Advice for a Sixteen Year Old school leaver

tesuhoha

I work in a school as a teaching assistant and the kids in the year 11 class I am attached to are leaving school next Friday. Today in class a boy said to me, 'Give me one piece of advice Miss'. So I said to him if theres one piece of advice I can give to you, it has to be, don't get a credit card. Always save up for what you want and if you dont have the money for something, dont buy it. Would you have said anything different?

millsee

Yes.

1. Get a credit card and use it sensibly.
2. Stash away 10% of your income every year
3. Never spend more than you earn in any given period

tina68

tesuhoha wrote:

I work in a school as a teaching assistant and the kids in the year 11 class I am attached to are leaving school next Friday. Today in class a boy said to me, 'Give me one piece of advice Miss'. So I said to him if theres one piece of advice I can give to you, it has to be, don't get a credit card. Always save up for what you want and if you dont have the money for something, dont buy it. Would you have said anything different?

Learn by your parents mistakes and you won't go wrong:T

themaccas

I agree with what you said tes, unfortunatly teenagers are not given the advice or are taught financial responsibilty and I will do all I can do discourage my children from getting credit cards, I have a (soon to be)16 year old and he is terrible with money already! I've not exactly been a great role model in that department though I'm getting better and we do now talk to our children about personal finance.

taplady

tesuhoha wrote:

I work in a school as a teaching assistant and the kids in the year 11 class I am attached to are leaving school next Friday. Today in class a boy said to me, 'Give me one piece of advice Miss'. So I said to him if theres one piece of advice I can give to you, it has to be, don't get a credit card. Always save up for what you want and if you dont have the money for something, dont buy it. Would you have said anything different?

My son is in this position and I have said the same to him! Yes credit cards can be ok if used wisely but I know my son and he wouldn't do this! and I can't bear the thought of him making the same mistakes we did!

tesuhoha

Yes this is why I told the boy not to get a credit card because I felt that at that age, he would probably not use it wisely. The temptation would be too great. After all, if we cant resist spending, how would you expect a 16 year old to be able to?

lynzpower

I would have to go the other way, and say, dont go to uni until you are in your mid-twenties, and when you do go- save up for it!!! All of it!!!

the best peice of advice I can give, that is!

Willsnarf1983

tina68 wrote:

Learn by your parents mistakes and you won't go wrong:T

what if like mine ur parents are perfect?

Will

Willsnarf1983

lynzpower wrote:

I would have to go the other way, and say, dont go to uni until you are in your mid-twenties, and when you do go- save up for it!!! All of it!!!

the best peice of advice I can give, that is!

i disagree

Will

tesuhoha

May I ask why you disagree?

sinizterguy

lynzpower wrote:

I would have to go the other way, and say, dont go to uni until you are in your mid-twenties, and when you do go- save up for it!!! All of it!!!

the best peice of advice I can give, that is!

Sorry, but thats absolute rubbish. Ill be finishing a 5yr degree course and im in my mid twenties. I would have had no benefit whatsoever from waiting till now to start my degree. 1year gap after school, before uni, would have helped but not a single day more than that. The only thing you are likely to do in that period is either waste your time or get into debt.