Aim not to owe anybody money at life’s end

MY grandfather died when I was 13. Weeks before he passed away, he told my mum, “I don’t owe anyone a single cent”.

He was a mechanic. Worked his way up from lowly apprentice to owning a workshop that was essentially a slab of concrete underneath a huge tree. He also went from sharing a house with his siblings and riding a beat-up old motorcycle to having a low-cost flat and driving a small Datsun. He was a loyal sibling and a loving if stoic father, and he didn’t owe anyone a single cent when he passed away. Not even the banks.