Younger People (18-25) - Attitudes to money

torontoboy45

cupid_s wrote: »

the galapagos islands

I hope you have a pleasant trip.

your friends appear to hold unusual views on what constitutes 'waste'.
this type of trip is more about experience than relaxation and ,IMO, a sound life investment.

my biggest regret is not having travelled more to gain a better life-view, when I was younger (I'm a decrepit 46, donchaknow). I've made up for it by travelling more and more in recent yrs.

if your finances are straight, then do it - the probability is that you'll regret it in yrs to come if you don't.

bon voyage!

neverdespairgirl

cupid_s wrote: »

the galapagos islands

Hope you are reading the Origin of the Species as a travel guide!

Sounds an amazing trip, I'd love to go there.

Mr_Matey

This is definitely a topic that rings true in my family.

Like ndg, I come from a fairly well off family, although we didn't always get what we wanted! I'm the youngest of four, supposedly the "spoilt" one, but the different attitudes towards money of my siblings is quite interesting. I guess there's always a bit of nature and a bit of nurture.

My oldest brother is quite good with money but happily splurges on things that "you gotta do once", like buying a big new tv, holidays etc. He earns good money and has paid off most of his house though so fair enough.

My other brother, also earns a lot, as does his wife. They are splurgers. Big time. Overseas trips, fancy restaurants, expensive nights out, the works. They recently bought a place but I reckon they could've bought it outright on their salaries if they'd saved.

My sister doesn't earn as much as the rest, has 3 kids and is good with household budgeting.

Then there's me. I've always been the saver since we were getting pocketmoney. I never buy things unless I have enough money to pay for it. I keep budgets and spreadsheets of all my income/expenditure & investments, and find it very difficult to make a big purchase without a lot of thought. My fiancee is also quite good with money, especially in the bargain-hunting sense.

The others seem to think I'm good with money and sometimes ask me for financial advice, but perhaps that's because of my career choice.

Anyway enough of my life story, but the point is the older members of my immediate family are the ones who are the spenders!

Oh and have a great trip to the Galapogas. I hope to visit there someday!

neverdespairgirl

Mr_Matey wrote: »

This is definitely a topic that rings true in my family.

Like ndg, I come from a fairly well off family, although we didn't always get what we wanted! I'm the youngest of four, supposedly the "spoilt" one

I was about to say, "Hi Bruv! Didn't know you posted here..." then I saw your reference to having other brothers. My bruv-let is fortunate enough to have 3 older sisters, and no brothers.

Mr_Matey

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I was about to say, "Hi Bruv! Didn't know you posted here..." then I saw your reference to having other brothers. My bruv-let is fortunate enough to have 3 older sisters, and no brothers.

That would've been weird. I'd be very surprised if I'm related to anyone on this board. All my family is in Australia.

I wonder if "fortunate" is the word he would choose.

Chris_Hinds

I'm 25 and OH is 23... we've had our first house about 6 months now, we drive an 07 plate TT that I bought new (and paid off the tiny amount of finance within 12 months) and the only debt we have is Student Loans and the Mortgage. Between us our combined income is still under £45k. We wear nice clothes (we think) and shop where we like.

The major things that I've found make a big difference to how much income you have are:
* Neither of us smoke
* I don't drink at all and OH only occasionally
* Yes we have nice clothes but we'll only buy clothes or shoes a couple of times a year as we don't feel the need to follow fashion.

Since we bought the house we've gone from saving 80% of our income to about 10% as expected but we don't owe anyone anything and we've got a reasonable amount of savings too. We both see some things differently though - for me a holiday is not an essential, for OH it is. Likewise I'm sure she can't see the point in some of the things I like, but you get used to it.

Right now we're saving for a wedding and we won't borrow for that either. I hope the only debt we have in the future is a mortgage and someday not even that. There's just no point to it even though society tells us that is the way. Be careful with money and buy things you really appreciate and will for a long time. There is much to be said for spending more on quality products that last than on cheap tat that needs replacing in weeks.

Chris

neverdespairgirl

Mr_Matey wrote: »

I wonder if "fortunate" is the word he would choose.

If he's got any sense of self-preservation, he probably would.....

LillyJ

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I was lucky enough to grow up with wealthy, generous parents, but it was never a question of getting whatever we wanted, when we wanted it.

So, for example, if we wanted to (say) do swimming lessons, or learn to play the violin, that was fine, but we had to give it a decent shot - do at least a term of it.

And we didn't get that much "stuff" - my parents were happier to let us learn / experience / do things rather than just accumulate stuff.

Me too. But having an accountant as a Dad makes money issues quite high on the agenda in the household! The rest of the family is also in finance, I am the black sheep who liked science:o
I knew what interest was from a very young age. In fact, I remember being really little and asking my sister if I could borrow 50p from her money box to buy sweets. My Dad explained that I could borrow it, but I would have to give her 55p back.
I thought that was a terrible deal, and went without the sweets until I had enough of my own money to buy them myself.
That is how I have lived my life ever since.

Apart from mortgage and student loan, I have never been in any debt whatsoever. Admittedly we have a good salary, but we have worked bloomin hard to get it. Lots of my school friends live at home getting random temping jobs then travelling on mummy and daddy's money (bear in mind these people are in their mid 20s). I have travelled a lot, but I have paid for it all myself and have worked abroad doing research.

I'm most certainly not tight, and I don't normally go without, but I will try to get the cheapest deal on things, eg holidays, car insurance, mobile phone etc.
I have my priorities (my hair, the gym, make-up, petrol to see my parents, meals out with friends) and my OH has his (the gym, protein supplements:eek: , petrol to see his friends, nights out with the boys, and DVDs).

I hate it when people seem to think all young people are sticking everything on the plastic, or can't be bothered to work hard in life. If you work hard, you can normally acheive what you want. I have a friend who works flexi time 37.5hrs per week (normally 7-3). She has no money and I told her about a pub nearby who wanted people for 2 hours on a Wednesday evening, and 6 hours on a Saturday. She said she didn't have time cos she worked full time! I am sorry but anyone who can't work 45.5 hrs per week seriously needs to get off their bum, she is able-bodied and has no children.

northstar23

lostinrates wrote: »

I'm 29, but I was younger, er, a few years ago

I was the only fulltime student on my university course who also worked more than a few hours a week: that shocked me. Continuing to work throughout my university course meant my small student loan was taken for 'prudnce' rather than necessity (and in fact invested into the business I started while at university). It also meant that my four year sandwhich course could be completed in three years, as I workd in a relevant sector negating a 'year in industry'.

At one, mad point I was in term time, working a job in industry, plus doing some part time hours somewhere else PLUS dealing with my business. As a result my papers were completed not only on time but early, I had to be super efficient!

What I would say is that when I was around 23 my reelationship from university broke down. It was vry difficult and I ralised I had started to become pigeon holed in an active but still too socially restrictive for my taste and needs, social circle.

At that point I cut back some hours (I was still working multiple jobs, as NDG says about herself now, my view then was sleep was for wimps). It was a hard decision to cut back on 'profitable time' and break out of what had become my comfort zone but it was truley valuable, incidently, leading to more work :rolleyes: which is how I met my now husband.

Its odd how similar this is to my own experience. I worked 3 jobs throughout my time at Uni and lived at home... now I realise I didn't take even 10% of what the Uni social scene and life experience had to offer.

However I made a decision... for various reasons I didn't want to take anything from my parents so I paid for Uni myself and constantly put money aside. The work and the skills I learnt were invaluable and got me a great job as soon as I left Uni. I'm now just about to buy a house and for me that's the result... I learnt the value of money as a kid and resolved to earn my spurs however I could.

The caveat though is that my other half is still at Uni and she's totally different and will probably incur about 30k worth of debt but doesn't seem to realise how bad this could be.

So yes I think there are responsibly young people out there but they seem to be few and far between.

PasturesNew

SingleSue wrote: »

I am so embarrassed...I thought you was male!

s/he is, but that was on a Thursday when s/he is called Mandy.