If you were frugal when you were younger...did it pay off later on in life?

[Freedfromdesire9]

Giving myself a as I'm not entirely sure why I am posting this, perhaps to give me some motivation to keep going!

Without going into too much detail myself and DP are sacrificing a lot (predominatly our freedom and going without other than necessities) we have been doing so now for over 4 years in order to build up our savings as a security blanket for the future.

We are hoping the sacrifices we are making now (late 20s/ early 30s) will provide us with a safety net and security for the future, particularly when we have children in the next few years. We are relatively close to being able to put a 15% deposit on a house with some left over for house necessities and maternity.

I know we are fortunate we have been able to do this but towards the end of the target I cant help but feel a bit fed up and wonder whether we have missed out by being too frugal and not living life enough.

I guess what I'm trying to ask, is if you were the same when you were younger, was it worth it? I can't help but look at friends with nice houses, new cars etc feeling a little green but I know this isn't healthy and in the long run it won't make me happy either constantly comparing!

Has your life changed much financially in my age bracket compared to when you got older, 40s +? Do you have any tips for the younger generation?

down, so excuse my ramble, hope it all makes sense!

We were frugal in our 20s, cheap rental in cheap area, we lived in London though, not a cheap place...

For us it paid off, as we still had fun (just not expensive fun, we did very cheap holidays in funny little cheap hostels, eating picnics & bottle of wine in the park)

We were able to buy a flat at 30, had kids and then traveled and lived abroad.

We are now 40s and can relax a bit but being careful with money is a habit

I don’t know if we “missed out” by never taking our kids to Disney land, or on expensive holidays, or drive fancy cars. I guess we have peace of mind that we don’t have massive credit card debts.

However, most people don’t live like this, we are old fashioned. And in old age we probably just have to sell the house to afford the care home that others, who spent their money happily, get the same care home but just paid by the gvt

So maybe we are fools

But right now it works for us.

Yes, massively. I always saved a little; small mortgage at 25, second hand furniture, no holidays until married. Tried to keep 6 months salary as a buffer.

I may be borderline Boomer but I didn’t have massive wins on the property market. I lost out twice and gained twice, in about the same proportion of value.

Having a bit behind me saved me a lot of worry, particularly as I was only parent for most of DCs childhood. We had modest holidays, never had a car - but lots of trips out, music lessons, socialising (them and me, together and separately). I gradually paid off the latest mortgage.

Now very comfortable, early retired, children doing well. See lots of those who ‘lived for the day’ in very reduced circumstances.

Yes - DH and I have spent the last 15 years living in some really grotty but cheap places, forgoing expensive nights out with friends, takeaways etc. At one point I gave up my car because it was cheaper without. Cut my own hair etc. Now I’m mid 30s and we are building our dream house. We’ve put in the legwork to have a successful career each and enough put aside for the future. My one regret is that in passing activities with friends my social life took a huge dive and it was lonely at times. Thankfully I have a few friends again now, and live somewhere that people talk to each other so things are getting less lonely.

I was not frugal at all in my early 20s, I spent all my money on travelling and partying and have no regrets whatsoever. I needed to have the wild years to get it out of my system but know it isn’t the same for everyone. So no, I don’t think you’ll regret being frugal now and getting yourself onto the property ladder, but maybe just stop to reflect on whether there are other things that you are missing out on that you won’t be able to do once you have careers and children.
I think as well as just saving at this point in your life it’s equally, if not more, important to invest in your education and your career. That will set you up for later in life far more so than just being frugal will.

@Shufflebudge

if being the operative word. Who knows what will happen in life. Take your opportunities whilst you’re young enough too. We’re a long time dead.

Plus nothing beats being young and carefree on an adventure. You can’t buy that

Yes, I was going to say that I was extremely frugal when I was a student (and I have four degrees, so this was until my late 20s), worked three jobs as well as studying, lived on lentils and small change in some fairly grotty places, but in order to travel in the vacs, not in order to save. However, I suppose you could say it’s stood to me — I’m very aware of how little I need and how to retrench in order to make something happen.

Yes it did.

I’m mid 30’s DH late 30’s, mortgage free on our house, savings in the bank. We’ve managed to save and travel as well. We’ve had loads of holidays pre-kids.

We waited until early 30’s to have kids, so we could work long hours and consequently get promoted and earn more. Now I work part time, DH works 36 hours a week and we have a household income of 6 figures.

My biggest tip would be to hold off on kids, childcare costs a lot of money unless family will do it for free, and it generally tends to lead that one of you needs to take a back seat work wise, plus maternity leave. It’s all detrimental to a career, so making sure you’re in a solid position first will help.

I didn't have to. Different generation. Our house was 26k in 1996. 1300 deposit, 150 monthly.
I earned 10k and he earned 15k.
Im stingy now though as my jobs are unstable due to my personality so I have savings.
Don't care what anyone says, youngsters have it alot harder now, no question.

This was DH and I. I remember when we were looking at buying our first home (still in it 15 years later) friends urged us to really stretch ourselves to the max financially. We're both pretty risk averse so didn't and have now paid our mortgage off which is a massive plus. I know whatever else happens we own every brick and will always have a roof over our heads. We both still had a great time in it twenties going our, holidays with mates that sort of stuff but started cutting back on those things before friends did. So we missed some of it but didn't miss out entirely.

We're not rich but being frugal and cutting our cloth accordingly means we can have some nice things, do things to the house and when the pandemic is over, we have some nice travel plans in the future. So at times when our salaries have increased our spending does a bit but we still squirrel some away.

One thing I have noticed is that those friends urging me to max out the mortgage all have money in the family and will inherit nicely one day. My parents managed their money badly and I think this has shaped my approach to finances.

I think if I did it all again actually I wouldn't do much differently. Anyone's circumstances can change in a heartbeat and my need to know we'll be ok is more important than having everything now even if on credit.

I remember years ago attending a works conference about triggers for financial hardships. It's much more likely we'll experience redundancy or critical/life altering illness (which will then impact on a partners job not just our own to take on caring responsibilities. Adjustments to our homes to mean we can still live there or the need to move somewhere that makes our illness easier to live with). This is more likely that being hit by a bus tomorrow so for me that blows the "live life to the max as you don't know what's round the corner" attitude out of the water.

In my 50s now but I was frugal in the sense that I travelled a lot in my 20s but always did it on the cheap, and when in UK lived in cheap house shares. When I got a mortgage I overpaid as often as I could, bought IKEA furniture and kept it for years, had a lodger for a while.

I don't have expensive tastes (except for holidays) so can afford to buy more or less what I fancy now, so yes I think the early frugality paid off.

Think it’s about balance. My parents were very poor and we have more then them despite being frugal. I’ve never had wonderlust to travel (although I have travelled) and I’ve no interest in nice cars or expensive clothes. We have had a lot of fun with family and friends on the cheap. We were all strapped for cash when the kids were little and living in the countryside meant lots of fires, camping out, walks, damn building, growing our own veg, treasure hunts and rural pub drinks.

@Chimeraforce that really puts things into perspective. We were incredibly lucky to have an inheritance to kick start us on the property ladder in the mid noughties. Without that we’d probably still be scrimping and saving now, waiting to get on the property ladder