Gambling....

DigForVictory

Well done realising there's a problem & starting to get help.

Your Dad would be gutted if he could have helped you & you didn't ask - but if the gambling charities can help you & let you maintain your growing up into an autonomous adult as he always hoped, brilliant.

Travel safe.

Atomix

Just wanted to say - some real solid advice on here as usual.

Fair play for recognising you have a problem, not all 18 year olds would be grown up enough to lose face on such an issue - put it down to part of 'growing-up' - and move on (paying off what you owe of course)... And find some other interests that don't involve gambling your hard-earned cash.... Good luck

jimmy*c

In my experience buddy, this is all part of the transition between "being 18, free and independent" and "a responsible adult". I've been through exactly the same as you and have racked up a fair amount of debt SOLELY because of it. Check it out, look at my sig.

Kudos for being a strong lad in realising you DO infact have a problem with gambling. Online gambling brought me to my knees in hindsight, but whilst i was in the thick of it, it's not real money right? Get yourself on the phone to gamcare - they are truly amazing and understanding people and you will feel like they're your sister/brother when you talk to them. If you really have knocked gambling on the head, then do what you say and just get the debts paid off, move on, and enjoy life as you will learn to.

Coming from a 22 y/o who took off with a simple £10 journey into a casino, it took me into just over £8,000 of debt, a bad credit history and crippled family and relationships due to lies and deceit. It just doesn't work. But I've found after a few good months of nothing toward gambling, not even a lottery ticket, that I am just not interested, and I think that is the sole difference between an addict and a passing adolescent phase. I am just not interested any more, and with the help of this forum I'm more than ever focussed on reducing my debts and getting closer to the "black" day.

As you say you can save a few hundred a month - Pay your debts with that which you could save, and in a few months' time, this nightmare will become a distant memory and one for the bank. As I always say and live by, "experience is what you get, just after you need it the most". You now have the experience, so, what are you going to do?

Take it easy fella

averageish

"around 80% of my monthly income is disposable."

No, it isn't. You need a pension and both long and short term savings.

Your debt is piffling. You have caught this early and you should be proud of yourself for spotting it and immediately taking action. Do not underestimate your accomplishment in doing that. For a young person, it is superb self awareness.

Get this under control, as others have said, with advice from gambling advice services if you feel you need it, or just relatives and friends.

You realised you had messed up, you took action. That is 95% of overcoming the problem.

Now, if you decided, for example, to educate yourself in areas of investment, perhaps stocks and shares, or even just how to split your money to get the most interest, along with providing yourself with a pension and so forth, you would be well ahead of the curve.

Some people consider shares to be gambling, and it is true to some extent, except the odds are not automatically fixed to favour the casino, as they are in gambling!

In regular casino games, or fruit machines, long term you CANNOT make a profit. The profit margin is fixed to benefit the "house", in other words the casino owner or owner of the fruit machine. I know about all the stories of professional gamblers etc. But most articles fail to mention they are mathematics professors who found a way to circle around the casino rules...yet they are now banned from every casino this side of Mars. Poker is a different argument entirely, but it doesn't change my advice to you at all, since the chance of anyone becoming a successful poker pro long term is something like 0.000001%. Poor odds.

£300 per month invested wisely could provide a rather nice income in retirement, especially with an employer contribution, which will become mandatory over the next few years (check out Automatic Enrollment). However, rather than go all out in a pension, I'd consider adding say £150 per month to a pension, and £150 a month to savings.

You'll want to buy a house one day right? You'll also want to retire and the state pension is tiny. That's if a state pension exists at all by the time you retire, which is doubtful. You have to look out for yourself, nobody will do it for you.

The fix you feel from gambling can be attained in ways which are far less likely to make a loss and are subsequently less harmful. Investments let you watch your money grow. Buying bonds, GILTs, it can be exciting in the same way as a fruit machines, just over a longer period and at far far lower risk.

It's not something to jump into immediately, but it's something to look at after paying off your debt.

You're a smart man to realise this about your own problem, so turn those brains to something you can more readily control and start investing. You are already way ahead of the majority of your peer group by even posting here on this topic.

Be smart, pay off your debt, research, invest.

riquelme

this thread used to be active a few months back, maybe take a look at some peoples stories and advice.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1090463