Recession, what recession...Isn't it great??

neverdespairgirl

fc123 wrote: »

We can't afford to prop him up in any way as we have to finance the rest of his sisters education, but he definately has a different view of work / earning than us at that age.

He also is 'thinking 'about a law conversion but we can't support him (financially) through it...plus, though bright lad, he's not in the genius category either; they can get funding I believe.

Depends - does he want to go the Bar or become a solicitor?

Some of the Inns do scholarships for the law conversion, and it's also possible to do it part-time and work as well.

Nitha

I'm doing fine. Renting helps - the market is flooded in our area with low cost rentals and flexible landlords who want long-term tennants.

It also helps that we learned to live well below our means when I was at uni. We're not as fortunate as the OP as we have a baby, but we're comfortable.

Kez100

It's good to be confident. It's not good to be arrogant. It's good to remember - don't !!!!!! on people on the way up - you might need them on the way down.

neas

students with a lazy attitude have always come a croppa when their parents no longer dosh out the doh...

They realise quite quickly that:

1. Doing a degree doesn't neccessarily mean they get a 20k+ job let along a 30k+ job. You have to do the right degree and try hard
2. That the last 3-4 years of their student lives, while fun and filled with memories of cheap beer nights and parties at the local Student Union... that it will most likely have to be repaid in the form of tuition loans, overdrafts and student loan repayments. For some of them thats a good 20-30k now!!!
3. That unless they actually thought about the career path before doing 'media studies'/'golf course management'... heck even sometimes business studies then its down to mcdonalds or tesco for a checkout supervisor job.
4. That they should've partied less and studied more... as their third honors degree... just aint worth the paper its written on... (For those that dont know a third is 40-50% grade... which is a pretty low percentage to achieve in a chosen subject in my opinion.. what with the usual coursework opporrunities on most courses to ramp this to at least a 2:2 (50-60%).

I really do pity student who have no direction, because they have hair brained ideas about protesting and going off gap yearing it, travelling the world... but are basically being immature and putting off working... i.e they are being lazy. They need to grow up and be realistic.

Now... with the recession they will be even less opportunity and I will see many students returning to live at home with mum and dad....and prob being forced by said mum and dad to work somewhere... anywhere, if they can.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

No major impact on me as yet but I have made a few changes - not entirely due to recession/ credit crunch.

Changes I have made

1) This year I was going to increase my prices to nearly all customers. I ended up only increasing a few - just the ones where the prices had slipped so far behind that losing them would have been no real loss anyway. I have offset this by working a bit harder and sometimes longer hours - mainly to pay the higher diesel bill though that has recently eased.

2) I have been in debt up to my eyeballs for years so no difference there. My increasing insecurity about this got me here and has helped me to slash my expenditure - and there's more to come. I actually regard this as a positive benefit.

3) The credit crunch/falling house prices means that there will be no mortgage switch available to me come September. I am in my early 50s and well into sub prime territory with a lender who will probably have a high SVR. Therefore, I am making as much inroad into my unsecured debts as I can over the next few months in order to free up some money to pay the SVR.

4) I have lost the odd customer but have been able to replace them so far. I have to work a bit harder to replace a lost customer than I did a year ago. The phone has gone pretty quiet but my work almost entirely involves very frequent repeat work (window cleaning).

5) Some customers are taking much longer to pay. This is particularly the case for commercial jobs. Due to a bit of nervousness on my part about their solvency, I am drafting reminder letters much sooner than I normally would. I am prepared to risk losing such work as it can still be replaced by new domestic customers. Simply put, I can either work and not be paid or I can sit on my !!!! or indulge in cheap leisure activities and not be paid.

6) Xmas tips are well down on last year but I don't go to work expecting any so if anyone wants to pay a tip I regard that as a nice little bonus.

7) After Xmas I intend to chase a lot of new work. Feeling a bit insecure about losing work in the New Year causes me to seek out enough work so that I'm overloaded.

The two biggest threats I see are higher unemployment and my fixed rate ending late Summer. There are always more window cleaners around in a recession doing it for pin money. I cxan't compete with them on price because I pay tax, NI etc, carry a top notch public liability insurance, and run an honest business. I can compete on quality and track record though. Although most people stick with the reliable service they've had for years, there will always be the odd one who jumps ship to save money (they often ring me within a year or two after the new guy lets them down). As for the ending of my fixed rate, there's no telling what I will be paying when it's over. However, the more unsecured debt I can shift before then, the better placed I will be to pay the price.

So no major bad effects so far but I need to use my wits a bit more to keep it that way.

Davesnave

I really do pity student who have no direction, because they have hair brained ideas about protesting and going off gap yearing it, travelling the world... but are basically being immature and putting off working... i.e they are being lazy. They need to grow up and be realistic.

Increasingly, young people do their gap year(s) after 'A' levels, which is a good time to sort out who one is, priorities in life etc etc.

I found two years pre-uni experience in the 'real' world was invaluable, so I can't understand why universities don't make such experience mandatory.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Increasingly, young people do their gap year(s) after 'A' levels, which is a good time to sort out who one is, priorities in life etc etc.

I found two years pre-uni experience in the 'real' world was invaluable, so I can't understand why universities don't make such experience mandatory.

I took a surprise 'gap year' in lower sixth. I think in retrospect if I hadn't done that life would have been extremely, extremely different, not better or worse necessarily, just very different. I do think you have to have a sort of pig headed determination to take a break at 16 and go back into education full time, but for me it really focused me and gave me a paused on what had been a fairly hot-housed education. I gave up a lot of extra things as a result of that time.

neverdespairgirl

Nitha wrote: »

We're not as fortunate as the OP as we have a baby, but we're comfortable.

That's not exactly unfortunate, though! Congratulations on your new baby (-:

neverdespairgirl

Davesnave wrote: »

Increasingly, young people do their gap year(s) after 'A' levels, which is a good time to sort out who one is, priorities in life etc etc.

I found two years pre-uni experience in the 'real' world was invaluable, so I can't understand why universities don't make such experience mandatory.

I agree, they are fantastic.

I spent an academic year in Poland teaching English (September to June), and worked in the UK as well for a few months, to get a few quid together before starting uni.

mitchaa

geoffky wrote: »

mitchea i am surprised you are so happy because i used to live in Aberdeen (bridge of don...little England) and its the most grayish depressing city i have ever had the pleasure to live and work in..so hats of for you to be able to smile while living there..The place is one step away from disaster relying on the oil industry...

Now now, play nice:rotfl:

I do not actually live in Aberdeen Central, but on the outskirts in the nice Scottish countryside (Aberdeenshire in my sig you see )

Union Street shopping, nightlife, restaurants, places to go etc is as good as anywhere else ive been around the UK. It is quite grey though hence the name Silver/Granite city, lot of older houses were made from Granite you see;)

Depressing? Dont quite get that 1 seeing as depressing is more about what you actually did when you were there. If i went to New York and stayed in my hotel room 7 days out of the 7, i would leave New York feeling depressed. The only thing that depresses me about Aberdeen is the traffic congestion, worse than the M25 at times.

Otherwise its not that bad at all in fact. By the way i am not an Aberdonian so have no family connections/ties/bias towards the place. (They speak a tad bit funny up here:rotfl: Fit, Ken) I come from a much more depressing place, 60 miles south of Aberdeen:rotfl:

Oil industry will be around until i retire at least so the oil boom is not worrying me in the slightest.