Their own parents had lived through extremely hard times, experiencing poverty during the great depression and migrating to Australia from Italy and Poland respectively, after World War II. First and foremost, money was directed to paying off debt and then the priority was saving for a rainy day. My own parents still talk about the time when interest rates were a whopping 17.5%. Not much money left for luxuries when so much of the weekly wage was going to basic living necessities like food, shelter and electricity!