My relationship with money started long ago.
As a kid I thought it was interesting how we would throw our change into the little metal "tzedakah" box at the temple on Sunday, to give the money to - who? For what? Something about "the needy".
So one day I thought, gee, I am needy too, so I took a small jar at home and taped a picture of a sad dog on it, and wrote, "Give to the APGKGB" (that was the Association for the Prevention of George Kahn Going Broke.) And I would put my change in there, and my Dad would put some change in there, and now and then people who would visit our home would put change in there. My parents, who were understanding and very supportive of my creativity, went along with the joke.
(This was probably my first successful marketing idea.)
I always found it odd and amazing that people gave value to paper money. I was 19 when President Nixon finally announced that the US was abandoning the silver standard, where the government issued money against silver in the US Treasury's vault; I remember that my grandfather had some coins from when they actually put silver in the dimes and quarters.
So I was always fascinated with $2 bills, and other oddities of money, how some coins and bills are worth more than others to collectors.
(This was probably my first introduction to supply and demand.)
I always dreamed of being like Scrooge McDuck, having a secret vault in my house filled with dollars and coins that I could swim in and throw up in the air. So I guess for me there was always an element of fun associated with money. My Dad made a lot of money, and was very free in spending it as well, so he taught me that one of the joys of money is that you get to spend it on people and things that you love.
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