At nearly 19 years old what should my priorities be?

bodmil

The OP was the one who raised the issue of changing his priorities.... I don't have any right to tell people to change, hence why I didn't, I just made a suggestion, like many people here. Not everyone wants to hoard their money away and only enjoy it in their retirement. There's nothing wrong with either choice. Or any choice that doesn't involve debt generally! I just thought the title was pretty misleading to the actual question that's all. Chill aaronmanz, chill.

rictus123

Well plan right now is to take each day as it comes until payrise at the end of this month when things will get alot easier. My car eats up alot of my income right now. Like the head gasket going. Hopefully things will still look bliss as i think they will come xmas this year. Il have at least £1200 then, hoping for more like £4000.


£4000 at 19 is not too bad going imo. Iv got time on my side aswel, by the time im 22 or so this will turn into a fair size of money!

bodmil

4k isn't bad at all, good on ya. But when I was 21 I saved 18k in one year. Just make sure your current job has the potential to keep funding your financial dreams. If not, NOW is the time to do something about it, take a year out and get some extra qualifications or experience. Don't wait until you have a mortgage or kids before realising you could do something to boost it.

rictus123

£4k would be alot more than iv ever had at one time before. Right now i think £4k is easy achievable but it does depend alot on my car, head gaskets gone so il need to chop and change at some point this year. That should only take £600-700 out my saving though.

Wanting to get into a bit of a routine that for net pay im paying

25% regular outgoings - digs, phone, petrol, car insurance etc
10% spends on whatever i like
15% long term saving/emergency fund
50% house deposit

50% of net right now is £535
end of the month itl be £700

After my pay goes up next summer i think il manage £15k in a year just for my deposit

Pendle_Gazza

Sounds like you have a wise head on young shoulders, but you're saying 10% for spends, which is £140 (?) from next month. That's less than £35 per week - trust me, it won't go far. Perhaps consider budgetting for a bigger spending percentage than that, and then placing any spare at the end of the month into one of your saving options.

If you do it that way, and add in a bit of a buffer, you're more likely to be pretty chuffed when you can sometimes oversave, rather than ending up disappointed in the months where you can't meet what seems a very tough target (especially when things like head gaskets cause unexpected expenditure).

Though you said not, get out there and enjoy yourself - otherwise you WILL regret it in later life. Find a happy medium - don't get overly obsessed by money. Out of interest, I know a few people with ridiculous amounts of money - and I can genuinely say that every single one of them is a complete !!!!!!!

rictus123

Well the head gasket etc will come out of the House deposit fund id think. Really £35 a week is plenty. I spend nothing through the week and normally stay in on a Friday, out on the Saturday night- £35 is easy do able and more than i currently spend. Sundays are spent doing stuff that costs nothing..or nothing to me anyway, like the gf shopping etc.


So really im not stopping myself having a life as thats plenty.

Pendle_Gazza

No worries then, best of luck. I'm almost at the "life begins" stage now, but I don't think I managed on £35 a week 20 years ago!

And as for a girlfriend. And shopping. She'll be eating into your hard earned soon enough! :rotfl:

rictus123

Nah shes got her own money lol thankfully. Her money is more or less hers as she doesnt have to worry much about her share of deposit as her dad will be giving her it i think as he did for her older sister.

Away to get a new car soon so after that itl be flat out saving.

Morgan_Ree

Whilst i think it's great you've got all these big ideas on saving, buying a house etc etc
I do think you need to, erm whats it the youngsters are saying these days?

Oh yeah chillax a bit!!

When you're in your own place you're not going to have all this disposible income to play around with
Enjoy it whilst you still can
Obviously i don't mean blow it all every month, but once in a while let your hair down, otherwise you're going get to 30 or whatever and think god i was a boring 18 year old

Plus you never know whats round the corner :cool:

rictus123

I do let my hair down though as everyone says! Im out every weekend and went abroad for the first time last summer and im going again next month!

I really do relax on a weekend. 5 weeks to go and im off for 3, totally de stress and recharge my batteries all ready to go again after the holidays which il be doing the exact same job for an extra £170 a week take home.

Magic