Re: What's the best financial advice you've ever had?

'Get a pension'

Got one at age 22 and I'd already done enough at age 34 to be able to have a subsistence level pension at age 50.

Daytona

In message , Daytona writes

I took a similar decision when I went freelance in 1974 and paid a considerable monthly sum into it. I confess I'm no expert, but if I were starting out again, I'd think twice about the pension route. I'd probably decide to pay the tax and stuff a monthly sum into something else. I sometimes wonder if the tax breaks are worth handing over a large measure of control over your own money to the IR for what strikes me as little more than a tax deferment scheme.

"Don't go into farming", ...from my grandad, who been a farmer all his life, and had only one weeks holiday in 60 years.

Nick

When I left school a family friend told me-

"Remember its not what you earn thats important, it's what you do with it. One man will keep a wife and family on 80 a week and still manage to save something. The next man will spend 120 himself and have nothing to show for it."

Neb

... "Spend now because you can't take it with you when you die - and you might fall under a bus tomorrow!"

At the time, I thought "how silly" - but now I see the wisdom in those words. :-)

Don't spend it all at once. (My gran when she used to slip us 10p pocket money)

Your forgery is clumsy; I did not write the above. jf

You are supposed to get subsistence-level benefits from the state anyway ... you really have to make a choice, either spend everything you get and prepare to throw yourself on the mercy of the state when you have to stop working, or settle for a significantly lower standard of living while you're young with the aim of being relatively rich from late middle age. There's little point going for something in the middle because the extra income will just be clawed back from the benefits. Like you I've done the latter, but it isn't totally straightforward given that you might die before you get to the spending stage, or your investments might be trashed by bad markets.

On that line, "don't become an accountant" from my accountant uncle, and "don't become a teacher" from my physics teacher. To which I would add "don't go into academic research" ... possibly there's a moral there somewhere :)

Why, did you just fall under a bus? :)

QUOTATION: Drink, and dance and laugh and lie, Love the reeling midnight through, For tomorrow we shall die! (But, alas, we never do.) ATTRIBUTION: Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), U.S. writer, wit. The Flaw in Paganism.

soz I oversnipped.

That's my view as well; a subsistence level will be where my personal pension stays.

I will also have the basic pension and contracted out pension at 65.

The rest is in ISAs and will be in property whenever it offers value for money.

Daytona

I'm a control freak, for better or worse, and it might very well be worse

I consider myself lucky in that I don't think I've had a lower standard of living. It's all subjective of course, but if you're not into the merry-go-round of life's status symbols I reckon you can still live well.

Daytona

To the extent that you could have spent the money you saved your standard of living has been lower in some way. I think a lot of it is down to not missing what you never had; if I were used to regular skiing holidays and driving a Mercedes it would probably hurt to do without them, but since I'm not I don't notice the lack - in fact I now find I'm trying to force myself to spend more.

Or how about, the same vein:

Give a man a match, and it will keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and you will warm him for the rest of his life.

Can't remember where I read that first - probably the internet.

The best financial advice is to work hard, never marry, never spend any money. You will die very wealthy :)

If you have to marry, be damn careful.

Real friends bring champagne, sham friends bring real pain :)

The best financial advice I ever had was not exactly in the form of financial advice at the time but more a compulsory term of my employment. As I was only 16 at the time - a pension was the last thing on my mind.

It was compulsory to join my work's final salary pension scheme - and 18 years later I have no regrets!!

Mind you it's now frozen as I've since left the job - but it's still there for the future (I'm paying into another one now). At 16 if anyone had mentioned the word pension to me - I'd have hummed and ha'ed, laughed, pretended I knew what they were on about and said 'yeah ok, I'll think about it' - knowing full well I wouldn't give it another thought.

Not many 16 year olds get this option these days so I count myself lucky it was forced upon me.

dan