What financial advice would you give your younger self?

[JinksySaur]

What advice would you give your younger self?

I'd probably tell my 18 year old self to stop spaffing my year-out job money up the wall, and invest it instead 😂

I'd tell my early-20s self to open a pension and drip a bit in each month.

I'd tell my early-30s self to increase salary sacrifice.

Dont get married! Divorce is mighty expensive

I wish I had known about Index Tracker funds for S&S ISAs.

Save to buy a house. Two bedroom terraced houses in the city where I currently rent sold for £34k in 2002, a couple of years after I graduated. They now sell for £230k and now I can’t afford to buy one on my own.

Never lend money unless you can afford to lose it. There is also some truth that "if you look after the pennies, the pounds look after themselves".

Invest as soon as possible. Have sinking funds for savings.

I love these…and agree 💯 with all except the mortgage overpayment one. Only because I think at the right time a mortgage overpayment can be powerful in getting to where you want sooner, and can reduce financial burdens when you need it most.

@FillTheGoldenCupWithRoses

Sorry you had difficulties, I wonder though, if you had stretched when you were young would you not be in a better position with more equity etc when you became a single income household?

When I say stretch I think I mean more about buying your forever home that you could be comfortable living in for life. Ours was right at the top of our budget, however we were on very low wages. Now we have increased these significantly but haven’t had to move because we already had a 3 bed detached in a nice area with decent sizes downstairs extensions to allow a separate games room/man cave…would I love a 4 or 5 bed, yeah, but with one child I don’t need it and instead I was able to use the extra money to buy my relatives property when they struggled.

Stretching before you have any children or real financial commitments means locking in your forever home’s price rather than watching the cost of the properties around you rise eating up your pay increases, and winding down the number of years you can have a mortgage so making the payments when you do move even higher.

@BorededI AM young! I am 31! We bought our forever home just 2 years prior to DHs catastrophic health issue. So no equity built. Thank God it was affordable still. You do not know if you will have 50 years, 5 years or less before something could happen. Taking risks is great long term. But you do not know if you will get long term.

Stay at home a bit longer and save up to buy. DH and I were desperate to live together we moved in young and got stuck renting for 20 years. Bought a house last year. Also stop spending beyond your means. The debt I’m in now started with an overdraft in my early twenties

Don’t get into debt. Work harder at school and do a degree that leads to an actual job eg medicine. Buying stuff is not a route to happiness.

'See your boyfriend as the cocklodger he is,dump him and run'

Don't for the love of God,repeat it with the next'

'Oh and don't trust your (narcissistic) mother-she will con you out of every penny you have and come back for more with a smile on her face and a massive tantrum to your face when you have nothing left to give'

'Chase the csa for what your dc are entitled to and don't allow them to fob you off'

Thankfully I own my own home now but have wasted thousands on others

Yeah absolutely, it wouldn’t have helped you in the slightest would it. It was a really good job that it was still affordable on one income, you don’t need to be having to try to move with no equity and a health issue to deal with at the same time. Hope everything is manageable now.

I think because I bought at 22 so I could just jump in and if something went wrong it wouldn’t be such a problem to start again. But yeah, a big health change would have been an issue for me too

Prioritise things like savings, pensions, life insurance, private health insurance, etc at as young an age as possible - with savings & pensions, compound growth is a game changer, even with small amounts, over 40 years - you're looking at an extra "nought" on your savings/pension pots! For life and health insurance, premiums are a lot cheaper the younger you start.

Yes, look after the pennies and the pounds DO look after themselves. Get into good habits as soon as possible, i.e. shop around for offers/deals, etc., buy in bulk, get in the habit of using comparison sites for insurance, utilities, and use them every year rather than allow auto-renewal. Get in the habit of NOT impulse buying, especially for anything more than a few pounds - whether in shops or online, get in the habit of "sleeping on it" and think again the next day whether it's something you really need (you'll often actually forget about it which tells you you didn't need it!). On trips, take your own "go bag" with drinks, snacks etc so you don't have to buy over priced food and drink in service stations, rail stations, attractions, etc. except for where there's "real value" in say having a cream tea over-looking a historic monument or natural landmark etc. - places where having a can of coke and bag of crisps would ruin the moment!

Don't buy fripperies.