"Tips? Er....
- Use all the tax free vehicles (PEPs/ ISAs etc)
- Stick to a budget less than your income if you can
- Avoid debt (especially credit card debt)
- Get tips from good websites like MoneySaving Expert and Motley Fool
- Get made redundant 2 or 3 times , but then bank the payout and get another job immediately
- buy a house in an up & coming area"
Really ??? ...... I'm kicking myself for not thinking of any of that:
- Tax free vehicles are very sensible if you have spare money to invest
- Stick to a budget less than your income if you can ..... if being the operative word, and unfortunately not an option for many
- Get tips from good websites ...... agree, but again, for many, those sorts of money-saving tips ensure they can afford to live, as opposed to save
- Get made redundant 2 or 3 times, bank the payout and get another job immediately ...... Hmmm, you can't really get made redundant can you. My only experience of redundancy within my own family meant 13 months out of work for the person concerned who then had to accept the 1st job they were actually offered at several £0000s less than before
- Buy a house in an up and coming area ..... yes, agree again ..... if you can afford the up and coming area in the 1st place, if it's convenient for work etc.
Forgive me for being maybe a little bit touchy but I find posts like these do come across as boastful. It almost smacks of "if I can do it, so can anyone", which simply isn't realistic. In fact the tone does somewhat remind me of another well-off, high achieving Mner who often seems to convey a similar attitude regarding money, security, career success and other related topics, which takes no account of the fact that whilst not everyone can be well-off and/or successful, it does NOT therefore mean that they must be lazy, foolish, or stupid.
I would have had no objection to someone posting about some "good fortune" they were apparently unaware of if they had simply said they'd had a financial review and were pleasantly surprised by how secure they were. But mentioning figures and then, IMHO anyway, condescendingly advising the rest of us how we could achieve the same results, is bragging. Why do I think that ? ..... because although I can accept you may not know your exact worth, I find it hard to believe that someone who is worth £1million (excluding their mortgage) would not know that they were very comfortably off/secure already. You don't go from £3.57 in the copper jar to a million.
I accept that MN has members from all walks of life & that's what makes it so interesting. However, my hackles always rise when people boast, IMO, insensitively, and, arguably, vulgarly, about their income, investments, huge great house or similar. It's made worse when those same posters remind us all (lecture us ??) about financial prudence ...... as if anyone who isn't happy about their financial situation must have made poor financial choices and be guilty of frittering their money away on "another pushchair" (??!!) ......
..... obviously, I know and we all know that some people do have a devil may care attitude towards money, but equally, there will be many Mners reading a thread like this who are in debt (for all sorts of conceivable reasons which were to do with need, not greed) simply because they don't earn very much, or because they have been ill, or made redundant (without the big payout!), or maybe because their partner did a runner, who are responsible and who do make wise choices within the parameters of their particular circumstances. They have no savings (hence the debt) and whilst they'd love to invest for their children - and fully recognise the importance/prudence of doing so - simply cannot.
By all means share positive stories of good fortune & good luck on MN, but getting specific when large sums of money are involved is in poor taste IMO ....... and lecturing - smugly - as if the people reading aren't aware of how they could be helping themselves, is patronising.
Moneybags - I stand by what I say but hold my hands up to the fact that this is the 1st post I have made on a topic of this sort, even though yours is not the 1st post that has annoyed me in a similar way. I do feel rather strongly that the more fortunate Mners among us should be more aware sometimes of the very stessful and worrying financial circumstances many other Mners live in. Personally, I feel that when you write anything on these boards, you should bear in mind it could be read by absolutely anyone, including people much less fortunate than you - and choose your words accordingly. I expect that some Mners are much better off than you are, huge disparity in wealth is part of life after all, but equally, the vast majority will be much worse off, and some will be living in penury. Is it actually polite to "lecture" them in the guise of giving "tips", when many of those know full well how to manage "spare" money, if they had any ?