Young people today better savers than their parents

StevieJ

Any of you boffins like to explain this one could it be that only 6% actually went to Uni?

A third of young people saving for university, compared to just 6pc a generation ago.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/young-people-today-better-savers-154818700.html

shortchanged_2

It's likely to be because a generation ago you didn't need to save to go to Uni as there were still grants being paid and no tuition fees to pay, although I see the report does mention that Barclays failed to note this rather important factor.

Kennyboy66

StevieJ wrote: »

Any of you boffins like to explain this one could it be that only 6% actually went to Uni?

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/young-people-today-better-savers-154818700.html

Over 45 ?

Why would they have saved for University ?

They wouldn't have to pay fees and they were among the last cohort that could get a means tested grant for living expenses.
£1800 grant, half board halls of residence £900 (30 weeks) in 1984.
50p a pint in the student Union, 68p a pint in most of the pubs.

Never realised how lucky I was.

Life was so good we never had to "pre-load" with drinks at home like students today.

Graham_Devon

Seems a strange report to be honest. No point saving for something thats for all intents free.

I wonder how many of us save up for our NHS treatment?!

PasturesNew

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I wonder how many of us save up for our NHS treatment?!

Well, if you don't then it's likely to go t1t5 up for you isn't it

Davesnave

I saved a bit before going to uni in 1969, but that was because I'd already embarked on a career, albeit the wrong one. I knew plenty of people who didn't save or work before uni. The idea of a gap year hadn't really taken off. It was more likely to be a period of bumming on beaches or trying to hitch hike to Marrakesh. :rotfl:

On the other hand, few people then at uni had cars or owned much 'stuff,' so the grant was sufficient to live on during term time, if carefully managed. When we went out for a meal, for example, it was a special occasion, like a birthday, not a weekly event.

It's also fair to point out that there wasn't a BTL industry using students as a cash cow. A group of us rented a house and we were the only students in the road, whereas that whole area is now full of HMOs. I can't remember how much rent we paid, but in the following year I had a large Georgian bedsit in a parkland setting, all bills paid, for £4 a week!

Times were different, but not just for students, so comparing is not terribly helpful IMO. By going to uni, I made myself much poorer than mates who didn't, and that situation persisted for a long time afterwards, particularly during the crazy financial times that followed.

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne

They're in for a tough time. After all, they're not just paying for their own university education, they're paying for their parents' university education too.

ukcarper

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne wrote: »

They're in for a tough time. After all, they're not just paying for their own university education, they're paying for their parents' university education too.

You could say that the few people who went to university had their fees paid by the vast majority who didn’t.

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne

Or you could say that higher earning graduates pay their university fees retrospectively with the taxes they pay.

You could say a lot of things without thinking them through and most people most often do.

ukcarper

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne wrote: »

Or you could say that higher earning graduates pay their university fees retrospectively with the taxes they pay.

You could say a lot of things without thinking them through and most people most often do.

As you did

."hey're in for a tough time. After all, they're not just paying for their own university education, they're paying for their parents' university education too".

You last statement was probably true in the past but will it be in the future.

Davesnave

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne wrote: »

They're in for a tough time. After all, they're not just paying for their own university education, they're paying for their parents' university education too.

Do you mean the parents who help to support them through uni in a multitude of different ways?

I think it might be hard to find a causal connection between what I was doing in 1969 and the huge amount of rent my DD currently has to find to fund a similar lifestyle.

Going to uni in earlier times wasn't necessarily some kind of passport to vast riches. It was also much more difficult to get in. Indeed, had my DD had been living then, it's a fair assumption that she'd never even have smelled a university, unless it was working in the canteen.

Every era has its problems. The previous generation to mine had the Wars. Some did very well out of the changes those wrought and others had an appalling time. Either way, there were no internet forums to whinge on, so they just got on with it, and if they were like my Dad, thanked their stars that they weren't born as Victorians! :rotfl: