‘Nice stuff’ on credit

[Allinadayswork80]

This is just a general curiosity, I have some wider circle type friends that always seem to have nice ‘stuff’, I’m talking cars, clothes, holidays, home decor etc. and am aware a certain amount is all on credit. I’ve been brought up that you live within your means, so other than our mortgage, we have nothing on credit but also live accordingly (don’t regularly buy new/expensive clothes, save/pay for holidays, pay outright for older vehicles and don’t have the most up to date of…well anything really!) But I wonder whether I’m spending my life being too cautious and should just think ‘to hell with it’ and have the things I’d like as you only live once etc. You can’t take money (or debts!) with you so why worry?
What’s people’s general views on this? How many people live like me and how many are more frivolous and don’t worry about credit/debts? Obviously this is in line with wealth/income - we’re ok, not high earners but manage without struggling per se, although we would if one or both of us couldn’t work. Probably isn’t such a relevant question to high earners with more disposable income I guess.

Thanks so much for everyone’s replies, it’s given me lots to think about and also some great tips on using credit to my advantage (but sensibly!). I guess there’s an element of envy to an extent for things I’d like but can’t afford or justify, but I think I’d rather be in my position than have debt hanging over me for frivolous purchases.

I have no issues with taking out a large mortgage as that is really the only way to buy a house for most people. But anything else - no. You can either afford if, in which case you don’t need to get into debt to buy it. Or if you can only buy it by getting into debt, it means you can’t afford it.

We buy on credit. Should we? Probably not. But it's not the devil and if you're sensible it's fine, I used to process mortgage documents and trust me, the 99% of people on here that say they never use credit is very much not indicative of the Great British public!

I grew up in a household that didn't encourage taking things on credit, and have kept to that. I've never had a credit card and don't intend to take any. I noticed that my friends who put a lot on credit (yes, they are very open about this) like 'things' so before the 3 piece suite is even paid off they've got their eye on something they think is better. I think the normality of debt has contributed massively to our levels of over consumption.

If you buy stuff on credit you will end up with less "stuff" across your lifetime than if you don't - because of all the interest you pay.

So very briefly you will have lots of nice things - but then you will forever spend all your money paying interest to banks and have fewer nice things later on.

I would go nowhere near it.

Well that depends. Some people actually profit by using credit because they don't pay any interest, get cashback and earn money while they save up to pay the credit off, eg if they've paid on a 0% card with a tiny minimum payment.

It's more of a risk that if you lose an income, want to retire or face other costs that you've not budgeted for, then your outgoings exceed your incomings and everything falls apart.

It depends? I buy on "credit" all the time but I know it's money I can save (or pay) going forward. Have never paid any interest

Yes I've realised this with quite a few different people. I always thought their businesses were going well, turns out bank will lend loads to business accounts. Up to the eyeballs in debt

We buy on credit, but only things that easily fit into our budget and things that are big purchases. If we can afford the monthly payments, I don't see why it matters if we could have paid the lump sum up front or not. We can't buy a car outright, but we can afford £x a month for however many months.

I wouldn't finance anything that was an optional purchase like clothes, holidays etc. Those things can generally wait until we've saved up for them, although I might do an interest free "pay in X" deal if it was urgent and I didn't have the cash right then.

Haven’t read the full thread yet (sorry!) so not sure if anyone else has already mentioned this, but whilst I agree you ‘can’t take your money with you’, you can certainly take your debts with you in the sense that your descendants will ned to pay them off somehow e.g. by selling your property. That’s a grim legacy to leave to your kids if you can avoid it!!

Too true. I'd also add that whilst nobody is going to sit around in the afterlife regretting not spending more, old age poverty is a very real thing for too many people who regret not saving a bit more when they could have.