Getting an allowance as a child made me a better money manager, but for all the wrong reasons,” a Virginia reader wrote. “I was the oldest child and was given an allowance of $5 a week (1962-68) to cook for my two siblings and watch them and for minor house cleaning. Problem was my parents could never afford to pay it, so it just kept adding up. When it got high enough, they would ask me what I wanted, and they would then buy it on their credit card, which they did not pay off in full. What I learned: Don’t promise funds you don’t have, and don’t buy anything you can’t pay for in full, especially when you put it on a credit card. As a result, I was able to retire with enough money in the bank to have a comfortable retirement.”