Who I Am
I’m born to a first generation immigrant family. I have an Italian Dad and a Portuguese Mother, and I am married to an Iranian. I live in Perth, Australia.
Our family grew up with not a lot of money. We were poor. It’s my frame of reference to life. Money weighed heavily in every decision I made. What career will I go into? What can I buy that is good value? How can I afford to do that? Or buy that? It’s not surprising that I chose Engineering as a profession. I vividly remember my Physics teacher telling me it was a well paying job. I was lucky enough to enjoy it as well. Solving problems and creating things is cool.
Money remained central to my persona when I got my first job. I would need to always save some amount of money. Saving money was not optional. I never wanted to be poor again and the only way to guarantee that was to save. I saved a part of every pay packet for over 20 years.
As I got older, and the feeling of, what I would best describe, as the hidden lurking danger to not having money slowly disappeared I became comfortable in spending more. It took over a decade after graduating though.
I wonder if some part of that feeling remains within me. I certainly spend a lot now. I don’t think twice about spending money if it’s something I’m interested in or if it makes my life better. I sometimes think I am spending too much in fact. Then I think about my age and how much I’ve got left to live and the red devil in my brain quietens down about spending.
Funny thing is my parents are still the same. They still save and scrimp even well into their retirement. I’m glad I didn’t turn out like them.
