Amen to all of this!
Fellow "first world poor" here. My dad was the one who did all the drugs and drinking and smoking and gambling, and like you, I never did, because I had the example of seeing that and saying, "no thanks."
Re: spending money on the wrong things, I learned that lesson too, and aside from books (hurrah books!) I pretty much always spent on necessities (and aren't books kinda a necessity? ;) ). Back when I worked at the hospital, I was saving up for a car and people were always saying, why don't you just buy it and make payments? And I would tell them that was CRAZY to me, because what if it broke down and I had no money to fix it? Then I would be stuck paying for insurance and payments and parking space and etc. and still not have the car. NTM I was still not being paid well (I've never crossed the 30k/year threshold in income in my life), so I didn't think I could handle all those costs AND car payments. It was a good thing I didn't, as in the end, as I eventually lost that job and ended up living off that savings for some time.
Re: financial education, I always recommend the book, The Money Book For The Young, Fabulous, And Broke by Suze Orman. Most of her books are more like, money mindset kinda books, but this one is legit the financial literacy class we should have all gotten in high school. Retirement savings, how to buy a house, etc. It's really good.
!LUV
Orman is an inspiring writer and public speaker, and it's strange that we have to get practical financial information from outside authors, instead of from the school system itself.
With my mom, I could have almost understood if she'd have enjoyed her vices AFTER paying her bills first, but No, it was always before. This resulted in utilities being shut off, and us having to go without food, heat, and hot water. Crazy.