Do you ever cheat a sim's skills for story/character reasons?

Yup, I do it all the time. Like others have said, they can't have gone through life without any skills at all. Through MCCC I can give my sims at least a running start, raising skills just a little. I like them doing rather than reading to advance skills. Money is a different animal...I give them just enough to have a decent small house with mediocre furnishings and then they have to earn the rest. No free lunch here. :D