My Money: ‘My worst mistake was investing a big book advance in a pension fund that lost 30pc’

William Wall has written six novels, five volumes of poetry and three collections of short stories. The 67-year-old’s accolades include the Virginia Faulkner Award, the Raymond Carver Award, and the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. His novel This is the Country was longlisted for the Booker Prize and, in 2021, he became Cork City’s first poet laureate. Wall lives in Cork with his wife Liz, though they spend a lot of time in the Italian fishing port of Camogli, a location in his latest novel Empty Bed Blues. The author will be appearing at this year’s West Cork Literary Festival, which takes place from July 7 to July 14.

What did you learn about money while you were growing up?

That the most valuable thing that money can buy you, after the basic human needs of shelter and food, is time. The more you work, the less time you have. The ideal is to earn enough to enjoy your free time.

When were you most broke?

When we were married first we had a 16.25pc mortgage rate and couldn’t afford furniture. We had a table, four chairs, and a bed. On top of that I suffer from a long-term illness and in those days there was no relief and it cost us a fortune in drugs and doctors.

There’s no nostalgia about it; not being able to make ends meet is endlessly depressing and humiliating.

Nobody should ever be in that position in a country as wealthy as Ireland.

The protagonist of your latest novel unexpectedly inherits debt from her late husband. What inspired you to write about problem debt and financial infidelity?

The economic crash set me thinking about how states incur debts of which that their citizens know nothing.

During the so-called Celtic Tiger, most ordinary people had no idea that our banks were living dangerously. In my book, the protagonist, a university teacher, is completely unaware that her husband is speculating. When Anglo Irish Bank collapsed, the rest of us were surprised to hear of its existence and didn’t understand how it got to where it was.

But most of all, the mountain of debt it dumped on us came as a severe shock. In the book, I’m trying to personalise that, to represent the country and its financial collapse in a human relationship.

When her husband dies suddenly, Kate finds herself exposed to the fury of her husband’s creditors and makes the extraordinary decision to just walk away.

It’s not her debt, she argues – she never agreed to it, didn’t know about it, and shouldn’t be expected to pay for someone else’s speculation. She hasn’t lived beyond her means, but she was married to someone who had.

What’s the most expensive place you’ve ever visited?

Switzerland. We left after three hours.

Would you buy Irish property now?

Not unless I needed a house to live in.

Do you still carry cash?

Yes, but less and less. One of the things that bugs me is that there’s never any change in my pocket to give to buskers and rough sleepers.

What was your biggest ever financial mistake?

I got a big advance on a book and invested it in a pension fund that lost 30pc shortly afterwards.

What was your worst career mistake?

Not being famous.

What was your worst-ever job?

Cutting cabbage before dawn on a frosty morning.

What three things would you not be able to do without if you had to tighten your belt?

Books, music, and film.

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