Younger People (18-25) - Attitudes to money

misskool

moggylover wrote: »

I suspect what helps the most is if you don't drink because that seems to be the major expense when going out - and always seemed to be the reason why I had more of my salary left than my friends did of theirs. Not smoking also helps.

I do drink when I go out but I tend not to go out so much and it helps being a lightweight so don't always buy rounds.

smoking used to be a big spend so moved on to roll-ups and I quit after I finished my thesis (like I said i would!)

Very much agree with you about respect and attitude towards money, I think people are either so scared of spending money that they will put themselves into living in penury or spend it without worrying about the consequences.

Max_Headroom_3

misskool wrote: »

It's about having a healthy attitude and respect towards money. You need it to survive but you can't let it dominate your entire life to the point where you're a pair of misery guts.

I think that's one of the wisest things I've ever seen on here.

My parents are very wealthy, yet my father (who is an accountant) has an absolute aversion to spending it. Things like, they decided to refurbish their bathroom after 25 years. They had a gorgeous slate floor put down, pine ceiling with downlighters, lovely. Then kept the old avacado bathroom suite and slightly tarnished gold taps because "there was nothing wrong with them". Unbelievable!

I always think it such a shame that they've (or more accurately my father) been so very careful and protective (to put it in polite terms ) about money that they deny themselves so much pleasure that it could bring them now they're retired (and before, come to that).

thescouselander

I have just turned 31 so I'm a bit older than the people in question here. I have to say I think younger people have been screwed by the older generation.

I didn't pay fees at university but younger people certainly have to - I am horrified by the amount of debt which the young graduates i work are carrying. Its mainly down to uni fees rather than reckless spending. In fact, I am often impressed by younger peoples sensible approach to money.

Another problem for the younger generation is pensions. Pensioners today were remiss in making provision for their old age. Consequently the tax burden on younger people will be huge. Those baby boomers who were lucky enough to get a final salary pension have long since pulled the ladder up - these are not available to the people coming through. This means the younger generation have to pay into an expensive pension for themselves while also paying for the current pensioners.

Personally I think an unacceptable burden has been put upon the younger generation due to the financial mis-management of the older generation. I think the younger generation need to engage more in politics so they can fight for their cause.

neverdespairgirl

misskool wrote: »

I do drink when I go out but I tend not to go out so much and it helps being a lightweight so don't always buy rounds.

smoking used to be a big spend so moved on to roll-ups and I quit after I finished my thesis (like I said i would!)

Very much agree with you about respect and attitude towards money, I think people are either so scared of spending money that they will put themselves into living in penury or spend it without worrying about the consequences.

I think your post is very sensible.

Clearly, spending money you don't have on nights out or designer gear isn't a recipe for long-term happiness. A few quid in a rainy day fund really does give you peace of mind, I think.

that said, as I think I mentioned before in this this thread, there's nothing wrong with choosing to spend money on things other people don't if you have the cash.

We spend more than a lot of people on childcare, and we go on holiday a fair bit. This year, we went to Israel, to the Isles of Scilly, and surfing in mainland Cornwall, all of which were great. OH is going ski-ing for a few days with mates after Christmas.

We tend to spend money on doing things, rather than buying things. We don't have much "stuff" - our TV was my parents', and I think they bought it in 1990. Our car's 11 years old, and we are short of plasma this and LCD the other.

So long as you enjoy the things you spend on, and have a cushion in case of emergencies, there's nothing wrong with spending. And we will all choose different things on which to splash out, and different things to save on.

moggylover

misskool wrote: »

I do drink when I go out but I tend not to go out so much and it helps being a lightweight so don't always buy rounds.

smoking used to be a big spend so moved on to roll-ups and I quit after I finished my thesis (like I said i would!)

Very much agree with you about respect and attitude towards money, I think people are either so scared of spending money that they will put themselves into living in penury or spend it without worrying about the consequences.

Actually, I think I misworded that - I meant didn't drink very much rather than not at all. I somehow always ended up being "the driver" (soft touch all my life really) and was never bothered about having a drink so I never managed to spend much when I went out, thus I probably went out more than many of my friends but spent less iyswim

[Deleted User]

This thread is very interesting, I'm 22 and DH is 25. We bought our first house 2 years ago and have nearly finished 'doing it up'. We both earn average salarys, I work 37.5 hours a week, DH is 40-45 (sometimes more).

We're having a baby in March so things will be tight then, but I like a challenge!! We do use credit cards but because its a cash back card and we pay it off in full every month, we drive a car thats 8 years old. I would rather save any money that is extra now and try to think of things longterm, I know next year will be tough for us so I'd rather get used to living on a tight budget now and save the extra.

amj_2

When I was a student back in the mid 90's it was a post recession time and it was OK to be hard up and not spend too much.

It was normal to walk home after a night out rather assume a taxi is an automatic choice and live on baked potatos bought in Quik-Save (remember them?) for example. The most important part of life was to have a laugh with your lads and the laddettes and materialism was rare.

Apparently the early 80's mentality was closer to now and the 90's was the antidote so I guess its only a matter of time to attitudes going full circle.:rolleyes:

neas

Basil_Hume wrote: »

although it's taking some guts to continue seeing this as a "cheap" time to buy shares!
!

eek!!

I really think if we enter a long recession shares wont recover for a loooong time we have only jsut started seeing jobs being cut and profits being lost... if it lasts for 4 years shares may become worthless.

Just my 2 peneth .

Back to topic, i dont go out drinking as much now but yea that is a big expense for more people. I think people have it ingrained that they need to go to a big club to have fun and socialise... sometimes popping roung for a cuppa and a chat is good too.. or even drinking around at another friends place, playing games like twister, listening to music, chatting s hit and joking laughing is good too.

I dont go out clubbing as much as a did a year or two ago but realise those friends i had werent that good friends cause more often than not you socialise mainly outside... which while its fun wont be forever ifswim.

Mad_old_tory

I must admit I've been a little bit irresponsible with my money in recent months. Left uni in June with a bit of an overdraft and a big student loan bill but no credit card debt which I was pleased about.

I certainly spent well in my first couple of months of working, mind. £100 on a pair of jeans, £90 on a shirt and £60 on some cufflinks to name a few. Having said that, it was more of a present to myself for landing a grad job in the Big 4 and getting my degree etc.

Managed to reel things in a bit now and I'll be budgeting much more tightly in the new year. The gf tends to cost me a fair amount though, getting much more insistent about cooking in instead of going out/takeaways though as it just costs so much money each month!

I reckon I'm going to start a standing order for savings to top things up from the New Year. Already have 3k in an ISA and £100 going into a pension fund each month but the more I can save early on, the better!

nickmason

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

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

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

I went about 10 years ago, with my brother who was living and working in Ecuador (and as a money saving tip, it is much cheaper to organise locally! Admittedly we had a slightly peculiar skipper/owner for the boat that took us from island to island - psychopathic drunk might be a better description - but I think it cost us $500 each, all in, except for flights).

It is however worth every penny you will be spending. It really is heaven on earth - I have umpteen memories -

• swimming in the pacific and kicking something hard and obviously very big, no not a shark, but a turtle that looked at me, and then carried on swimming past.
• playing "tig" with the female sea lions.
• watching the extraordinary blue-footed boobies
• snorkling with sharks ("it's okay, it's a lesser hammerhead; you only need to worry about the greater hammerheads - they're the maneaters":eek:)
• waking up in the middle of the night during a crossing from one island to another (aforementioned drunk wouldn't let us sleep with the hatch open, and diesel fumes meant we couldn't sleep with it shut - so we lashed our sleeping bags to the gunwales and slept on deck) to see a dozen dolphins arcing away across the bow of the boat, dancing in the phospherence and the moonlight.

Not to mention the terribly sad story of Lonesome George.

I know it's been said somewhere else on this thread, but money is to be spent, at some point - and I honestly have never experienced anything even approximately so wonderful as those islands. It'll be a holiday you won't put a price on, once you've come back.