You may this weekend have attended one of hundreds of events around the country to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Willliam Shakespeare’s death in 1616.
Few writers have ever caught our imagination like the Bard of Avon. Many of you will have studied his plays at secondary school, examining their universal themes of love, revenge, sorrow and comedy. But now personal finance is on the National Curriculum (it forms part of citizenship for 11-16-year-olds), could works such as Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice be used to educate children about managing their money? And can adults aiming to pay off debts and save for the future still learn anything from Shakespeare’s musings on money?
One of my favourite Shakespeare money quotes is from Iago (Othello, Act II, scene iii):
‘Poor and content is rich, and rich enough,
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
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