This is heavy, so one thing at a time.

I was taught that money was a store of wealth, not that it was a promise of work. And I understood coin and banknotes were mere tokens representing wealth, making wealth easily transferrable in return for goods or labour. The exchange of goods and labour according to fluctuating levels of supply and demand (plus fiscal intervention) was what I believed the economy to be.

How does that tie in with your description of Money?