My parents never talked about money, and though they never complained about such things as eating too much or wasting hot water in the shower, there was some tension.

My father kept moving us every two to four years and we were told it was so that he'd get paid more, though he had the same job, a bank manager.

He also bought car after car after car, throughout his life, some used, mostly brand new. There was one incident where he bought my mother a diamond ring or necklace and she insisted he return it arguing we couldn't afford it.

As a teen and adult my father was extremely reticent with gifts, despite that he was obviously very well off. I rarely asked for anything and finally quit university before earning my BA when he didn't want to pay for it any more.

While I lived alone or with my girlfriend or wife over the next twenty years I learned to be extremely frugal because I was extremely poor. I never loaned or borrowed money, never wasted money on vices, rarely went out to eat, rarely bought anything. I also learned to do all the chores and shop and cook for myself. Though I did have credit card debt for a long time due to being approved for one when I was only 19. I took up reading, TV, hiking, fishing and camping as cheap activities. Since I've been married we haven't had any debt.

Since my father died I've realized that he really wasn't that knowledgeable about finances despite being a banker all his life, his father and step-father bankers too. He didn't have debt but he put all his money in managed accounts and the trusts he set up for benefit of me and my sister are with the same company and we're pretty much stuck with them, though I was able to read about investing myself, transfer some of my inherited accounts and invest with another company in non-managed accounts.

I've currently living a little higher on the hog than I ever have before but still well within my and my wife's means. We're not really sure what to do with this increase in our income, how much we will spend, are we going to start going on vacations to foreign countries, or what?