Younger People (18-25) - Attitudes to money

Cleaver

byb3 wrote: »

I count myself very lucky in that i'm under 25 and have a decent secure job. I've just graduated from uni, become totally independent from my parents, rent privately and pay my own way in everything. However I am also a bit tight when it comes to money, and I'm quite proud of that.

When I find myself in a group of friends or other people my age, I am quite frankly amazed at what I hear. They think nothing at spending £80 on a pair of shoes, £50 on a night out, £200 on a new XBox, £75 on a new pair of jeans, £15 on a new DVD each week. I'm always referred to as the tight one! They look down at me when I say I love to shop at Aldi!

I've just started saving up a deposit for a house, a bad time to start but we all start from nothing. Please tell me i'm not alone and there are other financially responsible young people out there?

I'm a similar age and think nothing of spending any of those amounts on things (apart from Jeans - £30 max, and no DVDs. But add on meals out and holidays instead). However, we hopefully have an income to support it.

All said though, your twenties is the time to do this. You get in to a bit of debt, you learn that that was rather stupid, then you don't do it again. I remember coming back from Uni and having to tell my parents I had £3000 on a credit card which was pretty much all spent on nights out (absolutely brilliant nights out I'll hasten to add). Wouldn't swap any of them for anything. My Dad paid off the debt for me and then imediately started taking 80% of my income until it was paid back.

Living frugally is very sensible, as is shopping at Aldi. But if you're not buying rounds, skipping nights out to work out a better deal on car insurance and not spending stupid amounts of money trying to get women in to bed then you're tight.

IveSeenTheLight

SingleSue wrote: »

I'm going to start reversing the numbers soon......just think in 16 months I can be 04 again!:rotfl:

So your 83 and you sound so sprightly.
The reversing of the numbers will only last between 40 and 44

:xmastree: :snow_grin :xmassign: :xmastree:

IveSeenTheLight

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

You're only as young as you feel. Feel me and you'll be...

... older!

GG

The saying I use is "Your only as young as the woman you feel"
Good job the wife is younger than I am
:xmastree: :snow_grin :xmassign: :xmastree:

IveSeenTheLight

Really2 wrote: »

I am in my early thirtys but could easily do over £100 on a night out in my early 20's.
The young can't even get substance abuse right either.:rolleyes:

In all seriousness though it is better to get it out of your system young.
I know a few who did not and are now living a single life when they should be settled down.

I know a few who still live a very young and active life with no real desire to settle down.
Nothing wrong with that either.

:xmastree: :snow_grin :xmassign: :xmastree:

abby1234519

I've not gone to Uni. I work in sales and I can earn around 21k if I work hard. My bonuses aren't hard to get, the company just has to meetits monthly target, which usually happens.
I acknowledge how lucky I am to have this job, It means I can pay my debts off by Juneish, instead of maybe taking 3 or 4 years. I know I'll be living on a strict budget but I know come July I'll have a high disposably income that I can stick into savings so one day I can pay for my wedding or my children or my house.

SingleSue

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

So your 83 and you sound so sprightly.
The reversing of the numbers will only last between 40 and 44

:xmastree: :snow_grin :xmassign: :xmastree:

Hehe, I said reverse them soon not now! And when it gets to 45, I will knock 5 years off and start again :rotfl:

Really2

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

I know a few who still live a very young and active life with no real desire to settle down.
Nothing wrong with that either.

:xmastree: :snow_grin :xmassign: :xmastree:

True, but I can be jelous.:D

IveSeenTheLight

SingleSue wrote: »

Hehe, I said reverse them soon not now! And when it gets to 45, I will knock 5 years off and start again :rotfl:

I know I know.
And soon is only 16 months away

Merry Christmas. I'm in a happy festive mood this morning

:xmastree: :snow_grin :xmassign: :xmastree:

Richard019

byb3 wrote: »

I count myself very lucky in that i'm under 25 and have a decent secure job. I've just graduated from uni, become totally independent from my parents, rent privately and pay my own way in everything. However I am also a bit tight when it comes to money, and I'm quite proud of that.

When I find myself in a group of friends or other people my age, I am quite frankly amazed at what I hear. They think nothing at spending £80 on a pair of shoes, £50 on a night out, £200 on a new XBox, £75 on a new pair of jeans, £15 on a new DVD each week. I'm always referred to as the tight one! They look down at me when I say I love to shop at Aldi!

I've just started saving up a deposit for a house, a bad time to start but we all start from nothing. Please tell me i'm not alone and there are other financially responsible young people out there?

You're definately not alone.

I went to uni, although I only stayed for a year and a half. I really wasn't enjoying it and there were opportunities at work which gave me an acceptable way to leave. I'd also been quite sensible with my money - I wonder if there's a connection - so although I had a student debt, it was more than covered by the money in the bank.

I dont earn a lot, I'm 25 now and still on a salary below £20k, if I'd stuck with the plan at uni I'd probably be on double that, but frankly there are more important things. Wages are there to pay the bills and let you have what you want. If they're doing that then it doesn't matter what you're earning.

I'm also known to be a bit tight with my money, my boss can't believe how little I spend on everything I do. I've no obsession with having branded stuff, all it does is reduce the amount of money available for other things. The only place I'm really "overspending" is on my mortgage. I took a fixed rate a few months before the credit crunch started but ultimately I know I can pay it, and I know I wouldn't get that level of borrowing if I applied now so it's immaterial.

Having said that, what the tight budgetting does is make it so that I can just go out and spend a fortune on luxuries. The main one for me being football. I live in Scotland but I have a season ticket for Hull City. Granted it's one of the cheapest in the Premierleague, but every game is an away game so there's travel expenses as well, and I did 20 games last season, 30 the season before (before I bought my own place) and before I moved up here was doing around 40 home and away. This year looks particularly bad expense wise due to Playoffs last season and my 3 year ticket needing to be renewed this year. My budgetting has also left me relatively unaffected by the credit crunch.

I think the last paragraph is probably the most important one in there, whilst I can't really overstate just how important it is to be sensible with money, as other people have said you do need to be able to treat yourself every now and then as well.

jamtart6

Yep I am under 25, have a good job, worked 16-25 hours per week as well as studying from aged 16-21 (then went full time when I graduated), just in the process of buying own house. No credit card, no debt (not even student loan), got a new car this year, have a great computer, phone, gadgets etc.......all bought when I have saved up and have enough to pay for them. Getting a mortgage is going to kill me because I'll have a huge debt hanging over me which I've never experienced before (rather than financially cripple me, just the torture of owing money). My friends spend £200 on a dress £200 on shoes, whereas I'd die spending more than £20 on a dress or shoes. I dont think its up to schools to teach this really, my attitude towards money has come from having sensible parents who save up and also dont buy on credit.

PS - I dont mean this to be a bragging post, but my point is, I get slagged a lot for having a new car "how did you afford it", a new computer "you must be loaded"....well no, I just don't waste money!! (nor drink it away each weekend like most of them do!!)