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Things you'd tell your 16 year old self...

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  • Domayne
    Domayne Posts: 623 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Stay away from boys - They won't make you happy.
    Stay away from drugs - They will rot your brain.
    Don't buy stuff you won't need - You will end up in debt and living with your parents at 30.
    Stay in school or you will end up doing security!
    Saved so far - £28,890.97
    ~Selfish is the name that the jealous give to the free~
    Save 12k in 2019 #18 £5,489.43/12000
  • Eco_Miser
    Eco_Miser Posts: 4,864 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Take pictures of every street in town, all the shops and pubs, the public buildings and parks. Most of them will be gone within three years, and the survivors will change their appearance. Keep taking pictures as the demolition proceeds, and the new buildings spring up. At worst, you'll have albums full of memories, at best a valuable historic record and a source for picture postcards, calendars and other products of the nostalgia industry.

    [Yes, the one serious regret I have, is that I could have taken those pictures, but didn't.]
    Eco Miser
    Saving money for well over half a century
  • Doshwaster
    Doshwaster Posts: 6,340 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Eco_Miser wrote: »
    Take pictures of every street in town, all the shops and pubs, the public buildings and parks. Most of them will be gone within three years, and the survivors will change their appearance. Keep taking pictures as the demolition proceeds, and the new buildings spring up. At worst, you'll have albums full of memories, at best a valuable historic record and a source for picture postcards, calendars and other products of the nostalgia industry.

    [Yes, the one serious regret I have, is that I could have taken those pictures, but didn't.]

    Isn't that what Google Street View is doing now?

    http://time.com/72563/google-maps-street-view-time-lapse-launches/
  • gadgetmind
    gadgetmind Posts: 11,130 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    westy22 wrote: »
    And, rightly or wrongly, many other employers won't even consider anyone with a degree

    True, but you'll spend your "career" wearing a cardboard hat and saying "Do you want fries with that?"
    I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.

    Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.
  • missyrichards
    missyrichards Posts: 1,148 Forumite
    gadgetmind wrote: »
    Rightly or wrongly, many employers won't even consider anyone without a degree.

    I don't think it would have made much difference in those days, I had 4 A levels at 18 so I think that would have been enough for an employer. I don't see what difference getting a degree meant to my life. I just went to uni to have fun and get drunk.:D I wish I had missed uni and got on the property ladder before the house prices went crazy!
  • westy22
    westy22 Posts: 1,105 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    gadgetmind wrote: »
    True, but you'll spend your "career" wearing a cardboard hat and saying "Do you want fries with that?"

    Well, that's simply not true.

    We employ staff to do a specialist job. We invest a great deal of time and money in their training and we pay them extremely well in order to retain them. We don't want them to have ambitions or 'careers' - there is no progression path in our company for those staff.

    We just want them to give us 10-20 years service in that one role and, in our experience, degree candidates are unlikely to do that.
    Old dog but always delighted to learn new tricks!
  • gadgetmind
    gadgetmind Posts: 11,130 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I just went to uni to have fun and get drunk.:D

    Well, I did a lot of that, but I also learned a lot of skills that I use to this day,
    I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.

    Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.
  • gadgetmind
    gadgetmind Posts: 11,130 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    westy22 wrote: »
    We don't want them to have ambitions or 'careers' - there is no progression path

    Well, you're really selling this one!
    in our experience, degree candidates are unlikely to do that.

    I have a lot of people with degrees who've worked for me for 10-20 years. The key to retaining very smart people is a combination of finding them challenging tasks, rewarding them well, and treating them right.

    We pay graduates close on £30k from day 1, and this is engineering in the grim North. I can't see many of those who eschew a degree achieving this, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong.
    I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.

    Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.
  • HappyMJ
    HappyMJ Posts: 21,115 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    gadgetmind wrote: »
    True, but you'll spend your "career" wearing a cardboard hat and saying "Do you want fries with that?"
    Really...the only people who have a career are those who went to university. I (and most of my colleagues) must be the exception. I work in IT a degree makes zero difference to my CV. What makes a big difference is industry qualifications.
    :footie:
    :p Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S) :p Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money. :p
  • gadgetmind
    gadgetmind Posts: 11,130 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    HappyMJ wrote: »
    I work in IT a degree makes zero difference to my CV.

    I'm in an area of IT too. I'm not saying it would be impossible for someone to get a foot on a lower rung with us, but without them having a grasp of the fundamentals that they'd acquire from a degree in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, or similar, they'll struggle at every turn.

    As it happens, my degree certificate has never left its drawer, but that's because I guided myself down the "entrepreneur track", which I *really* doubt I could have achieved without what I learned at university.

    If someone makes an informed decision to go down a more vocational route rather than higher education, well that's fine with me, However, pushing not going to university as generic advice to young people is going a little too far!
    I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.

    Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.
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