My eldest daughter recently caught me off guard with a tricky question. It wasn’t about sex, relationships or her future career, but about money. Or to be more precise, my money and how much of it I had.

Like all young people approaching university, her question was probably inspired mainly by her concern that I will be able to help support her financially during her degree. But I suspect it was also driven by curiosity. I pondered how best to answer her.

If I answered it outright, how would it affect her? Would she be more or less motivated to work hard at university? Would she be more or less careful about her spending? How would it affect her relationship with me? Would she tell her friends, inevitably ensuring that their parents knew my financial position? Would those parents be pleased, envious or sorry for me? Why should I care?