As a 20 year old myself, I am in a very similar dilema.
Since the age of about 16, I always saved (very little initially, but as I earned more it was always there). I have been able to afford my own transport which has given me loads of opportunities in life.
It is lovely to have money in the bank. I never have to wait for pay day, and I always know that I can do whatever I like. Many young people spend all their salary and never have a penny left. This is a very fun way of living, but seems a huge waste of money (although it is very good for the economy!)
But being prudent isn't perfect...it is a very boring life initially as I tried hard to save hard for that deposit on a house.
With property prices so high at present, I need to keep up the saving and stop myself buying a brand new car. Living with parents has really saved me a huge amount on rent, although I pay the bills in full and do the weekly shopping, and even do the cooking twice a week (house trained you see).
But I really wish property prices were cheaper...I really want my own place but the harder I save, the quicker I will get to the ultimate goal of a house in my name!
But I do see why young people don't want to save. A deposit on a mortgage takes years to build up, and being young means we haven't got that type of patience.
The new government initiative to help young buyers seemed a brilliant idea until we see its limitations: I think only 40,000 people will be eligible for it, and I am down the building society to see if they can help me be put on this list..
But from a young persons own mouth...shall I get a car or a house. I say house, but a new car sounds similarly nice!
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Saving for a deposit on a house always took time and patience. Thirty years ago, there was a big boom in property prices, and I remember that the price of my first house almost doubled in the 3 years after I left college in 1972. Unfortunately, my salary didn't increase to the same degree, so it took a little extra prudence to be able to afford to buy it.
Whilst houses are relatively more expensive now, the same cannot be said for cars, and the equivalent of £10k in the early to mid 70s wouldn't have bought much of a car. Today, £10k can buy a decent motor car.
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The difficulty is your first deposit. Thereafter, you can re-mortgage to get 2-3 flats fairly quick so long as you have patience and wait for the right one at the right price. Do watch out though, as there isn't much to buy out there in London at the moment.
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The difficulty is your first deposit. Thereafter, you can re-mortgage to get 2-3 flats fairly quick so long as you have patience and wait for the right one at the right price. Do watch out though, as there isn't much to buy out there in London at the moment.
Wholeheartedly agree.
Just wish i knew that 10 years ago
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"People in their early to mid twenties are those with the most disposable income to spend on things like cars"
Oh really?? What about all the "baby-boomers" - those now in their 50s-60s who have already "worked their way up in companies", have paid off the mortgage, kids have grown up and left home, and have inherited from those thrifty parents who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s and who bought their £300,000 houses for £3,000?? I think they might have more disposable income than those people you quote who left university with a £10,000 debt, are trying to pay a mortgage on the cheapest property they can find (£130,000?) and are still on a "starter" salary of about £20,000 ish?
I know who I'd bet on to have the "flashier" car.
Phil
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I am from the baby boomer generation and I would agree that, in many cases, we are benefitting from the thrift of our parents, many of whom grew up during the 20s and 30s in households that were poor. Following the end of WW2, they benefitted from the boom years of the 60s but never forgot the lean times of their childhood, so continued to be prudent with their money. My parents never did own a property, however, so I knew I would never be the beneficiary of a large inheritance. Money was always short when I was young, so I learnt to be prudent with my spending also.
The same is often not the case young people today, as they have often grown up in relatively well off households, and it is true to say that many have been spoilt with material gifts. Many, including one in my family, have no discipline with money at all. Why has this happened? Well I think a lot of my generation are more indulgent with their children than my parents generation were. They are less willing to let them become independent, for one thing, preferring to cling on to their children way beyond their teenage years.
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Cling on to children? you having a laugh?
Other way round more like, parents are desperate to get the children out frum under their feet, its the kids that Klingon!
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TourVanMan < yes its RF reborn >
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I don't envy youngsters today. Having to pay for education, relatively expensive housing and then extra pressure on pensions and retirement age increasing too.
The 50+ year olds have had it good and continue to do so - the 'golden generation' - free uni., some nice share profits from the privatisations of the '80's, MIRAS and married tax allowance when buying houses and starting family etc etc. Now they have pulled up all the ladders, stacked them in a pile and set fire to them to give a nice warming glow in their retirement years. University fees are particularly unfair and socially regressive - I'd like to see all those folk who got free tuition and grants force to chip £3k into the goverment for each year of study they had at university back in the 70's - that would focus minds.
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. University fees are particularly unfairand socially regressive - I'd like to see all those folk who got free tuition and grants force to chip £3k into the goverment for each year of study they had at university back in the 70's - that would focus minds.
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I agree about higher education fees. They should be seen as an investment for betterment of the country as a whole. I am not so sure that everyone that goes there should necessarily be there.
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You're telling me (Student IT Support)
Wasted on at least half of them. Not two brain cells to rub together.
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Quite.
We were recruiting recently for entry-level positions and the standard of many of the graduates of new so-called universities was genuinely shocking. Our testing showed many of the Arts graduates to be effectively innumerate, and the Social Science graduates both innumerate and semi-literate.
A senior CBI figure recently said that what this country needed was 'fewer Media Studies graduates and more plumbers'. She was absolutely right.
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The current situation is a joke.
My course is badly over-subscribed. Far too many people with vastly varying degrees (forgive the pun) of knowledge. Degrees are becoming worthless. I only wish I'd gone into something more practical when I left school.
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What degree are you doing Adam? You've probably told me before but been a bit dim when it comes to remembering things I seem to have forgotten! :-)
Blue
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The current situation is a joke. My course is badly over-subscribed. Far too many people with vastly varying degrees (forgive the pun) of knowledge. Degrees are becoming worthless. I only wish I'd gone into something more practical when I left school.
I would hazard a guess at saying that you weren't exactly encouraged to do something more practical.
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I think part of the problem in this country is that some people look down on practical jobs as not being a good career, and are then happy to get stuck behind an office desk.
Blue
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Quite. We were recruiting recently for entry-level positions and the standard of many of the graduates of new so-called universities was genuinely shocking. Our testing showed many of the Arts graduates to be effectively innumerate, and the Social Science graduates both innumerate and semi-literate. A senior CBI figure recently said that what this country needed was 'fewer Media Studies graduates and more plumbers'. She was absolutely right.
I was employed for many years in recruiting for construction industry craft training. I can tell you that the industry's craft occupations, aside from electrical installation, don't hold a great deal of attraction for a lot of parents. As a result, many youngsters are steered away from them and as a result, the industry continues to have problems in recruiting enough craft trainees.
I have known this attitude from many fathers who have been in the industry themselves and I would often be told that their son (very seldom did we get girls) would be going for something better. I would imagine that the CBI figure wouldn't be too keen on plumbing, as an occupation, for her son or daughter.
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Well, we have several problems compounding each other.
Firstly, the 'great and good' will say that the country needs more engineers, plumbers etc etc whilst at the same time pushing their own kids into medicine, law or PPE at Oxbridge - if their offspring are not bright enough for that then they're directed into 'PR' or advertising - Daddy has all the right contacts so no problem there.
Universities, on the other hand, are told to act like private businesses. They duly do so and shut down expensive to run engineering courses (all those costly labs which can accommodate only small groups of students, not to mention the requirement for technican support and frequent updating of equipment). Instead of engineering they run more 'profitable' courses in business and humanties. No labs needed and you can stuff 200+ students into a big hall for a lecture. Better still you can get some PhD students to teach the class for about £20 for the hour - so no need to employ expensive full-time academics ( those that you do still employ are directed to work on lucrative consultancy contracts which earn the university more money). I'm not blaming universities BTW, they are just doing as they've been told since Maggie brought them to heel in the mid-80's. Meanwhile its the country that's being short-changed.
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I'm doing a (don't laugh) IT degree Blue. But if all goes well, won't be needing to call on it at all.
Machika - your guess would be right. Not only that, out of 200 people in our sixth form, only 2 never applied and went to Uni. (Loads have dropped out since). That figure was probably entirely reversed 15-20 years ago.
The way it's going, you're going to be looked down on if you don't have at least one degree and a masters. Theres a bloke in our class who used to be the head of IT at a bank. He's come to Uni simply to formalise it - he knows more than the lecturers. Paying 1200 quid a year for that (soon to be 3000) strikes me as ridiculous.
My finances are truly shocking. I spend money left right on centre on typical young lad type things and have very little savings. I do this so that I can enjoy myself seeing that I'm young. I'm not in the position to buy a 15 year old Peugeot 106 yet along look at Boxsters and Audi TT's. Yet my mate can do this without a problem. He's even looking at new apartments (to buy) as well!
I can't help but think that if I'd have got into something when I left school at 16, I'd have been 4 years in the earning world and be in a hell of a better position than I will be come this time next year.
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I'm doing a (don't laugh) IT degree Blue. But if all goes well, won't be needing to call on it at all.
Well I'm doing a Business Management degree, mainly to prove to employers that I am capable of doing a degree and also because I find the subject matter reasonably interesting. I don't think I'm developing many skills that I don't already posess from 5 years of working, however, I can see how the course could significantly develop people who don't already posess a half decent CV and a reasonable level of aptitude.
I gave up on my first Computing degree as I wasn't enjoying it in favour of a brief and meteoric career in car sales! :-)
Like you, if things go according to my plans I may not need to call on my degree, although I have to admit that my current emplyer's graduate programme looks very, very tempting.
Blue
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Somewhat annoying I am the only person within my group of friends at Uni who actually has to pay to be there. It is deemed that becuase of parental income, I must pay for my fees whereas everyone else is entitled to full LEA support for their fees.
I do not understand this, my parents money is theirs, not mine. My ability to earn money is identical to that of my peers, yet they get grants, handouts and no fees..
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I do not understand this, my parents money is theirs, not mine. My ability to earn money is identical to that of my peers, yet they get grants, handouts and no fees..
Are you sure it's identical? Middle-class parents often have access to networks which provide much better job opportunities.
And you're living at home, aren't you? Do you pay the full cost of having a nice room in a nice house etc? I'm not saying that your parents are spoiling you, just that if you do a full comparison with the situation of those living in poorer families, you'll likely find a lot of differences, and maybe more of a hidden parental subsidy than you might realise.
For example, have you considered how much more your car insurance might cost if you lived in a rough area with on-street parking?
I do have some sympathy with those uncomfortable about the parental income test -- I had to fund myself at uni, even tho my parents could well have afforded it, and in those days in Ireland there was no grant unless your family was desperately poor. But I still think it was fairer that the limited state funds available should go to those who hadn't had the start I'd had in life.
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Somewhat annoying I am the only person within my group of friends at Uni who actually has to pay to be there. It is deemed that becuase of parental income, I must pay for my fees whereas everyone else is entitled to full LEA support for their fees. I do not understand this, my parents money is theirs, not mine. My ability to earn money is identical to that of my peers, yet they get grants, handouts and no fees..
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Do you pay your fees, or do your parents pay?
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Do you pay your fees, or do your parents pay?
I pay them myself, out of my student loan (I get the minimum loan). I live at home becuase of the financial situation, unlike my peers I would still have had to pay fee's on top of getting minimum loan and having to pay accomodation so it would have cost me a lot more money to move away.
Anyway, I'd rather not upset DD so moving back to the original issue..
I see no problem with younger people spending plenty of cash on a nice car - you are only young one once, and yes it's probably a reckless way to spend money, but hey - there are worse things you can do.
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My finances are truly shocking. I spend money left right on centre on typical young lad type things and have very little savings. I do this so that I can enjoy myself seeing that I'm young. I'm not in the position to buy a 15 year old Peugeot 106 yet along look at Boxsters and Audi TT's. Yet my mate can do this without a problem. He's even looking at new apartments (to buy) as well!
But you have a car, don't you Adam?
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Yes. I too pay the full fees hence my poor finances.
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A senior CBI figure recently said that what this country needed was 'fewer Media Studies graduates and more plumbers'. She was absolutely right.
The CBI were the people who produced the report calling for 50% participation rate in HE. They also support immigration. The agenda here is a large & cheap pool of skilled labour.
It was Ruth Kelly of the IoD that made the comment you refer to.
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It was Ruth Kelly of the IoD that made the comment you refer to
can i quote you on that?
on second thoughts, i had better not. wrong person right organisation or right erson wrong organisation, me thinks.
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>> It was Ruth Kelly of the IoD that made the comment you refer to can i quote you on that? on second thoughts, i had better not. wrong person right organisation or right erson wrong organisation, me thinks.
Sorry, Ruth Lea - IoD's Policy Officer. I'm not well today (bad cold and throbbing head) - that's my excuse anyway.
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It was Ruth Kelly of the IoD that made the comment you refer to.
She has a son or daughter?
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Our testing showed many of the Arts graduates to be effectively innumerate, and the Social Science graduates both innumerate and semi-literate.
LOL! Nothing's changed then. This was true 20-30 years ago mate! (I was there).
They are good are writing 3000-word essays as 3am when half-drunk though!
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We were recruiting recently for entry-level positions and the standard of many of the graduates of new so-called universities was genuinely shocking. Our testing showed many of the Arts graduates to be effectively innumerate, and the Social Science graduates both innumerate and semi-literate.
I'm afraid that it's not only arts -- there are plenty of useless IT/compsci "graduates".
And it's only the new unis, tho they seem particularly bad (not all of them, there are some exceptions). A few years ago a lecturer on one of the new unis stayed with me for a few months, so we got time to discuss a lot about how the courses were run -- it was quite shocking. My own experience of interviewing the graduates of the new unis was deeply depressing, and talking to the students suggests a pretty poor teaching style (all handouts).
I would now approach a degree from a new uni with a big pinch of salt. It seems that many of the courses are little more than a not-very-streching equivalent of an extra few years of school -- very few of the graduates of the new unis seem to have developed much by way of thinking skills.
Frankly, I think that a lot of students are wasting their time and money. They may end up with a degree on paper, but too many of them have none of the qualities I would expect of a graduate.
I generally find that a determined self-taught person is likely to be steeets ahead of many of these so-called "graduates".
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The 50+ year olds have had it good and continue to do so - the 'golden generation' - free uni., some nice share profits from the privatisations of the '80's, MIRAS and married tax allowance when buying houses and starting family etc etc. Now they have pulled up all the ladders, stacked them in a pile and set fire to them to give a nice warming glow in their retirement years. University fees are particularly unfair and socially regressive - I'd like to see all those folk who got free tuition and grants force to chip £3k into the goverment for each year of study they had at university back in the 70's - that would focus minds.
I agree with all that, but don't forget the biggest perk - the final salary pension scheme. Closing that off for those behind them will probably be a bigger financial blow than all the rest combined.
As the population ages and political power moves upwards in the age spectrum (more older folks, and they are more likely to vote), I suspect we will see more of this massive transfer of wealth from the young to the old.
The way things are going, the number of young people able to buy fancy cars is set to plummet. The single live-at-homes may manage it, but once they start having to pay for their own housing and pension while paying off univ fees, and paying for childcare because both parents have to work to pay the mortgage.
Luckily for the older folks, the younger ones have bought into all the encouragement to be cynical about politics, so they are doing little to try to change it.
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Come on chaps, you paint the 50+ year olds as a very selfish generation and paint an unrealistically rosy view of the 70s and 80s for them. Many students in the 1970s did not get a grant and were reliant on parents for support, it was always means tested and you did not have to be very rich for most/all to come from your parents.
Most of this generation are now parents and are likely to be helping our children wherever we can. I have no desire to see my kids come out of university with huge debts and no prospect of buying a home without doing something to help and nor have most others in that situation.
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Most of this generation are now parents and are likely to be helping our children wherever we can. I have no desire to see my kids come out of university with huge debts and no prospect of buying a home without doing something to help and nor have most others in that situation.
And it is very much appreciated!! There is a difference between parents helping and parents spoiling. I am currently on my work placement part way through my engineering degree, i only have the car ive got because i had some savings and my parents were flexible and helped me out. I do have friends who have had cars just given to them and even modded (alloys, lexus lights etc) by their parents.
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Temporarily not a student, where did the time go???
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Cling on to children? you having a laugh? Other way round more like, parents are desperate to get the children out frum under their feet, its the kids that Klingon! ---------------------------------------- TourVanMan < yes its RF reborn >
I am quite serious. It mainly applies to mothers. A friend of ours has a 28 year old son at home and, whilst she says she wants him to go, she can't get around to actually saying it with any conviction. He has no intention of leaving whilst he is looked after the way he is.
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I think he is in the minority. I am sure most people in their mid to late 20s still living at home would love a place of their own.
Aprilia has hit the nail on the head with the "golden generation" who are now in their 50s. The luckiest generation there has ever been IMO, they had the best of everything.
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the "golden generation" who are now in their 50s. The luckiest generation there has ever been IMO, they had the best of everything.
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yes, as tony blai keeps reminding people : mrs thatcher, highest inflation 20% plus , highest interest rates 15% plus, highest unemployment, stroppy unions bosses and highest industrial strife, poll tax riots, ruined nhs, rubbish education system, etc.
it was so bad that even after 9 years of new labour, the ills are still there.
and not forgetting, to cap it all, they had british leyland.
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I think he is in the minority. I am sure most people in their mid to late 20s still living at home would love a place of their own. Aprilia has hit the nail on the head with the "golden generation" who are now in their 50s. The luckiest generation there has ever been IMO, they had the best of everything.
>
I am 57 and born during rationing, so my teeth are quite good. Yes my generation have been lucky, although during the 70's we worried about the prospect of nuclear war.
As a teenager we had no worries about aids, had the best pop music ever, the roads were less busy, no speed limit or breathaliser.
But I would love to be a teenager now, paid to stay at school, gap years, flash cars, flash birds. Oh to be young again.
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As a teenager we had no worries about aids, had the best pop music ever, the roads were less busy, no speed limit or breathaliser.
Hmm, good songs and more sex, and you had Morris Minors to go speeding in! I knew you had it all! ;)
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Hmm, good songs and more sex, and you had Morris Minors to go speeding in! I knew you had it all! ;)
Not a Morris Minor, but a Morris Mini Minor (BRE478A) brakes terrible, pretty slow but terrific handling, and just about enough room inside for Ugandan discussions.
I know BRE isn't still with us, we had a slight mishap!
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Hey! watch it! My mate's Morris minor convertible was fantastic!! Summer and winter! And another mate won £500 on the Premium bonds and bought himself brand new Mini!
I was interested in your "more of this massive transfer of wealth from the young to the old." comment. I read recently that the Teachers' Pension Fund in 1977 was (a notional) £77 billion in credit. Where did all that go? I suspect the same for Civil service, National Health etc pensions. That money must have been "transferred" somewhere and it certainly hasn't been to the old. Governments, companies (and Robert Maxwell types) have a lot to answer for with regard to the need for "transfer of wealth from the young to the old" and it ain't no good blaming the old - they have paid there dues and "saved" for their pensions, they want it back!. I was recently told by my dentist that he was not doing "National Health" treatment. Why not?? I've paid my stamp and taxes for 40 years - why can't I get it back? Who has spent all my money?????? And on who? (or is it whom - I'm an illiterate Social Science graduate from the '60s!!!)
Phil
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As interesting as your conversation may be, this is supposed to be a motoring site, of which I can see very little of it being discussed.
hint hint.
DD.
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OK back to motoring then
one of the other ways for 20s to be in flash cars is flexible company car schemes allwing you to contribute some of your own money as well as the company money.
I had a young new graduate working for me a few years back, on a company car because of his mileage to client sites, who paid an extra 250 a month on top of the the basic lease so that he could get a vectra GSi. How classy it was I won't comment on but it was certainly quick.
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Not quite sure if I am young enough to be considered in this, but I am now 29, and last year I bough myself an Audi A4 Cabriolet. I am in the lucky position that I have a reasonable well paid job, and have made a few quid out of property and shares over the years so can afford to treat myself, although I do see many other 20 somethings who have just borrowed to get nice things and who owe so much I cant see them ever being debt free.
I think its also true to say that cars are cheaper now than they have been before, and finance is more affordable with US style leasing schemes appearing here.
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I am a landlord and one of my tenants, a young guy about 20 who has been renting a room from me, has had problems with paying the rent. Basically, the trouble is that he has no ability to prioritise his outgoings and if there is money in his pocket he spends it.
That didn't stop him from acquiring a smart second-hand car a while back; he could have been given it, of course, by doting parents. But now he has the expense of running it.
It's important for his independence, his self-esteem and his street-cred to have a car. (Don't laugh - it's a white VW R-reg Polo.) More important than paying the rent.
You've guessed the end of the story? Yes, I'm kicking him out. He's now about £800 in arrears and I fully intend to recover the money.
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Interesting reading following this thread: one thing jumps out at me which hasn't changed over the years - you've gotta 'av the right mo-er! In my day it needed fins (PA Cresta or a rusting LHD Septic) but that was just the fashion of the day.
However, by the sound of it us striplings were a lot better off in the motoring dept: you could run around for ages with a "tax applied for" bit of paper in the windscreen and the occasional chiding from PC Plod on his pushbike, MOT's had just come in and anyway weren't compulsory and were for 10 year old cars only, Parking was a doddle, although I suppose fuel was relatively expensive based on a 10 quid a week take-home wage. Oh, the shame of asking for half a gallon on a Thursday night before payday! There wasn't much canned entertainment and life seems to me to have been a lot more exciting and less frustrating for a 17 year old than now.
I was born during WW2, lived outside London, remember quite well the bombings, the shortages and the rationing. I never went to Uni (impossible), dropped out of school at 17 and worked my behind off. My family were of the "pull-yourself-up-by-the bootstraps" breed (2 WW's and a Depression: character-forming if nothing else) and as soon as I could I headed for foreign parts.
I have always eschewed any kind of pension (I'll lose my own money instead of having someone else do it for me thank you), have gone to some daft places and got caught in wars and revolutions but always earned very good money because I got off my duff and did it instead of sitting around, by being willing do anything legal and go anywhere, making (mostly) wise investments en route. You don't have to actually be good at thast much so long as you're willing and will do the things others won't, I learned very early on. As a result (and back to motoring) I have always lived very well indeed and owned pretty much any vehicle I fancied whenever I fancied it along with a few houses here and there etc. During my fifties I was able to work when I felt like it and didn't if I didn't and retired at 59, more out of boredom than anything else.
The great thing was to figure out the right companies doing the right thing at the right times and get into those: in the 60's it was Australia, in the 70's Europe, then Iran under the Shah and the Gulf. Nowadays I would be looking at Central Asia. And always a nice car somewhere for the R & R breaks. The list reads like a motor museum now, sadly.
Most of the MBA's and so-called hotshots I met were just over-educated receptacles of other people's wisdom without an original thought to offer, and little or no hands-on experience of anything useful. Yeah, they had the nice cars, on the never-never of course, or else courtesy of some flash company which would go under or decide it didn't like the look of them anymore at short notice. Anyway there were a million more cookie-cutter grads where they came from. As someone said on this thread be a plumber: I would say get or make a job for which there is a very inelastic demand, work very hard, as soon as you possibly can stop working for The Man and put your earnings in your own pocket instead, get a very good accountant, an offshore operating base, then hire someone else to get their hands dirty for you.
I wouldn't be young in UK today for anything: it's one of the most negative cultures I know and believe me it's almost the first thing you notice as a visitor. I'd call it a minmum-wage, call-centre job culture. No one seems to have any aspirations to anything much, seems to me. Maybe it's the fact that so few youngsters can afford their own home that means they still live with Mummy and Daddy and thus have plenty of walking-around money. And as for what you guys have to put up with over there just owning a set of wheels, jeez....I don't know know how you do it.
I haven't posted a lot lately so maybe I can get away with this one....but I've got a Christmas story from foreign parts coming up later...
GRowler out
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Very nice post Growler.
"I wouldn't be young in UK today for anything: it's one of the most negative cultures I know and believe me it's almost the first thing you notice as a visitor. I'd call it a minmum-wage, call-centre job culture. No one seems to have any aspirations to anything much, seems to me. Maybe it's the fact that so few youngsters can afford their own home that means they still live with Mummy and Daddy and thus have plenty of walking-around money. And as for what you guys have to put up with over there just owning a set of wheels, jeez....I don't know know how you do it."
I think what is very different in this culture is that young people seem, excuse the negative word, lazy. They seem to think things grow on trees and everything will work out if they just sit there.
I myself am very young, and I can say I can be quite lazy at times. But usually I am not and it is amazing how much I can achieve by just doing things...simple things like jogging in the morning, making a meal at lunch time rather than crisps and so on. People say I am sad, but I think it is more the case that I love doing thousands of things and just trying everything. And it is possible now with money being less of an issue. Peoples problem in life is themselves...they love excuses and very little action. But that means I am lucky because the opportunities out there are more achievable as no one wants to take them up (well youngsters anyway!)
"I would say get or make a job for which there is a very inelastic demand, work very hard, as soon as you possibly can stop working for The Man and put your earnings in your own pocket instead, get a very good accountant, an offshore operating base, then hire someone else to get their hands dirty for you."
Very good idea. I will start doing this now and maybe be a well off soon and do whatever I like!!!
Only what job is inelastic in demand?
I think there is still in my life anyway, the hinderance of not being able to get a home of my own. However, if I just continue to save for my deposit (which I have done for a while now), soon I will be on my way up. And the challenge will make it all the better I suppose.
In terms of cars, I am a bit of an old man really and just buy cars to take me everywhere with just an ounce of style, but I am really more interested in its practicallity and reliability of the car than how it looks.
And in terms of work, not only do I earn money, it keeps me very busy and the experience I get in working in finance will be very cross transferable in life, and this is the main thing really. As sad as it sounds, by having a job where those skills are used in the day to day running of life makes it all the more interesting. And there are loads of challenges which I think university just wouldn't give me.
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The world has changed a lot since I was a youngster. 20-30 years ago only about 5% of kids went to university. Nowadays its about 50%. Not being part of the small minority (the 5%) was no big deal. Not being part of the 50% is now a much bigger disadvantage. Many employers will not even shortlist someone who doesn't have a degree. Even basic admin jobs require a degree now. Employers are contstantly raising the bar. Low level jobs attract only the lowest pay and the market is flooded with unskilled immigrant labour. I recently stayed at a mid-range hotel in Cambridge - used it many times before. This time almost all the English staff were gone, replaced by East Europeans (mostly Poles I think). Nothing against the Polish, nice people, but the room rates hadn't been reduced and there was a notice in the room asking guests to note that staff may not have a very good command of English and may not understand English customs!
It all well and good talking about getting a job with inelastic demand - but things change quickly these days - its hard to predict the future. Everyone has been piling into property recently, but its not so long back that prices were falling. Ten years ago I had roofers and plumbers knocking on my door asking if I had any work for them and all the brickies were looking for work in Holland and Germany.
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