Why don't people look forward ?

jaylee3

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

Exactly, you've got to cut your cloth to suit your means. Anyone who has the spare funds and doesn't try and save some for a contingency fund, is IMO very naive.

I was made redundant a year gone December, luckily my husband has a good wage, so financially we were ok, but now we need the roof replaced which is costing thousands, luckily though we had enough savings to cover the cost, I'd hate to think what we'd have done if we hadn't, I prefer to pay for things outright and thanks to abit of careful saving....we can.

Anyone who thinks a new kitchen is a must is living in cloud cuckoo land!

What's the weather like up there on your high horse? :rotfl:

How amazingly fortunate for you that you had so much savings that you could afford the multiple thousands that a new roof cost, and I suppose if you needed a new car, you would have the £7-15K that it would cost, just sitting in one of your many savings accounts. Or maybe you cycle everywhere???

And you have never had finance on anything? You have never had a credit card? Never used a catalogue? You have never had any kind of debt? I suppose your mortgage is all paid off?

ACTUALLY, I don't think a new kitchen is necessarily essential; that was just an example, and probably a bad one... I was just saying that SOMEtimes, things come along that you don't expect, like a boiler breaking, or roof repairs, or something else major coming up. And people don't ALWAYS have enough money upfront to pay for it. Why the hell do you think so many tens of millions of people are in debt?

I am literally sick to death of pompous, judgemental people looking down their nose at people who are in debt, or who don't have the same kind of amazing financial skills and who choose to spend frivolously sometimes, and acting like these people are somehow inferior to them.

I am trying to figure out whether you are just incredibly judgemental and sanctimonious, or whether you are just making stuff up to suit your agenda.

Enjoy your day and enjoy your life, in your world of perfect human beings who never get in debt, never eat bad food, never gain weight, NEVER do anything wrong! Just remember, there but by the grace of God go you.

And now I am putting you on ignore.

Torry_Quine

jaylee3 wrote: »

And you have never had finance on anything? You have never had a credit card? Never used a catalogue? You have never had any kind of debt? I suppose your mortgage is all paid off?


I am literally sick to death of pompous, judgemental people looking down their nose at people who are in debt, or who don't have the same kind of amazing financial skills and who choose to spend frivolously sometimes, and acting like these people are somehow inferior to them.

I am trying to figure out whether you are just incredibly judgemental and sanctimonious, or whether you are just making stuff up to suit your agenda.

Enjoy your day and enjoy your life, in your world of perfect human beings who never get in debt, never eat bad food, never gain weight, NEVER do anything wrong! Just remember, there but by the grace of God go you.

And now I am putting you on ignore.

Personally no I've never had a credit card used a catologue and my mortgage is paid off. On a couple of times in the past I used interest free credit and paid it off uing my savings to continue getting the interest.

I'm neither judgemental or pompous but incredibly sad for people who seem unable to live within their means and then complain that they have debts. Some people really need to look at what are needs and what are wants.

Charlton_Taz

jaylee3 wrote: »

and I suppose if you needed a new car, you would have the £7-15K that it would cost, just sitting in one of your many savings accounts. Or maybe you cycle everywhere???

ACTUALLY, I don't think a new kitchen is necessarily essential; that was just an example, and probably a bad one... I was just saying that SOMEtimes, things come along that you don't expect, like a boiler breaking, or roof repairs, or something else major coming up. And people don't ALWAYS have enough money upfront to pay for it. Why the hell do you think so many tens of millions of people are in debt?

Calm down! I think what people are trying to point out is that..yes...you should anticipate that things like boilers breaking do happen in life. Making the effort to save something every month at first is hard (but soon you don't miss that money)..and it means when the 'unexpected' happens its not a big crisis.


in terms of things like cars....I personally do have the cash to buy them when I need them. How did I do that? Well, instead of paying out say, £250 a month on car finance, I started by putting that £250 in a savings account instead...saved it up...then bought a car. Then, continued to save that £250 a month into a savings account so after several more years (when car now needing replacing) I had a fund to replace it.

pimento

My opinion is that you can't take it with you. If having a new car or a new kitchen makes you happy then do it. Life is short.

qetu1357

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

Exactly, you've got to cut your cloth to suit your means. Anyone who has the spare funds and doesn't try and save some for a contingency fund, is IMO very naive.

I was made redundant a year gone December, luckily my husband has a good wage, so financially we were ok, but now we need the roof replaced which is costing thousands, luckily though we had enough savings to cover the cost, I'd hate to think what we'd have done if we hadn't, I prefer to pay for things outright and thanks to abit of careful saving....we can.

Anyone who thinks a new kitchen is a must is living in cloud cuckoo land!

I so agree - cut your cloth to suit your means.

It's simple really.

a) Work out what income you get
b) Work out what you HAVE to spend. (Does not include Sky TV for example)
c) Work out what you would like to spend (Holidays for example)
d) Save some money for retirement
e) Save some money for rainy days

Too many people want to spend their money on c) then complain they cannot do b) or cannot do b) when a) drops

LannieDuck

I'm under 50 and I agree with the OP.

The DFW board on here is very telling - when someone posts their SOA, MSEers almost always find a way to make the budget balance, it's just a question of whether the poster is willing to make the changes in lifestyle required. I see finding space in the budget for savings as very similar to finding space for debt repayments.

I think I've only once seen a SOA that couldn't be balanced, and that was a lady with children who's husband refused to pay maintenance or help with childcare, and also refused to move out of the family home so she could claim single-person benefits.

cheshire_bird

I agree with the OP.

I have struggled on my own for over 10 years since I split with my ex.
He left me with a large mortgage & I had to pay solicitors fees etc to get divorced and get his name off the mortgage. Its been tough...
I have raised 2 children. Worked. Paid all my bills on time.
Gone without holidays,new clothes, new hair do's etc.
I have saved at every opportunity, even small amounts.
I have no debt and now with the help of an endowment which i continued to find the money to pay into, I have just cleared my mortgage.
I also still have a nest egg to fall back on should i lose my job.

So dont tell me it cant be done !
If you want it bad enough you will make it happen.

Robisere

Cheshire bird your story sounds like my DD's life. Hubby dumped her with their month old baby in a 200 year old cottage, 65 miles from us. Then left to go back to one of his 4 failed businesses. What we did not know was that he was living with his secretary and blowing the family money on her. Left DD in debts of thousands, they divorced and she took on 3 jobs, worked hard with our support, cleared the debts herself. What was a cold old house now has UPVC glazing and GCH, with plans to expand to 3 bedrooms from 2. All done by her with occasional help from us. She found a good bloke, has many good friends and is a teacher. Ex - husband has married and been divorced again, (by the secretary) looks 20 years older than her and lives with the latest in a line of increasingly awful tramps. There is justice!

About this thread, I have to say there are very divergent opinions which take no account of another person's views.

I am 69, have a great family but have been through the wheel of fortune too many times to criticise anyone else. To start with, life is very, very different for younger people today, compared to when I was young. It is much harder to find work, things are relatively more expensive and there are many more obstacles in the way of work and family life. There is no such thing as a "Job For Life" and this creates a climate of fear amongst many people, which explains why they fear for the future and try to live for today.

I may not have explained that very well, but it is what I feel.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm retirement age now and my take on things is I see exactly where the OP is coming from saying this on the one hand but, on the other hand, I've always been both low-waged and single (ie having to cover the cost of all household expenses on my own).

I was brought up to manage my money well and, in fact, manage it even better than I was brought up to:), as I've found times where I have been "better with money" than my parents would have been:)

I look to the future in life (including managing my money) to a MUCH greater extent than most people from what I can see

...BUT...that low income and single status have meant that, for most of my life, I have had no option but to live right up to my income (because it often wasn't enough to live on and rarely had any surplus available).

I have long since developed a two track way of managing my money. There is Basic Income on the one hand and that is what goes to cover accommodation/bills/week-to-week living and there are "Chunks of Additional Income" on the other hand and I've always had my eyes out looking for Chunks (still do:() to cover the larger items that my income simply won't cover (but it SHOULD because these items are necessity or not far from).

That's the thing. That is, that many people on low income can only put money to one side for contingencies if/when extra Chunks Of Income come in. If those Chunks don't come often enough/aren't large enough and you are left having to try to cover "bigger items" out of an inadequate basic income, then there's a problem.

As for whether anybody thinks Bad Stuff Wont Happen to Them....as a member of the Baby Boomer Generation/sort of person and background I have, then I knew they wouldn't...until they did. I was shocked to the core and absolutely livid with anger when I had my first redundancy and still don't quite understand how that and the succeeding redundancies could have happened to me. I honestly thought that redundancies only happened to people with manual or shopworker type jobs (well...that was the case when I entered the workforce originally) and that meant I was totally safe from any chance of it happening to me...until it did.

There ARE bad things that happen to people that are under their control, but they haven't "controlled" them and that I don't understand personally. I do think "Why would I just let Life Happen To Me on any matters I can deal with and blast out of existence in days at the most?" and don't understand why someone would suffer the consequences of some things, rather than dealing with them (ie because they are things that COULD be dealt with if the will to do so is there). On the other hand, things like redundancies or being someone who has to rent a place to live and been given notice from their place for a reason that isn't their fault can happen even to prudent people too.

SteveJW

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

I've never really understood people living payday to payday.

I work in an office where the age range is from 20 to 62 and am amazed at the lack of financial skills exhibited by some of the younger ones, don't get me wrong some are very good.
Others at the start of the month its bought in sandwiches and drinks at around £6 per day, last week in the month its crisps and water from the tap