Michael Hallwright

So this is a story about my daughter, Sophie, who I dearly love.

So this is a story about my daughter Sophie, who I dearly love, who has always had a fairly turbulent relationship with money.

Pause.

Back then, she operated with confidence, enormous optimism, and a very loose understanding of financial boundaries.

For years, whenever we went anywhere together, she'd somehow forget her wallet.

coffee, oops, forgot my card, lunch, dad, tiny problem.

Anyway, during the Christchurch earthquake, Sophie is living down there.

Her flat got demoed and she lost everything.

We managed to get her safely home to Auckland and a couple of days later she announced, Dad...

I think I need a little R&R.

I'd really like to go and see my friend Liv in Melbourne and just recalibrate.

Trying to be supportive, I organized the flights for her.

I gave her an auxiliary card of mine with explicit instructions.

Essentials only, you can spend up to $3,000.

I'm not entirely sure what word Sophie heard, but I suspect it was congratulations.

You are now the CEO of Sophie Wellness and Retail Holdings.

A couple of weeks later, the credit card statement arrives, page after page, thinking there are too many zeros.

Apparently, Sophie's definition of essentials included long lunches, cocktail sessions, infrared sauna sessions.

plus what looked suspiciously like a major stimulus package for the Melbourne fashion industry.

So when she got home, I said, Soph, I said $3,000 for essentials.