What's a lesson you learn the hard way in regards to money and finances

[Cupcakeicecream]

What's a lesson you learn the hard way in regards to money and finances.

I was thinking how sad to be saving for a mortgage at 24 instead of backpacking. Sorry. 😀

Disgraceful this is even an issue. On top of which women had their pensions snatched without notice by the so called age “equalisation “.

If you earn well, make sure you don’t tell anyone how much you earn ( including family)
They will feel entitled to your money

Totally agree
i have several income streams.

@Lampzade @Floods123 how do you manage to have multiple income streams? 2 jobs? How do you find the time?!

I have a professional career
However, I found that I had this talent for makeup and decided to make money from it. I do the occasional wedding ( I registered as a business in order to do this )
I also teach chemistry online ( my first degree was in chemistry) at the weekend. I have three students ( an hour each). I work through an agency .I don’t even have to leave my home for this so I don’t find it stressful at all.

I have encouraged my dcs ( who are at university) to do the same. both learned how to thread eyebrows and apply false eyelashes and are making a little money on the side .

I don’t believe in putting my eggs in one basket.

@Lampzade thanks for sharing. And good advice.

@sue20 I wasn't saving for a mortgage at 24. I'd had one for three years and the value of my first flat had doubled because I bought at the bottom of the market.

At 35 all those folk who had gone travelling and had not focused on their career/building equity, were also having babies at the same time as me. Or possibly a little earlier. I got sick and tired of hearing "You are so lucky? It's so unfair I have to go back to work? You can't imagine how hard it is?". Exactly the same people who took the toddle because at 24 I had a mortgage and going to bed by 10 because I started work at 7.30am. I had 7 wonderful years at home with the DC because of those early choices.

Exactly the same people who scoffed when I went back to work at 42, part-time and at the bottom, on £8k but got professional quals doing it. 20 years on having transferred earlier pensions into the Local Government Scheme, in 2013 just before the changes to career average and as my income was on an upward trajectory, I locked half my pension into the final salary scheme.

I don't think the raising of the pension age is a retrograde step at all for women. It has given me the freedom to have a worthwhile professional career. That might not have happened with a mandatory retirement age of 60. It has also given me the chance to build up the years prior to 24 because in the early 80s company schemes did not necessarily allow people younger than that to join the pension scheme and to make up some of the pension years when I was contracted out. If I work until I am 64 I'll get a full state pension.

Apologies in advance for whittling on.

@Lampzade agree this is good advice! Ds is at uni studying for a professional career, but also works shifts for an agency providing care for the elderly / disabled. Whatever happens career wise he says carers will always be needed so if the worst happens he can always at least pick up care shifts.
I wish I had more transferable skills! Years of being a SAHM then becoming disabled means I don’t have as many options as I could have done. I also had no understanding of pensions beyond the state pension and at 40 I’m now in a situation where I never started one.

😂😎🙌

don’t buy stuff you saw advertised on Facebook. It will either never arrive or be rubbish.

This,too. I agree.
In a family of low earners; the high earner is expected to buy extra drinks, spend more on gifts and generally put their hands in their pockets more. I know this is a sweeping generalisation but sometimes those who did not work for qualifications, have drive or ambition or who didn’t work hard to get promotions expect to be subsidised by those who did. When the high earner doesn’t provide, they are called tight fisted.

Do not lend money......

Facebook is useful for getting word-of-mouth recommendations for tradespeople though, through community or neighbourhood groups. On the other hand, you need to be cautious with online trades-pairing sites like Rated People, there are so many cowboys posting there. Maybe okay for something like wallpapering but if you need a plumber don't touch them (yes, learned that lesson the hard way.)

Facebook tradesmen recommendations are only good from people you know who aren't connected to the tradesman. A lot of people on it just recommend family & friends without knowing how good they are, or even deliberately to drum up work, despite knowing they're incompetent/chancers/fraudsters.

Sue20 That’s different. You can afford the bike you are just manipulating your money to best financial advantage. OP is making the point around buying on the “never never” as it used to be called. Borrowing money because you don’t have itBut people are saying the same about credit cards. Donr ever have them but you can also use them to your advantage.

@hellycat I'm in Scotland so I don't know if it's different here, but my mother (and I) did a Deed of Trust on our properties so that, as long as it's been running for at least 7 years, your home can't be sold to pay for care home fees.

I don't know how deeds of trust work @RaraRachaelbut I think a lot of care providers may view it as deliberate deprivation of assets. I get the feeling that they don't really want people to know about these things!

I think some people actually change their wills and deeds of the home and become tenants in common, so they can leave half of the value of the house to their kids, rather than the whole lot passing to the widowed spouse and it all being taken at some point for care fees. I actually think that's fairer because most people pay into mortgages jointly, so why shouldn't children inherit the half of the parent who didn't need long term care?

Yes. When we approached the solicitor they'd never done one before.
We can continue to live in the house on what's called a life rent.

@Lampzade Part time job 24 hours. Online business working from home. Consultancy work. Work from 35 to 60 hours a week depending on demand. Work around commitments at home. Can be tough but rewarding. Only do what I enjoy doing. If I don't enjoy it I don't do it.

Never ever assume that you won’t get ill and not be able to work. If you have any savings then you’d have to live off them until there are none left before you get any financial help from the government at all. No matter what illness you have. If you can, always save for the unexpected. Don’t be one of those “it’ll never happen to me” people. I was and I went from being very financially secure to counting pennies.

Love the fact that your ds is working with the elderly.. Fantastic experience.

If you have any savings then you’d have to live off them until there are none left before you get any financial help from the government at all. No matter what illness you have.

that is not correct, presently if you have up to £16000 in savings you can claim benefit and anything above £6000 is disregarded but anything above and the government tapers your benefit accordingly

I think it can feel as though you get nothing though @ivykaty44 , especially if you fall ill towards the end of your career or have the misfortune of being made redundant just before you are diagnosed. I know a few people who have saved hard and worked all their lives and ended up in a position where they can't claim because they have saved too much, so those savings are whittled away by normal living expenses, not an issue so much if you are going to get better and return to work, but much harder for those who will never work again.
I know there is the argument about savings being for a rainy day and ill health fitting into that catergory, but most people save to spend it on something nicer than the bare essentials ?

BirmaBrite In the past I’ve had people sitting with me who have lived in their savings until every last penny is spent, then and only then did they put in a clim for benefit. I could have cried for them - They could have put in a claim probably 3/4 months previously looking at their bank statements

niw they are destitute
people need to know they can claim when they have savings and get help

so many times I met people that waited until they didn’t have anything left