'I went to New York first class. I spent it with the faith that there'd be more money' - artist Kevin Sharkey on making almost 5m and losing it all

""In those years, I stayed in the George V [hotel] in Paris. I went to New York first class. I really had a great time spending that money," he tells Katie Byrne on the latest episode of the Money Talks podcast "I loved it, but I spent it with the faith that there'd be more money. I was never going to sit on a suitcase of money out of fear.""

""Once you go broke and homeless, you realise life still goes on," he says. "I went on the dole for a little while and I ate, and my dogs ate and it was okay. I didn't have money to buy Jo Malone candles at that point. I didn't have the luxury of, you know, really good bed linen at that point. "But the lesson for me was that money is temporary, life is temporary.""

Kevin Sharkey spent lavishly during years of success, staying in luxury hotels and flying first class with the belief more money would come. He reinvested earnings into his career by opening galleries and promoting his work. The 2008 financial crash devastated his finances and, within a decade, he became homeless. Life in a hostel motivated him to restart painting and to escape homelessness permanently. He views money as temporary and has not bought property or built a pension, choosing instead to put earnings back into art and galleries. He now runs three galleries between Ireland and Portugal and maintains a large client list.

Read at Irish Independent