'You can and mostly MUST spend what you haven't got' blog discussion

fluffyboots

I agree..both my parents were terrible with money, father bankrupt twice & it xferred to me I left home v young and had little money then found credit cards at the age of 20( 48 now)I just have always used them as a license to spend.. they are not" real money" but I thought they were:)

CFC

I think young people do need teaching 'don't spend what you haven't got' rather than being educated about credit cards etc. Many young people waste money and really don't learn the value of it until too late. They think that they MUST have x, y and z gadget - an awful lot of money spent at Uni is totally wasted. And there is nothing to stop them getting a job, I have had many students work for me, not just in the long hols but also permanently part time. Doesn't do them any harm - and then they needn't run up credit card debt in the first place!

dzug1

To say debt is 'bad' is also saying that saving is 'bad' - it's just the other side of the same coin. For every borrower there is a lender - you can't say one is bad and the other good.

The problem is of course ensuring that the debt is proportional to your means, which (many) people have lost track of in recent times - I'd guess since the freeing of controls in the 80's.

mezzy_2

The biggest debt young people seem to get into is student loans. Schools fall over themselves to get their pupils into university - something to do with the school's statistics no doubt! Many pupils leave university well before gaining a degree and many gain a degree and cannot get jobs justifying the debt they have acquired.

Teachers ill advise pupils with low passes that they can achieve degrees. Then lecturers belittle the less able students when they ask for topics to be explained they redirect them to the text books to claify the topic. Then when the students reason that they are unable to understand the text books and would like the lecturer to explain the topic the students are told they should not be at university if they cannot study from text books. What is the lecturer paid for if not to teach the students.

Inevitabbly the student gives up and all they have to show for the experience is a massive student loan. The university did not fulful its remit and was not fit for purpose, in the commercial world if goods are not fit for purpose the consumer has rights to claim for a refund but not so a university who fails its students.

Just because teachers enjoyed their university days and have gained well paid jobs they should not think everyone will and temper their advise accordingly.

The school that advised my daughter to go to university would be the last people I'd want to advise on managing money when they have such abissmal understanding of what debt university now entails.