What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Tell Old Mutual Wealth for a chance to win a £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Old Mutual Wealth has asked us to find out the best pieces of advice Mumsnetters have ever been given.

Here’s what they say, “Old Mutual Wealth is a big advocate of advice. In life and in financial matters, the guidance of someone you trust can make the difference between failure and success.”

So, what’s the best piece of advice someone's given you? Maybe someone has shared a genuinely life changing tip? Perhaps they passed on the secret on how to get your kids to clean their room/go to sleep/eat their greens. We’d also, more specifically, like to hear about the best financial piece of advice you’ve ever received. Whether it’s on how to save? Or maybe on what to do with your savings? Whatever they are, we’d love to hear them!

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!

Thanks
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Never give up on a bad day. Give up on a good day.

Never send a work email in haste and never ever write anything you wouldn't say to someones face. Has saved me many times when someone has forwarded on an email string without reading the full thread!

Financial advice - never borrow more on a credit card than you could afford to pay back tomorrow if you needed to.

Life in general - try not to worry about the things you can't change, focus on the things you can.

The old cliche - don't cross a bridge before you come to it. Also works in real life too!

Best piece of advice given to me: always have something to look forward to!

Revenge is a dish best served cold!

Don't keep anything financial away from your partner! A worry shared is a worry halved. Would have lost our house if I hadn't taken this advice!

Go with your gut feeling, and never ignore it! My grandfather told me this when I was small, and I have always followed this advice. If something does not feel right, be it financial, personal or purchasing something, if your inner voice says no, then don't! :)

always make sure you have some savings, even if you just save £20 a month. That way if anything unexpected happens like your car breaks down, at least you have some money spare so you don't need to rely on credit cards

When I was small - and had a child's savings account through school - my father said that what you saved was more important than what you earned. He also encouraged me to save up for things - and never would have used credit himself.

Treat people as you would wish to be treated yourself. Pick your battles.

Slow down into a corner, and accelerate out.

Keep the lines of communication open.

No one has ever given me financial advice, but I'dsay don't use a credit card, and make it a bit difficult to spend cash.

My set up is:
I have a credit card I do not use and I do not know its PIN.

I have a savings account from which money can be transferred to another account at the same bank, but cannot be used to pay to any other payees. It has a cash card, and all my income goes directly into it.

I have another account which has a debit card for which I do not know the PIN so can only use it to buy things online, but only if I have transferred money into it from the savings account.

The result is that I have to think about it and organise everything, before I spend anything.

My first credit card was forced on me as I needed a card to verify cheques and that was how Barclays did things back then, about 30 years ago. I only ever used it as a cheque card and cash card, so was never overdrawn. I managed to stick to that for nearly a year. But there was an interview, and I was still on a course and had no formal clothes, and very little money in my account and and and... So I put the perfect business suit in the shop window on my credit card. It was all downhill from there! (I haven't used Barclays for years either.)

Best advice is to always save for a rainy day.that way, when it comes ( and they always do) the savings soften the blow and you can get the problem sorted.

Best parenting advice was to just give up on all the baby books/ routines as baby hasn't read the books!

Best financial advice was to buy only what you NEED not what you WANT, That bit of advice has saved me thousands!

My grandfather always said Pennies make pounds.

Don't start tomorrow. Let tomorrow be today.

It has helped immensely with starting a new hobby or learning a new skill.

Another advice is always aim for the highest, don't aim for average.

Treat people how you wish to be treated. So true and maybe life around the world would be sweeter if we all did!

the best piece of advice I received was never give up, never surrender. this was so true when my husband and I were trying to adopt, lots of hurdles and setbacks but after 2 and a half years, we finally got our son

Live every day like its your last.

When I left university, some friends and I set up a cafe. One of the dads lent us the money to do it. I worked 4 days a week in the cafe and got another job 3 days a week to make ends meet. After a year a guy walked in and made us an offer to buy the cafe, twice what we each put in! The dad who lent us the money said 'Better to be sorry you sold than sorry you didn't'. So we sold and I was able to put a 25% deposit on my first flat!

Cut your cloth accordingly you from my mum, she's never been in debt and her sensible way have served me well.

If there is a fork in th road, take it! From my old boyfriends dad. This has helped me take difficult decisions and lean into life.

This one I say to my very cautious son- feel the fear and do it anyway.

I read mine on a birthday card in an art museum:

Want to know the secret to a happy life?

Cheer the fuck up.

I've been bearing it in mind for the last couple of weeks and it's working for me!

My grandad who has been married to my gran for around 45-50 years (grandma muslim convert, grandad muslim and back.in the day this was hugely frowned upon mixed race marriage and grans family disowned her and grandads family looked for opportunities to split them up)

he said marriage is like making a cuppa.
I will put kettle one and she will put teabag in cup then I will put sugar in and water and she will put milk in. He said its a joint effort, 1 person cant make a successful marriage no matter how hard they try. He said as long as you work with each other side by side not one in front of the other, you will always be happy.

So far so good. 6 and half years down the line, 3 dc and I couldn't ask for more.

Thank you grandad

Make sure you always have nice pants on as you'll never know if you'll be hit by a bus (thanks Mum)

Dm always says 'you can never spoil a child with love'. Has always stuck with me that one.

Get a good sleeping routine with children and most of your problems are sorted.