Sadly, as the world has changed and successive generations focus on the material things in life, prudence is a long gone concept which, to be fair for me growing up in the 1950’s, was a lot easier moving forward into adulthood. I can still remember the debt collector visiting some of the houses in our street to collect the weekly repayments. Andy
The world revolves around money and economy. Without all the borrowing to continue the ever upwards debt spiral, the world banking system, and therefore all our homes and pensions, collapse. Pandora’s box is open: too late to change that And for most these days, with mortgage and rents how they are, saving simply isn’t an option as without tv etc there really is nothing to do that’s free any more unlike decades ago when most of us grew up.
Many employers do this, its called "Fire and rehire" which means you're sacked unless you agree to worse conditions, less holidays and lower wages. British gas sacked 490 engineers and only terminated the policy and agreed to U turn when a petition of 50,000 people said they would change energy supplier. British Airways did the same thing cutting staff salaries by 15% to 35%. P&O Ferries, sacked of 800 of its staff without notice, replacing them with foreign agency workers who were paid less than the UK minimum wage. Later, the firm's boss admitted the sackings were illegal. The effing Tory government did nothing to stop this.
Reap what you sow. Everyone (nearly) has taken the option to buy or pay for very nearly everything with some form of credit or monthly payment which puts them at the mercy of every profiteering organisation out there. Nobody understands or has the will power to go without until you have saved up to go and pay for the item you want, I lived for years on the principal of if you can't afford to pay for it you can't have it, it wasn't easy and I missed out on loads of things along the way but no pain no gain and now everything I have is an asset and I have no liabilities outside of monthly bills, I don't have a credit card or anything like that just peace of mind and stability that many people will never really know.
I grew up being told that if you want something to save for it as I would appreciate it more plus there wasn't a lot of money available in my family. I also instilled that into my two and they save for what they want Both work hard and saved for their cars It's taken a few years for my boy to get the car he wanted. It also taught them to look after the things they buy. There are plenty of things to do for free outside of tele etc it depends on if you really want to do them. When our generation grew up we had to make our own fun and spent our time outside.
Instagram fronting has a lot to answer for. Many of the younglings at the gym have crazy expensive cars, all on borrowed money. Curls (and cars) get gurls.
I have borrwed (for a mortgage) but when that was paid off, everything I had/have is bought and paid for; it's a great feeling, I can recommend it.
Many parks - you have to pay to park to boost everything these days, even a national trust walk. All the stately type homes that had grounds, they were often free and you paid for the house only. Even stuff like visiting the seaside costs money in extortionate parking costs if nothing else, assuming people actually don’t live there. People travel for work. More women than ever work, a) becsue ‘it’s equality, innit’ and b) big mortgage and rent costs. Travel equals need transport and cost. As a couple of examples.
I put stuff on credit card in part for security and in part for the cash (coffee vouchers) back. You have to be very fortunate not to borrow.
Thanks. As I Iived overseas most of my adult life, I didn't know the gardens at National Trust properties used to be free to enter. Hasn't parking at the beach always come with a premium charge?
Just about the only growth industry in this country are parasitic parking companies and other security and enforcement businesses that find ever more inventive ways to boss people around, surveil, record and fine them.
When I used to go to places like Ilfracombe and West Bay the parking ranged between £5-£10 per day, not that horrendous IMO. What I find completely unpalatable is those predatory companies looking to charge £100 for an overstay at retail parks or service stations. I understand it in some places, if you're a business owner near a football stadium for example, but mostly it's pure exploitation. The decaying town centres especially need to review parking charges as well as security.
If I tried to save for my new BMW and my new Ducati, I’d be dead before buying them. Life’s too short so I’ll take finance. If it wasn’t for finance I wouldn’t have a job. I am thinking of not keeping the BM or indeed having another new car. We are thinking the BM can go back and we buy an older Mini Cooper S.
I've got one and tbh, other than supercar type stuff, I can't think of a current model I'd rather have. Even the current BMW M3 doesn't tempt me as I'd still rather have the facelift E46 version. My R53 is tuned to buggery, an absolute hoot to drive and it only cost me £3k.
We bought my eldest an 05 plate cooper for his first car, me and the wife loved it, he’s taken to Uni so we are missing it. The BM is a 4 series and just a bit big, doesn’t fit parking spaces and has already been driven into by someone who just buggered off!!!
