To think most people my age (32) are making huge financial mistakes?

[ThatPinkHedgehog]

I see so many people in their late 20s and early 30s struggling financially - overspending, not saving, relying on ‘buy now, pay later,’ or just assuming they have time to figure it out later. AIBU to think that financial literacy is seriously lacking in my generation? What do you think the biggest mistake is?

I agree, some people of all age groups screw up their finances- it’s not just young people, middle aged and older do it too. It’s not just todays youngsters either.

My brother screwed his finances for life when he got his first job at 18 in the 1980s. Never recovered and still has debts he can’t service now he’s retired. He just went crazy with credit cards, store cards, hp and loans, buying all kinds of crap he didn’t need that ended up gathering dust or casually chucked away. Never paid more than minimum balance on cards so paying eyewatering interest on crap he didn’t need anyway. Mindless stupidity, especially as he had a relatively good job.

A client of mine took early retirement/redundancy and got a huge payout and tax free lump sum - a couple of hundred thousand. Blew the lot on a top of range caravan, then he needed a bigger car because the new one he’d bought couldn’t pull it, but of course he got a huge expensive pick up truck, top of the range. Then new tvs for virtually every room, lots of gadgets, a few exotic foreign holidays, and before he knew it, he’d not only spent it all, but he was in debt on cards as he’d completely lost control of spending. He was late 50s and again never recovered financially as he was using most of his generous pension to pay debts, interest, running costs and repairs to his caravan and pick up truck, mortgage, etc. The fool should have paid off his mortgage first and then he’d have more of his pension left for spending and he really didn’t need the biggest caravan he could find needing a huge powerful
pick up truck. Instead of being set for comfortable retirement, he screwed it up and was spending most of his pension on interest. Of course, he lost interest in his caravan after the novelty wore off and it languished in his drive only being used once a year and eventually sold for a whopping loss due to depreciation.

I just don’t think people are well enough informed to handle modern day finances and better financial education starting in schools is essential, but it also requires school leavers to have greater general literacy and numeracy skills such as comprehension, analysis, etc so they can understand financial education. Our schools aren’t fit for purpose as the world has moved on but schools are still mostly doing what they did 50 years ago.

Not most people your age, but some. I've known a 30 year old to say, 'Oh, I've got plenty of time for all that' (financial responsibility, marriage, pregnancy). Only to be smacked in the face with their financial irresponsibility, debts, terrible credit, waning fertility, when at almost 40 they suddenly wanted to reap the rewards that their friends had been working for for 10 years. And then expecting her parents to provide everything financial to prop her up.

So definitely not all. But also some.

Some have their heads screwed on. The difference between our niece and nephew is striking, both mid 20s. Lad has a succession of dead end nmw jobs and still rents, been living with 5 or 6 different girlfriends, got 3 kids with 3 different ones, leased new bmw car, buys an expensive dog then gives it away because he has to move and new landlord doesn’t allow them, lots of lads holidays and stag weekends.

Niece is the opposite. Got some relevant qualifications for a decent job. Engaged to a qualified gas plumber who set up his own business, so two decent incomes, just bought their first home, not rushing to have kids, and generally being far more mature and making better choices because they’re thinking long term and put themselves through the pain barrier of studying and setting up a business, rather than prioritising fun to the detriment of everything else. They’re now in a better position to have fun, backed up by decent incomes and their own home. Her boyfriend spent his money on a van for his trade rather than a leased bmw to show of.

The difference in attitude is startling between nephew and niece considering they’ve had the same upbringing. But my brother and I are the same. I wonder if the younger sibling learns from the mistakes made by the older one?

You do...

You don't have to do buy now pay later. We didn't. When we moved in together we had two very old battered cars, we rented a tiny flat, all our furniture was second or third hand from family (some of which is still with me 15 years later because it's really nice).

We have saved for everything we have. We now own our house and are in a position to buy some things outright. Some things, like the sofa for example, we took on the 0% finance, but mostly if we can't afford it, we don't have it.

It's absolutely a choice. That's the choice we made, some people make others and it's entirely up to them. People should do what makes them happy. Brand new, top of the range, "stuff" doesn't do it for me. But it does for some and that's grand.

Totally agree with this.

We had an amazing time at our wedding, which cost half as much as BIL & SILs. We saved and paid for everything beforehand, didn't worry too much about the "flash". They have been married 12 years now and apparently are only just close to paying off the debt.

Theirs was very nice too, but very "posh". Not really our taste, we like relaxed (think BBQ and bouncy castle), but each to their own. If that's how they felt they wanted to start married life then they've done the right thing for them.

I do think there should be more education about finances and how to get the best from your money.
This information at an earlier age would really help a lot of people, especially in this financial climate.

I don't think being financially irresponsible is restricted to any particular age group though. It possibly seems more noticeable amongst younger people as there is such an imbalance between pay and how much things cost now.
I am older and know many of my age who spend money as soon as they get it (if not before). Several people I know have received large inheritances that could have paid of mortgages etc (some more than one), but blown through them qyickly and ended up financially worse than they were before, at an age where they are extremely unlikely to ever be able to get back into a stable position.

I agree. When we bought our first home and got married after being together a long time, but not living together, we took everything with us from our respective bedrooms at home, and borrowed everything else from family. We started married life on two single beds pushed together! In the lounge we watched a portable tv sitting on a couple of bean bags! We bought nothing on buy now pay later - we waited until we could afford things. That was only 27 years ago, not the dark ages before credit etc. We planned our spending and bought stuff over time which took about 5 years to fully fit out the house and return all the stuff we’d borrowed. But we were debt free other than mortgage. We still had 3 holidays a year but didn’t go mad - still watched the costs and set budgets, so one expensive holiday meant two cheap ones etc. Kept our cars for years rather than constantly changing every 3 years - it was about ten years after buying the house that we swapped one car and a year or two later that we swapped the other - both were about 15 years old! The amount we saved was astronomical just by careful planning and prioritising needs over wants, never paying interest other than mortgage which we also prioritised paying off and did so after 11 years, so saved a fortune not paying mortgage interest. Everyone has choices!

I was sceptical of this, but have looked it up and I do think you could just about fed a shed for this.

The point about imbalance between pay and costs is the biggie. When we had pay rises and things were cheaper in proportion to pay, people could dig themselves out of debt by cutting back and letting wages catch up, but now we’ve wage stagnation, you can’t do it anymore and for a lot of people once you’ve got into debt, you can’t earn your wage pay out of it. If you get a pay rise, it all goes on COL. The only way out of debt is a windfall/inheritance or bankruptcy. Wage stagnation for 20-25 years is the biggest problem, when inflation, especially housing costs has rocketed.

My best friend 33 has just spent £40,000 cash on a car. They live at home, have never moved out and don’t have any plans too. I told them I thought they were mad and should be keeping money for their future.

I’m one of the very few in the group who has moved out, I did in 2012 and never looked back while they don’t care to and say ‘I can’t afford it’. I think it’s excuses for some.

Wage stagnation for 20-25 years is the biggest problem, when inflation, especially housing costs has rocketed.

this

Hasn't it always been like this though !

My niece is one of them, she is 30, lives at home (though has a bf of 6yrs, no intention to move in together) and spends all her wages on nights out. My DS who is close to her told me she is in debt. Her sister though saves a lot, as does my adult DS (31) so not everyone their age spends recklessly.

15 years ago for us, I was early 20s, (now) DH was early 30s so we meet the criteria in OPs post. I have friends like OP is disparaging and friends who make even more frugal choices than we do.

My BIL (DHs) brother is always in debt because he needs to be the flashiest person around.

My other BIL (DSis's DH) prides himself on buying only the cheapest of things (not the most attractive trait because it means DSis often accepts she's going without something she'd actually like) because he's got an obsession with saving.

It's all about how people prioritise things. Neither is wrong, if it makes you happy and you can afford to pay whatever you're spending, be it monthly or outright. But 100% a choice.

I'm with @ScarlettSunset about the need for financial education. Also I think that those people who think they need the newest car, phone, alleged fashion can end up with financial issues.

I'd agree that many people are trying to keep up the online lifestyle and it creates debts to a lot of them.

It happened 20 years ago, before the 2007 crash, people living far beyond their needs, hefty mortgage, fancy car on finance, credit cards, until job losses hit.

Seems everyone is driving an SUV these day, fancy beauty treatments, Instagram worthy meals out, competing within an influencer standard to keep up with.

I have absolutely no idea what 32-year-olds are doing with their money, but the advice on MN when someone asks if they should save for their retirement or enjoy their money now, it's always the latter. Without fail, within two or three posts someone will come along and say 'My friend died at 56, you never know how long you've got, so enjoy your money now', or similar. So no, it doesn't surprise me that people are doing just that. I believe that financial matters are now taught in schools as part of PSHE, but they didn't used to be. I certainly never learned anything about financial management at school in the 80s/90s.

There's so many factors to consider its not just a "do this and you'll be financially successful". Demographics play a huge part some people simply dont have enough money to get access to education to get a high paying job. I think it helps if you learn about money and saving from a young age. I was always taught to print off my bank statements and go through them to see where my money is going. Main priority is to make sure bills were paid first and to try and save at least a quarter of my income. The main mistake I see people making is spending too much on non essential items expensive beauty treatments, clothing, coffees multiple times a day, meals out. We all need a treat but it has to be within your means.

In the past though some risks paid off. Many people took out 95% interest only mortgages for multiples of their salary pre 08 and it paid off big time for some.

On the SUV front, there's a lot more being built these days than there used to be. That's a change in availability as well as the "fashion".

When I passed my test, SUV wise there was the range rover and a few slightly "nicer" off roaders and mostly they weren't practical for day to day use in towns and cities.

I'm not sure where to start. Some young people are fully financially literate. Others have been woefully let down. You can see a good mixture just on this thread.

But I feel that they are being hamstrung right from the start. Take the NEST pension scheme with its lovely ethical investment options - no tobacco, no oil, no defence companies, etc. Which companies have outperformed continuously?

Don't take my word for it. Look at their performance figures below. Guess which fund is not hamstrung and how well it has done versus the others?

https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/nest/investing-your-pension/fund-choices/compare-fund-performance.html

I think it’s just down to luck and choices, I don’t know many people who own their own home but the ones that do were either able to live with parents and save up, or were given a lump sum from their parents and none of them had children before buying a home, now that they do they all seem to have solid childcare from family members so they can continue working without worrying about another financial burden.

Where as myself and my DH had children young (in college) so neither of us were in a good job yet (DH was a cleaner and I was in retail).
Parents made it clear we were to move out so had to find rented accommodation.
I never completed university due to falling pregnant and within 6 months I was pregnant with my 2nd despite using contraceptives! So it was cheaper for me to be a SAHM. Youngest is disabled so I ended up being a SAHM for 10 years instead of waiting until they reached school age as I was constantly having to collect my child from school and have them at home. DH has slowly made his way up where he works but is still only earning 30k. I am in a low paid job working term time hours so I can still support our youngest.

We are still stuck in rented accommodation, unable to save much due to the amount of rent we have to pay. We never go on holiday, we had a registry wedding that cost £150, we don’t own the latest phones and our card are cheap runarounds that we’ve had for years. We’ve never spent more than we could afford but still aren’t getting anywhere fast as we don’t earn enough and bills eat it all up.

We can’t afford a mortgage for a 3 bed house on our current wages either and neither of us will be getting an inheritance so doubt we will ever own a property of our own.

No it really hasn’t. Housing costs have never been so high in proportion to wages. Cars don’t last as long because they’re harder to repair and electronics are expensive to replace when something goes wrong. Prices of most things are far higher in proportion to wages. Taxes have increased. Wages have never stagnated for so long before.

Yes, there have always been people who’ve made poor decisions re money, but it’s now harder to get out of the hole you’ve dug yourself into. A few decades ago you could tighten your belt and wait out a few pay rises to catch up. Most people can’t do that now as costs are rising faster than wages so you end up deeper.

As you say, choices!

We are Londoners and only bought with help (cash gift and living at home to save).