ME and MY MONEY:Cormac Battle, 2FM presenter
Are you a saver or a spender?
I’m a very minor saver. I only buy what I need for the most part and not what I want, which is a throwback to times spent on the dole in the early 1990s and being in a band living hand to mouth. Although I did have an SSIA account for a while from uncle Charlie McCreevy, but had to liquidate it prematurely for emergency college debts.
Do you shop around for better value?
My mother was big into shopping around, and unfortunately it’s a gene that has not been passed on. Sadly, I tend to take the line of least resistance and buy something on the spot even though I know I’m being ripped off.
What has been your most extravagant purchase ever and how much did it cost?
More of a group purchase, but blowing over £500,000 sterling recording an album in Los Angeles with my band Kerbdog in 1995. Record companies were printing money at the time due to CD sales and thought nothing of letting four 21-year-olds from Kilkenny lose all sense of reason and spend five months in America milling through half a million pounds (our wages at the time, however, were £150 a week).
What purchase have you made that you consider the best value for money?
My Vespa Scooter. Eight quid a week on petrol and does about 200 miles to the gallon. It reeks of Italian style and gets me to work twice as fast as an Aston Martin – which I only use at the weekends. I worked out that over the lifetime of the bike it costs about one quarter of a half-caf skinny latte a day to run.
Have you ever crossed the Border to shop?
Yes I have. Not for cheap teeth or fireworks but for 60 bottles of Prosseco in Sainsbury’s Newry branch for my wedding. It was a fiver a bottle (my wife is going to kill me for this). Although I did feel a bit guilty, as if I had laundered a tank full of dodgy diesel.
Do you haggle over prices?
Never. And I hate myself for it. I think there is a subtle post- colonial idea that to haggle is to be vulgar and uncultured. I find it undignified and I get embarrassed when haggling takes place in my company.
Has the recession changed your spending habits?
Not really. I sort of felt like more of a spectator of the Celtic Tiger than a player, so I’ve always lived my financial life in a slightly austere way. Call me old-fashioned, but spending money you don’t have on outdoor heaters, therapy for your dog and a time share in Bulgaria seems rather churlish to me.
Do you invest in shares?
No, but despite my last answer I was tempted to buy some about five years ago (ie hit the credit union for a loan to fix “the extension”). I really felt like I was missing the boat – just like everybody else of my generation. However, it was my being lily-livered rather than financially prudent that put a stop to that – and I had learned from my mother being stung in the great Eircom shares debacle.
Cash or card?
Cash mainly. I’m a bit old school that way. Not in a Del-Boy “don’t leave a paper trail” way, but more in “if I don’t have it I don’t spend it”. Having said that, I have been done on my credit card for strange purchases in Eastern Europe (I was reimbursed) which has undermined my confidence in plastic.
What was the last thing you bought and was it good value for money?
It was a toy box for my son, George. We thought we'd be all ethical and right-on and buy one off the internet in Ireland. It was steep at €150 but we imagined it was made by lovely old craftsmen in leather aprons you would see on RTÉ's Nationwide. It came flat-pack and was made in China!
Have you ever saved up for a relatively big purchase?
We managed to save up half the money to buy our first car, a Renault Clio, for five grand. But then our circumstances changed and we had to hit the trusty credit union for the rest.
Have you ever lost money?
I’m losing it as I answer this question and probably for the rest of my life. I’m in the very large Irish club whose members are in supernova negative equity. But in real terms I lost €300 worth of vouchers on Christmas Eve down the pub, which didn’t go down well the next day.
Are you a gambler?
Fortunately it’s the one vice that gives me no buzz whatsoever. Despite winning over £400 on a nag at 20/1 at a race meeting in the mid-1990s, I have managed not to become infected, although I have noticed that I get pretty agitated if I forget to do the lotto these days
Is money important to you?
I am pretty sure that lots of money would not make me happier than I am, but am absolutely certain that a severe lack of it would be utterly miserable. It’s a bit trite I know, but enough money is enough.
How much money do you have on you now?
€38.40
In conversation with TONY CLAYTON-LEA
Cormac Battle presents The Battle Axeon RTÉ 2FM from 7pm to 10pm on Sundays
