Is there such a thing as a quarter life crisis?

lady_fuschia

I don't count my student loan as part of my "real" debt, as the interest is so negligible, its taken out of my pay automatically, and you don't get into trouble for not paying it back. I spent the best part of a £1500 overdraft whilst doing my degree, and took out a £4000 bank loan to pay for my MA (I work full time, so am paying it back as I go), but overall, I would suggest its expensive, but not as expensive as some people make out. Or at least it doesn't have to be- you certainly don't really need to take out a credit card.

luckycat99

Yes i agree that there is such a thing as a quarter life crisis, and i seem to be drifting in and out of it intermittently.

I am probably one of the few who went to uni, enjoyed it (although it has broken me financially as I'm still paying off the debts incurred) and it has been essential for me to pursue my chosen career.

However, as someone else has mentioned uni does not guarantee you instant entry to chosen career. i am 26 (nearly 27) and have only recently felt like I am making some headway in terms of getting where i want to be. This has been mostly as a result of working in a pants job full time and having to volunteer extensively to get the experience I needed to get the right job after uni. And although I'm now making progress (though very slowly) in my career I am still working as a volunteer in addition to working full time to gain relevant experience. So I am very tired and resent the fact that despite a good degree - its still not enough and I have had to work myself into the ground since (& during uni).

In addition the debts that are now crippling me from uni mean that I can't pursue the ideal jobs for me for my career as due to debt repayments I can't afford a pay cut. Although at the same time i could theoretically lower my monthly repayments but at the expense of saving for a deposit for a house, and money for nice things (*here i'm referring to things like cheap clothes, haircuts etc).

So although going to uni was a good thing for me, its left me in a very difficult situation financially - yet this is what I need to do to follow my 'calling'. And all the fun that I'm supposed to be having in my twenties is impossible due to this situation.

A good book that I have read about the quarter life crisis is by Damian Barr, called Get it Together.

(sorry for my rant but thought i would share!)

Luckycat99

Sea78

Great thread!

I don't mind the debts from uni - they were for a purpose, I partied hard and changed so much as a person...also got the degree I needed to do the job I do.

I can completely relate to the quarter life crisis - I'm 27 and have done everything in the 'traditional' way I guess - school, uni, job, baby, marriage, another baby and now buying house. Slightly topsy turvey order but hey ho. I am quite happy with my life until I get other comments - oh you should have gone travelling, you'll never be able to do that now, you're so young to be having kids, you should live your life first etc. Throws me into all sorts of confusion and also then makes me wonder if I am happy, but then this is my situation so I have to deal with it best I can.

I don't regret uni dabt as said, but I do regret every bit of debt since then as it has all been unnecessary. And is having implications on our future (immediate future that is). Also it struck a chord about housebuying and then wanting to do everything with it straight away - people have already been asking what new furniture we'll be getting etc (actually I think the furniture we have is just fine thank you!! ). Why is it this way? i kno wthat OH will want to make it all perfect so that others will say wow when they come riound and there's nothing wrong with a bit of being house proud. ANyway going off point.

I seem to have some kind of life crisis every year, and the mixed messages of enjoy life, save and buy house, experience travelling etc doesn't help!!

Sea xx

lady_fuschia

Same thing here- despite getting my degree 3 years ago, I'm working in a job I could have got just by having some decent GCSE's (admittedly I am studying as well so partly prefer not to have something too demanding). I think getting work experience whilst you're at uni is very under-rated, its more likely to be that that lands you your job when you leave than your degree itself. I think its quite mis-leading and irresponsible that university is pushed on school leavers as the best option, the magic key to a wonderful career. The blurb you get in the 6th form pretty much says "Get a degree in anything you like and walk into a £30,000 a year job straight off!" - which isn't true! I do think uni is worthwhile, but it should be sold on its own merits (education, experiences, chance to live away from home, new people, new oppurtunities) rather than as a means to an end (i.e. the plum job that someone who's been working in the company since they were 18 has already got!)

dinkylou

lady_fuschia wrote:

I don't count my student loan as part of my "real" debt, as the interest is so negligible, its taken out of my pay automatically, and you don't get into trouble for not paying it back.

Thats how I used to feel until I got on the snowball calculator and realised that I would be 38 when I have finished paying it back! And would be wasting £1000's on interest.

And thats assuming that I keep a decent paying job during all that time.

Nope, its debt and it has to go, sooner the better.

That way, if I take a lower paid job, I wont be stressing about it taking longer to get rid.

lynzpower

lady_fuschia wrote:

I don't count my student loan as part of my "real" debt, as the interest is so negligible, its taken out of my pay automatically, and you don't get into trouble for not paying it back. I spent the best part of a £1500 overdraft whilst doing my degree, and took out a £4000 bank loan to pay for my MA (I work full time, so am paying it back as I go), but overall, I would suggest its expensive, but not as expensive as some people make out. Or at least it doesn't have to be- you certainly don't really need to take out a credit card.

I think again it all depends on a) where you went ( london loans were bigger than others IYSWIM) b) when you went ( ie I cant pay my loan direct out of my salary, others can which means they get the tax exempt bit and I dont
c) if you went during fees-charging time d) how long your course was and of course what you lived on, ie did your parents or have any savings etc? I worked part time in 2nd and during my finals to keep aflaot & had no income from anywhere but my grandparents paid part of my rent. So all living expenses were paid for out of debt in 3 years ( apart from the pittance i made in my bar job, and about 2k from a call centre) Many are much worse off than me, and I think ,well Im almost at the end of my Student loans after 10 years, I worry about others I really do

JenIttels

Lovely to read these posts.

I too, feel torn as to where i should be putting my money and constantly change my mind. I got a good degree and the 12k loan to pay for it and now have a job (directly related to the degree) which i sometimes love and sometimes hate depending on the projects i work on! I'm 23 btw.

I vaguely know i need a pension so there's money going into one, i vaguely know that i need to get rid of my student loan (but it'll take me 30/40 years to pay it off with minium contributions) but i want to have the 'perfect' house and when on earth am i going to have enough money to get the pilot's licence that i've wanted ever since i was a kid? I also don't want to live too frugaly (though i'm not extravagent by any means) as i did that as a student and it sucked.

It all makes my head spin. I want too much and i want it all now-just like the older generation assume i do! I'm lucky that i've never been persuaded to get any debt other than my student loan, i suppose, although my OH and i were considering buying a house together which woulda been a huuuuge debt :eek:

dinkylou: The fact you're doing so well with your student loan is inspiring. Makes me want to crack on with it...will definately set up an account and start putting some money aside, specifically to pay off the loan (i have a savings account for the things in life that cost money unexpectedly). Will also get onto the snowball calculator.

JenIttels

Good lord. If i just double my minimum payment to my student loan I pay it off in a third of the time. Why didn't i look into this ages ago? I suppose it's because i too never really considered the loan as a 'real loan'

My minimum payment is tiny really. will siphon off some of the money that normally goes into my savings and put it on the loan/into a loan specifc savings account.

lynzpower

even better, I twigged on a while ago that if i put my minimum payments up to 100 from 93 Id save 2 months off the end

JenIttels

Oh dear oh dear...

I'm sorry about the mini-thread hijack but just read this on SLC site...

"Based on the information you provided, our calculations indicate that you will make the following repayments towards your student loan.
Your monthly repayment amount will be £ 45.00 from 01-APR-05 to 30-APR-30 a total of 300 months.
You will, however not repay it within 25 years. After 25 years the remaining balance of
£ 7855.50 will be written off. "

Written off after 25years??? I will need to think about this - too many things to consider again. I may be having my break-down right now.