OP
SMB
Hello everybodyif you get told about good earnings in the past by anybody over the age of, say 45, then most of the time its true, they did make good money back in the 1970's, 80's and 90's , however the ones that are skint now are skint for a reason, many landed pretty girlfriends back in the day before their back went wonky, they were young and crazy and went out partying with pretty girls, and those pretty girls had expensive tastes, and a bank account they wanted filling, and they knew where to get the cash, as we all know, if youre flush and a pretty woman takes your fancy, you will probably splash the cash, pay their mortgage, buy them a nice second hand car etc, unless when youre not looking your Gaffer at work puts bromide in your tea, and you put all your money into a 10 year trust...
Then theres the fact that back in the 1980's and 1990's a lot of the sparkies and other construction workers went mental and travelled all over the world seeing the sites, drinking the drink and spending the cash, you know just taking 4 months off for the summer and heading to the airport.... and along came a wife and 3 kids......mortgage to get out of the 17th floor asbestos ridden damp flat with junkies outside.....thats the next 20 years wages pratted....thats Kim and Craig got into Uni, dont want to be sparks like their dad...."no son/daughter of mine is getting into student loan debt, not after I have worked so hard all those years, I wont allow it"...ok so thats 3 and a half grand a year, even in Scotland, as in Scotland that just gets added to the student loan debt...just for the fees, and 5 grand a year for student halls for the first year until they get settled, then books and a laptop, say another 2 grand, they'll need a wee car, thats 4 grand, and another thousand pounds to insure it every year, maybe 6 grand just to buy food, 40 pounds a month for a mobile contract, and they will go over the minutes so you will get billed.....student posessions insurance, another 120 pounds a year, they will need a pile of new clothes to go away to Uni, another 1000 pounds, then they will need clothes and shoes throughout the year, and petrol money, another say, 80 pounds a week........they will get a part time job in a bar, but that will only pay 5.79 an hour minimum wage, granted there wont be any tax on their small wages as students only pay £2 a week National insurance stamp, so they keep the rest...but they will spend that all on drink or saving for a summer time Holiday with their Uni friends....
So the next time an older guy says "ah the good old days" he's just remembering when he was your age and things were much better, you dont need to say "Hey old timer"....."Hey Gringo....yeah you mr I used to be a bank manager"...."dees is rubbish yo talkin".....because he is probably only working to pay for his children, or even Grand children to go through Uinversity......
It's great when youre young like us, not a care in the world, have this woman, have that car, go to that place on Holiday.....oo oo have that woman there too, that one in the Bar in Spain.... and its not until we have a girlfriend for a little longer than the last one, all our buddies are married "for some strange reason" and then the girlfriend starts crying for no reason one day...."I ve got sumthin...sumthin..boo hoo haa hoo umm ahhaayyyi..ta..tell..boo hoo...." (thinks to self oh crap) Iyaeeemhhh pregggnnaaaahhant"(face gone red, crying a waterfall) and thats it.....now you will be skint as well, unless you are really good at managing your work situation/workload....
motorbike-Gone, Family saloon 12k.
private let flat,which costs a thousand pounds a month-Gone, time for a house with a little garden, £1300 a month for the next 22 years, plus a £60,000 deposit and a £3000 bank admin charge, that you will need to see mum and dad for..
The girlfriend (wife now) she has to stop working to take care of the little one, so thats a wage down...
17 years pass by, been paying extra into mortgage so its in its last year of payments, and time for University...youre pleased as punch...thats a lot of money that you need to put out for the next 3 years but your boy is going to be a teacher....woo hoo...
Uni finished, boy all grown up and met a nice lady, working as a teacher, grandchildren on the way....youre sitting there in your chair at the bar rolling a cigarette, pint at side....happy old man,speaking to your old buddies who have all retired, youre still working 3 days a week as a sparky.... and Ayyyeay ayhyhaiaaiiiy (clutches chest) clatter, down goes the stool, on floor curled up twitching....life flashes before you(remembers good old days and all friends and family) ukkkkuhhhh .......drools....dead
If you find out that youre going to be a dad, make sure you start a trust fund for the wee one straight away while they are still a barely noticable bump, so that they can go to uni when they are 18, the best thing to do is to start a trust fund that matures and pays out at their 18th birthday, start another small one beside that that will mature at 21, just to make sure and it will help with a flat/house deposit when they finish uni, as well as maybe a gap year...
Get yourself set up with some kind of savings plan(be very very careful and check everything out 3 times first) that you can cash in the summer before the kids go to uni, so that you can take them on a nice big holiday abroad as a reward for being good, and these trust funds/savings accounts taken out now will mean that you can eventually retire, and that you will be slightly minted by the time the kids are grown up, instead of working to the very end...
thats just my
Cheers for the 'reality-check' post Grant.
I like your attitude.
Err, im unemployed, lazy and skint (no wonder im single).
Last edited by a moderator:
