Financial advice for your 26 year old self

Anonymous101

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Learn the difference between need and want.

Good advice. Not always clear which is which, there's a real skill knowing the difference.

camelopardis

I would send a large box beer to him from his 54 year old self, congratulating him on his decision to think about me and invest for the future. While he had it harder by saving more and spending less, I reaped the benefits by retiring early.

Think of your future self - they will sincerely thank you for it.

Monkey1987

I’m 31, which I guess isn’t that much older but I already can see where I go wrong regularly and could have saved thousands over the last few years-

Take packed lunch (my bank balance would be so much healthier without all the £3/4 spends at Tesco, subway etc)


Avoid fancy cars- I had a perfectly good Ford that I had no loan for and replaced with a BMW that promptly cost £3k in repairs on top of the loan I took out to buy it. I very sensibly bought a Hyundai i30 after that(low mileage, 4.5 years warranty left to run etc, except I got bored and chopped it in for a TT and an extra few hundred a month on repayments...)


Pay into your pension where possible (I do succeed on this one and am already way ahead of my husband, who is only a year older, in terms of the size of pension pot).


Buy the biggest house you can first time. Even if it needs modernising you can do this over time. Moving several times is expensive so get up the ladder in the fewest steps possible.


DO NOT LINK YOUR CREDIT CARD TO PAYPAL, Especially if that is linked to eBay (although I have got a lovely new DKNY purse arriving Friday...)


Good luck

Lotak

To echo what a lot of people have said:

1) Pension: pay, at the very least, the maximum amount into your pension that your employer will contribute to. If you haven't started a pension, you are advised to contribute 1/2 your age (so 13% total) into it, including your employer contributions.

2) Luxuries: try to avoid luxuries where possible. Do you need the top of the range smart phone costing £50 / month with unlimited data? Probably not.

3) Property: Do your darndest to get yourself on the property ladder. Save, save and save. If you're a first time buyer, take advantage of the LISA as it's free money.

4) Keep your body healthy: Exercise, stretch, lift weights. Your body will thank you when you are older, and so will your finances.

5) if it's too good to be true, it almost certainly isn't.

6) Know how taxes, debt and credit work.

7) Do treat yourself occasionally. Take a holiday once a year or two, have a romantic meal with your spouse / partner every now and then.

Mr_EDATD

Keep track of what you spend your money on and make concious decisions about where you spend most of your money. I'm not against fancy cars or nice holidays if you have the funds and that is what you are passionate about (life is for living) but don't do it if it is just to keep up with friends or to show off.

Understand pensions, stocks and shares ISAs. Put spare cash into these. Once you have a lifestyle that you are happy with put payrises into these rather than just spending more.

Invest in youself...time and effort in obtaining qualifications in your chosen field will pay much more in the long run.

Enjoy your work and get on with the people you work with. You do it for a long time and if you hate going to work you wont give it your all and will not reach your potential. Take ownership of your role, make decisions when you can (it can be better to ask for forgiveness rather than ask for permission), work over and above your pay grade. All of these will help with promotions and increasing income.

jampratt

You can lose a lot of money chasing women...but you will not lose many women chasing money!

If Id realised that at 26 I would now have both more money and more women....as it is I havent got much of either :rotfl: