Money

wonder how you will feel when you are older and have spent away thousands on rubbish without saving anything for your future
 
Paul11 said:
you may well love your job, but how much does your job love you?
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I'd say as there is a real real shortage of skills in my field (and thats only getting worse) its not going to change, also as a engineer the experience for working for operators and major contractors will only build on that.

But thanks for the concern, now back to the original question.

KaHn
 
I think a lot of it depends on your attitude to risk. I am a generally risk averse person therefore it shows through in my spending habits. I don't go without what I want - I satsify my hobbies of IT, cars and travel well - but I don't buy anything without considering it long and hard as well.

I do sometimes wish I could impulse buy things though..
 
I've been in the fortunate situation where I've not had to worry too much about money/finances. I had a part time job in my teens, my parents helped me out through university and I earn a comfortable wage.

The thing I've learned is that you live within your means. If you were to suffer serious financial hardship or unexpected financial responsibilities, I'm sure you'd spend accordingly. But until then, as long as you're comfortable, I wouldn't worry about your spending habits at all.

If anything, I'd probably carry on enjoying yourself.
 
[TW]Fox;20138086 said:
I spend money if I need or want something but will never, ever spend it for the sake of it and will never blow it on anything less than the best deal I can find. I also like to have a suitable amount built up at all times because you never know what the future might hold and what opportunities you could miss because your life is full of material items you didnt really want or you've spent it all on booze and your savings balance is nil.
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This, pretty much. I'm getting married next year and my biggest priority between now and then (and after then) is to reduce my mortgage to make way for some property purchases in the future for rental. I got in debt once when I was 18 or so. Nothing major, but since then, I've been on top of money so bad.

My parents have taught me well to value money. They have a little red book and whenever either of them buys something, it gets put in there with the receipt until the statement comes in the post and they check it off (well, Dad does it on internet banking now, lol). They have never been overdrawn, pay off credit cards in full and will only take finance if it's 0%.

My parents never made loads of money, in fact, I earn more now than their joint income before they retired, but they are both very astute to the point where I (and my family) will be quite well off when they eventually pass away (assuming they've left it to me and hopefully not for a long time though :)). That plus both my grandfathers were in excellent jobs (cheif of Edinburgh police and CFO of cadbury schweppes respectively) seems to have shaped a fairly good future for me, my children and their children. In essence, I want to be as careful with money as possible. I want to enjoy it, but I can't take it with me when I die, so I'd like to make sure I have sufficient provisions in place for my family and children.
 
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When I've been in the fortunate position to have lots of disposable money, I definitely agree that there are few better ways to spend it than seeing other people that you care about happy.
 
I've found that the more money I earn, the less I want to spend. 25 now and earning near enough double what I did 5 years ago, but most of it goes into savings. I guess it's partly down to growing up too and having a different attitude towards money. I care much more about what I spend it on now whereas I wouldn't think twice about dropping £100 on an evening out, now the thought of that horrifies me. Getting old :(
 
I impulse buy especially when I'm on a project like my man cave........ However I do always buy the cheapest and do a lot of research which actually means I end up spending more than I was going to in the first place
 
hyperzed said:
I've found that the more money I earn, the less I want to spend. 25 now and earning near enough double what I did 5 years ago, but most of it goes into savings. I guess it's partly down to growing up too and having a different attitude towards money. I care much more about what I spend it on now whereas I wouldn't think twice about dropping £100 on an evening out, now the thought of that horrifies me. Getting old :(
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Can absolutely relate to this.

A great example was that when I was 16 I happily shelled out something ridiculous like £300 for a GeForce3 Ti500 I think it was. Yet recently, except for when I went for a GTX570, I've found it hard to justify spending any more than about 200 quid on video cards despite being in a considerably better position than I was when I was 16! 300 quid was a months wages!
 
maccapacca said:
I impulse buy especially when I'm on a project like my man cave........ However I do always buy the cheapest and do a lot of research which actually means I end up spending more than I was going to in the first place
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and i can relate to this lol doing your research ends up making you buy better lol
 
I was always far too generous with my money because I had a better income than most of my friends. I wouldn't be too worried about it unless it starts to become expected.

If it's the weekend and you wanna spend a few quid to go out drinking with a skint mate it's not a bad thing.

It stops once you get a misses too, so it's not like it's forever or a bad habit you can't quit, it's just being nice.
 
[TW]Fox;20138218 said:
I think a lot of it depends on your attitude to risk. I am a generally risk averse person therefore it shows through in my spending habits. I don't go without what I want - I satsify my hobbies of IT, cars and travel well - but I don't buy anything without considering it long and hard as well.

I do sometimes wish I could impulse buy things though..
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Sometimes I wish I was more cautious with money some times, but I could only see that choking what I see as my social life :(

KaHn
 
KaHn said:
Am I the only one like this or are they others on OcUK that just see money as something to be spent as soon as you get it?

KaHn
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In my early 20's used to spend every last penny i got my hands on, be it going out, on the girlfriend, on IT gear and various other things.

I managed to pull it around and stop the mindless spending, i read some research into the subject and the reason they pinned to this sort of spending habbit is the person felt they didn't disserve the money so want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.
 
I don't mind spending money, but I hate wasting it. I always thoroughly research any major purchase (even smaller purchases are sometimes subject to extensive research!), I'd never just walk into an electronics store and by the first TV/laptop etc I liked the look of. I urge on the side of caution I guess.

I also hate not having spare cash, as Fox says you never know when you may need it for something important. Living right on the edge would scare me personally.

Atm I'm in a lucky situation of living at home and earning a good wage so I can spend a fair bit going out, seeing mates and buying stuff whilst also saving a decent amount. That's all about to change though, moving out soon!
 
Srengam said:
It stops once you get a misses too, so it's not like it's forever or a bad habit you can't quit, it's just being nice.
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See i havent been properly single since I was 16, with now being the longest time I've been single out of choice (2yrs).

KaHn
 
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