What money advice did you get when growing up?

efrieze

wilson_lfc wrote:

my parents are fantastic with money,
the only thing they advised me on was, if you cant afford it dont buy it.

to this day i have listened, and have remained debt free, thank god.

i am 28, and have two morgages which i want to pay off early!! hopefully this site will help me.

good luck to all of you who are fighting and winning in clearing your depts!!!

I am in exactly the same position. If i ever got money as presents when i was younger, it went straight in the bank never to be touched. That money helped me with my first mortgage. Having said that, I have 2 older brothers who are not in debt but who spend much more readily than I do. Maybe it is partly the luck of the draw???

bobble_hat

There was never any money around when I was growing up. Both parents were alcoholics but Mum hid it better. Dad drank and gambled his and he was the major earner, so Mum had to 'mend and make do'. She taught us valuable lessons in making pennies stretch but not how to actually manage money. As all the arguments revolved around money, I think I resolved not to care about it. Very bad attitude!

As soon as I stared earning I started spending, because then I didn't need to 'mend and make do' anymore. I really should have.

Seaxwyn

The good advice from Hamlet: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be"

Nothing was ever bought on credit in our house. I'm sure my father has never been in debt in his life. Not even an overdraft! My mother was not such a good example but as dad controlled the purse-strings things worked fine.

He used to write to his bank manager once a week, I remember seeing the letters on the hall table. I wonder what on earth this as about as his financial affairs can't have been very complicated.

Their teaching worked pretty well. I never did get into debt til I was in my 30s with young children and my once high-earning partner became unemployed. Since then things have spiralled downhill. I hope that now I've had my lightbulb moment (more like a dimmer switch coming on over a long period) that I will turn the situation round and regain control over my money.

Seaxwyn

forsya

Interesting to read everyone's experiences, thanks!

I just hope that when I have kids, I will be able to pass on lots of great advice about money, and hope they listen and don't follow in my footsteps!!

It is quite straightforward I guess, don't spend what you can't afford!

Well if only it was that easy!

WhatKatyDid_2

I never learned anything & hence in my 20's was a complete disaster with money.... However 10-12 years down the line, I keep a record of incoming/outgoing & don't have that fear every time the post comes/the phone or doorbell ring. As a single parent I have to be organised & have got hooked on reading the forums on this site. And due to the large bar of dairy milk chocolate that arrived in the post last weekend as a result of using the "freebies" forum - and my 14 year old daughter asking why it had appeared - she is now getting into this site too!! So for my girls (all 3 of them!) good money habits will be hammered into them!!! And hopefully they won't make the mess of it that I did.

postingalwaysposting

mmm great thread... my father was rubbish with money... he own his busniess would give my mother money for bills etc then stop her in the middle of the road and take it all back :mad: we were all small then... he then left when i was 13 after going bankrupt and leaving my mum in a huge about of debt she was then a single parent and not having much money... as soon as i hit 16 i got a part-time job (while at college) out of my wages £40 for 2 days i would save £10 and give mum £10 and keep £20... since then i have never been out of work... i have been in debt once and got out of debt once... i am now about to turn 21 and i save 50% of my take home mum taught me loads of the basic stuff but with regards to the technical/money saving bits i have learnt this all from this site... and i am still learning

Xbigman

My parents were ok with money and never spent if they didn't have it, but they never told me why. My one over riding memory of them was when I was in trouble and hinted I could do with some advice my mother got in a huff and said 'we've never been in debt', and that ended the conversation.
So ok they were good with money but knew nothing about anything financial and were useless when I needed them.

Such is life.
Regards



X

funky-footprints

My Dad has always been very careful with money. He is probably the only Farmer I know that has no overdraft. He has no debts at all, and doesnt understand the concept of mortgages, credit cards etc. If you cant afford it, you dont need it.

My mum is a bit of a spender but can afford to be, she spoils the grandchildren and us kids. Things were tight when i was a child, but we never went without.

my eldest brother is very like him, but he got engaged at 18 and married at 21 (against my parents wishes as they thought him far too young) and so he has always fought to be independent, but my youngest brother is terribly careless. At 26 he still lives with mummy and daddy, they buy his clothes, bought him a car, tax it, insure it, fuel it and give him his beer money ! He wants for nothing and probably never will, I dont think my dad is overly proud of that !!

~evanesco~

I wasn't taught very well at all. My Mum swindled the benefits system for 14 years, claiming tax credits as a single parent, even though she got married. When I moved out I ended up with CC's, Store Cards, overdrafts, catalogues, door to door collecters, you name it, if it was credit, I had it.

My Dad bailed me out twice, without me repaying a penny, paid of everything including rent/council tax/horse livery arrrears.

It got worse when I had my Daughter, eventually I knew I couldn't ask my Dad to bail me out again and that I had to take responsibility for my self. On the advice of CAB I ended it in court with a ccj and an Administration Order. That was cleared this Oct, 4 years later. CCJ is still there, and will be for another 2.

You would have thought I would have learnt my lesson, but I didn't! This time last year I was debt free (not accountinf for the AO), now it's about 5K, not all mine though, an equal distribution between myself and my new partner.

It's been a difficult year in one way and another, this is no excuse for the situation we've gotten ourselves into though.

This time next year, we will be debt free. I'm determined to see it through, even if we have to live of beans on toast!!

Evans. xox

Dan2779

My grandad taught me about saving for a very young age!
He would give me 50p spends each week which I would put in my 'miss tiggywinkle' moneybox.
I bought a video player for my bedroom with my savings - it was one that the cassette is loaded from the top! I stil remember the great feeling of buying something that I had saved for.
Even though I am in debt at the moment, I am good with money and appreciate its worth thanks to my grandad!!

I think young people should be taught about money at school though!

Danielle