I answer most sex questions, no matter how personal, without blinking an eyelash.
But no one’s ever asked me intimate secrets about money before — until I met editor Nina Smith from QueerCents, who propositioned me with 10 Money Questions.
How embarrassing! How shocking! I’ve never felt so completely NUDE!
I took a look at the “more interesting stumpers” that Susie Bright highlighted and didn’t find them so stumpy. Here they are, with my answers.
What is your most significant memory about money?
Earning a shiny quarter early each morning at my first “job”: sweeping the floor at the “Casino” (which is what the concession store/soda fountain/lunch counter was called) at the Pine Knoll bungalow colony in Monticello, NY in the summer of 1972. I was not yet six.
I rode to “work” on my Big Wheel, swept the floor, got my quarter, and usually spent it immediately on pinball or the jukebox. I got back in time for the start of day camp. And I learned a lifelong lesson about the satisfaction of earning a day’s pay.
What is your worst habit around finances?
Overcautiousness. And then, when that has built up for too long, reckless splurging, like a dieter diving into a cheesecake after weeks of salad.
Is sexual or financial compatibility more important in a partnership?
They’re both important. Each is more important than the other at different times. Fortunately, they can both be cultivated — but without some sexual compatibility to begin with, who would bother cultivating either one?
Have you ever paid or been paid for sex?
Nope, except in the “I Get Paid For Loving” sense.
What did your mother, or your father, teach you about money?
“Pay yourself first,” meaning saving for the future is a higher priority than any other use of your money, even if it’s just a little at a time.
Pay off debts. And especially beware of credit card debt. (That’s one they tried to teach me but I had to learn on my own, the hard way.)
Always get the best you can afford.
If you’ve been in a relationship, do you and your partner see eye-to-eye on finances?
Yes, except I don’t know how I’ll convince Andrea of the absolute necessity of dropping half a grand on the Lego Millennium Falcon, which comes out soon.