What happened to my generation?

Queen_B_3

I think it's silly to blame other people for our own debt mistakes. The only reason why I go into debt is because I didn't really think about it, which is something a lot of people nowadays don't do. I got a massive bank loan for a car, because I could. I got a credit card when I turned 18, because I could.

If I could turn back the clock I wouldn't have done any of that but there's no point dwelling on the past.

climbgirl

cathybird wrote:

agreed, this is true

I'll second that, very unfair on Kevicho if you read his previous posts.

Bogof_Babe

I think a lot of the blame for the recent national indebtedness can be laid at the door of the "nothing to pay for 18 months" etc. type campaigns, generally for furniture or electronic goods that might not be considered necessities anyway.

If people had to start repaying credit for new purchases from the day they bought the goods, it would focus their minds a bit more as their disposable income would drop immediately.

This credit never-never land is a recipe for disaster, and is coming home to roost big time. (I claim today's award for the most cliches in one sentence ).

ZTD

Don't forget that we are also all in debt because of the "national" debt, which is knocking on the door of 500 billion.

That most assuredly can be blamed on previous generations.

yung

Queen_B wrote:

I think it's silly to blame other people for our own debt mistakes. The only reason why I go into debt is because I didn't really think about it, which is something a lot of people nowadays don't do. I got a massive bank loan for a car, because I could. I got a credit card when I turned 18, because I could.

If I could turn back the clock I wouldn't have done any of that but there's no point dwelling on the past.

Well said.

Mrs_Sparkle

I agree with Cathybird- I was brought up in an extremely frugal house. We ate cheap food, never ate out or went on holiday and never had new clothes. My siblings and I have all rebelled against this by buying nice clothes, nice food, living well etc. I regret that I wasn't shown the value of money by my parents and when I got my first pay packet (weekly, cash) I was like Wow, a hundred and fifty pounds, I'm rich! Never learned to budget and lived beyond my means and now look where it got me.

Where I do think our generation (I'm 35) will suffer is that we more than likely won't have a state pension and will have to make our own arrangements, as well as struggling to get on the housing ladder and being encouraged to save for our children's future. Sometimes I feel quite stressed at the thought of the cost of living, the cost of putting my as yet unborn child through university (I paid my own way through uni too) and somehow funding a retirement too. My parents are 60 and have no mortgage and excellent pension provision and I wonder where I went wrong.

Mrs_Sparkle

PS I've just re-read what I wrote and I seem to be whingeing that "it's not my fault". Just to make it clear- my debt is 90% down to me with a few spots of bad luck over the years to make up the rest. I just think things have changed so dramatically with my generation (student loans, credit cards, luxury goods being pretty much standard) while our parents seem to have come through it ok. My own parents lived a very frugal life but then they didn't work in the city and I don't remember either of them buying many smart clothes or even a single visit to the hairdresser- such frugality in my job would be frowned upon but back then it was accepted.

I_was_a_fool

On a personal level I take responsibility for my debts.

However, on a general level, we are now absolutely bombarded with advertising to take out credit. For example my hotmail account is currently exhorting me to "not let the bills win" and "take back control" by taking out an Ocean Finance loan. I dont know if I am noticing it more but it is everywhere I look and all treated as part of normal, happy family life.

filigree_2

cathybird wrote:

oh go on then!!! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Bought a flat in 1988 five minutes before the market crashed, with two flatmates on 100% mortgage, in the borough with the most expensive Poll Tax in the country :eek:

I still have nightmares about it.

There's more, but it's too depressing to list

Thinking of what Queen_B said, even if you can't change the past it's still worth talking about it on a forum like this because you might just save someone else from making the same mistakes. Seeing the messes my friends got into is how I learned to avoid debt problems.

Bambam

climbgirl wrote:

I'll second that, very unfair on Kevicho if you read his previous posts.

I applaud anyone who is trying to pull themselves out of debt, but it kind of takes the edge off that applause when people look to lay the blame at someone else's door for their debt.