Please give me one piece of advice that you wish you knew when you were 20!

nat21luv

Im only 24 myself and I feel like one of the regulars, Ive been in this 'rat race' since the day I moved out when I was 16 and the one thing I wish I could do is save. My best friend is also 24 but only moved out of her parents 2 years ago and moved straight into her own house! She does everything I wish I could do, holidays, save, spend, go out. She doesnt have any debt, quite the opposite. Last time we spoke she hit the 30k savings mark! Im not a spender, im a saver, just life(and partners) havent been kind to me. Ive always managed to find myself in love with someone who has a lot of debt and they bring me down with them. Im completely debt free personally but my fiance is 40k in debt(he accumulated this before we met)and because we share our finances I find that the whole family get brought down too because of his debt. If a bills not paid it impacts us all. So my advice to you is SAVE. God knows I wish I could...

determined_new_ms

ah my twenties.... [wanders off into nostalgia]... decide how much you can afford to spend on your social life and stick to it, when you go out take out the cash you can afford and leave bank cards at home, speak to friends before you lose your rational self and agree not to borrow any cash (the amount of times I cained £100+ on a night out is shocking). Look at ways to do what you want for a fraction of the full price. I agree with saving a little each month. Budget, budget, budget. Enjoy. The zest for going out all the time doesn't last forever!

tealady

Can only echo most of whats been said with 1 exception.
If you need to buy something and it costs more than £100 do use a credit card, that way you have extra protection if things go wrong. However clear the card right away.
I have heard of a few people being stung by paying cash upfront for items then the company going bankrupt. Cash buyers have little or no chance of getting their money back, credit card users can often claim theirs back from their card company.

TREVORCOLMAN

tibbles209 wrote: »

I'm 20 years old and as of yet don't have any debt, however lots of my friends are sinking into debt and it feels almost inevitable that I will too So if you could speak to your 20 year old self and give them 1 piece of advice that you wish you knew then to help them stay out of debt, what would it be?

Thought it might be a good idea to try and head debt off before it happens. Thanks in advance for the tips!

Either be a millionaire or on the dole.

Nottoobadyet

Not too far away from 20, but things I wish I had done earlier:

• Learn to cook
• Have the confidence to talk about money with any OH you may have rather than leaving things unsaid
• Pay yourself (or your savings) first - otherwise you wont be left with much at the end of the month!

gemini12

If you do have a credit card (and they can be useful. Just remember to pay them off straight away). Give it to someone you trust implicitly so you can only use it after you have thought about it.

ankspon

NEVER have kids

5t3ve

eyeopener2 wrote: »

Pay yourself first ie put 15% of your gross income into a savings account.

Do not use a credit card.

You want a car? Buy it out of your savings

Do not listen to everybody else who is in debt, be different, life different ( as Dave Ramsey the American version of Martin says).

MAke sure you live within your means even if that is having just 1p in your account the day before payday (unlike me that was -£1800!).

Spend less than you earn and save as much as you can, I chose differently and the result is my signature and a DMP.

Everything above is perfect advice. The only thing I would add is start budgetting NOW. If you have to - stick your outgoings and income into an excel spreadsheet - just so you know how much money you ACTUALLY have.

One of the biggest reasons for 20 odd year olds getting into debt is that there's no real vision of how much you're actually spending.

Its not until you total it up a few years later that it hits home there's 20 odd grand to pay back (Speaking from experience here!).

If you ever find you can't survive without a credit card or loan - change your spending so you can!

12bdebt3

I am 20. I have about £3000 of debt and have just moved out of my mum and dads house, luckily I am good with money so I have organised my finances and within 3 years of paying off my loan I should have enough to pay for a deposit on a house. I went straight from college and having £10 a week to work on a salary of over £1000 a month, so obviously I went a bit OTT. It wasn't worth it though! I wish I saved all my money when I was at my mum and dads house. Save for a deposit for a house. I have learnt my lesson and I am 20!

misskaytee

If you are living at home with parents...Stay there!!..Just be sure to pay them a decent "board money", always cheaper than moving into your own place, and it will make it easier to do all the saving, budgetting tips the others have shared.

Posting on here and reading the experiances of others is great and very useful, also see if you have and likeminded friends in RL.

Charity shops are a cheaper version of ebay!! and there really are some great bargins to be had, you'd be suprised how many only worn once items on ebay have actually been bought from a charity shop and then sold on ebay.

Never, never, get a store card!

You never know whats round the corner in life, i never had any debt until i was almost 30, but i also didnt have any savings, i just lived life day by day sorta thing and thought i was doing fine, then BAM, something happened and i was sat in the bank out of desperation taking out a 5000 loan, and so i began.......7 years ,two loans and 5000 worth of overdrafts later, i now have NO choice but to stay in every weekend, buy second hand, and count every bleedin penny!!