But maybe Bertie, who was finance minister at the time, had a point. As the country's top financial brain, maybe he had a unique insight into how we all should manage our money.

After all, during this period of great pecuniary stress, he managed to squirrel away tens of thousands in cash.

Is this how much we could all save on bank charges and interest levied by nasty financial institutions, just by refusing to have a bank account and borrowing money from our mates instead of banks?

We put Bertie's Money Method to the test.

First of all, he may have been onto something in renting rather than buying his house. With property prices falling, Bertie might have been ahead of his time in pioneering renting rather than buying.

A 3% drop in the price of a 500,000 average house would cost you 15,000 . . .

enough to rent a home for a year. However, Bertie jumped the gun a wee bit by adopting this policy in the 1990s, since when property prices went through the roof.

But what about bank accounts? We all moan about bank charges all the time. But why don't we do what Bertie did and put our money literally where our mouths are?

Why don't we take it out of the bank and put it under the old Slumberland?

First we're going to need a safe, and a big one at that, to hold all the lovely lolly we're going to save ourselves from the rip-off banks.

You can get one online for just 39.99 from office supplies outfit Vikingdirect. ie.

And with bank charges running at 60 a year, won't we get our money back in no time?

We put it to the Irish Bankers Federation that if the guy who should know more about money than anyone else in the country decided not to have a bank account, surely we should all do the same.

But IBF spokesman Felix O'Regan said that Bertie's aversion to banks may have been pennywise and pound foolish.

Bank charges do cost 5060 a year, if you pay them.

But you can pay zilch by making sure you're on one of the free banking deals now offered by most banks, he pointed out.

O'Regan said 90% of people have a bank account. But who, apart from former finance ministers, are the ones who don't?

"They tend to be on the margins of society, " he says.

One group would be those who operate in the cash economy and don't earn very much anyway, he said. "A second group would have difficulty adhering to the requirements for opening one under money-laundering legislation (producing a passport or driving licence). They may be immigrants."

However, O'Regan wanted to reassure them . . . and Bertie . . . that all they have to do is get an official letter signed by a garda to prove their identity.

Bertie's approach to money management also runs contrary to the policy of the gardai, who have repeatedly urged people not to keep large sums in cash in their homes, according to the IBF.

Accountant Cyril Keegan of Command Managed Services in Bray, Co Wicklow, agrees.

"You only have to get robbed once to cost you a lot more than you'd save in bank charges in a lifetime, " he said.

Keegan hasn't come across any clients without a bank account . . . and he wouldn't recommend the Bertie approach either. Without a bank account you'll have to pay in person, or by post, for a multitude of bills.

"How much do you value your time?" asked Keegan.

"At 8 an hour minimum wage, all that time spent queueing and travelling is going to work out more expensive than paying 20 cent or whatever for a direct debit."

Another downside is that, without bank records, it will be hard to get a loan. But that won't be a problem if you follow the Bertie Way, as you'll have lots of friends falling over themselves to supply you with tens of thousands of euro.

But would this have gift or benefit-in-kind tax implications? If we all did what Bertie did, and got large sums from our friends without paying back anything . . . until we're challenged about it over a decade later . . . what would the Revenue Commissioners say?

"They would ask: why after such a long time would you decide to do that? What has changed in your circumstances? Maybe impending unemployment would be one good reason, " Keegan quipped.