Advice from two experts

Auckland identical twin sisters Matilda ‘Tilly’ Hanlon and Beryl Baguley recently celebrated their 100th birthday, a rare occasion indeed with the mathematical chance of identical twins reaching the age of 100, one in 700 million. When asked to offer advice about the current recession having lived through a global depression in the 193s, Mrs Hanlon said it was “easy”. “Don’t get a credit card, I’ve never had one and I don’t think people need them,” said Mrs Hanlon, who has lived in her three-bedroom Papatoetoe home since 1947. Mrs Baguley, the older sister by 45 minutes said her own recollections of the depression included watching the government cut her pay by 50 per cent to a little over two pounds each week when she worked at a clothing factory on Karangahape Road. “Still, we got by with what we had, everyone did in those days, they just got on with it,” said Mrs Baguley.