage.”

THE NANNY: In a case of counting her financial chickens before they hatched, nanny Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) blew her Christmas bonus on a shopping spree – only to discover her boss, Mr Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), had decided to forgo his customary cash bonus for a store-bought present.