Panorama and Debt- very concerning

I don’t consider a mortgage in the same light as other debts, although it’s still a debt of course. In my mind debt covers overspending on things you don’t really need, like that new fancy phone, every new fashion, expensive holiday etc. all fine if you can afford the repayments plus interest but if you can’t, don’t. Since I split with my ex I don’t have a mortgage but I do have an expensive rent so can’t afford to splash out on luxuries.
I told the family that my budget for Christmas presents would be £10 a head this year and would they please do the same when buying for me. Everybody was delighted and had been thinking the same. Surprisingly I’ve managed to get some really nice presents within my budget and have increased their appeal with a bit of home crafting. I bought a bird nesting box for instance for my granddaughter but painted it with blue tits sitting on a branch. For my daughter I got some pretty fabric and recovered her garden bench seat cushion. I know not everyone can do this and I’ve only done it for a few but still found plenty of things on that famous online shopping site. I’m happy that I haven’t had to load it all onto a credit card that I’d still be paying off next Christmas.

How many smoke, have huge Sky subscriptions, take a holiday every year?
Every child should be taught money management at school, together with how to cook.
If I can't afford it I don't buy it and save up.

Yes, I was : This thread was NOT, in any way, shape or form, about young people's consumer behaviour-

You were very optimistic there, Kali2.

but about the multiple Money lending companies that prey on the weakest and most vulnerable.

A pity- it was about the above, and how the Government, via education, but also strict laws about maximum interest rates, and enforced credit checks before lending, should limit these disgusting practices that put the most vulnerable at huge risk of losing everything.

And selfishly, as a society- us all having to pick up the tab eventually, in 100s of ways.

The heartbreak arrives when many finally want to grow up and start a family maybe nearly in their 40s(bit late IMO) and discover that they've left it so late in their hunger to stay a teen-ager all their life that the babies are simply not going to arrive. It's heart breaking and just so unnecessary. What has society done? Convincing everyone that to start a family and live a modest life is such anathema?

A tad besides the point, Mummer. Really

I suppose we can also ask how many are helped by their parents towards house deposits, child minding (free) and all kinds of other goodies?
Lots on here have and do help their adult children.

There are companies that are sponsored on here to talk to members and advise how to "gift" money to their children without it affecting the tax, the savings for care, etc.

There's a difference between 'need' and 'want'. If you want something and borrow to pay for it, then end up in debt - your problem. If you need something and don't earn enough, the problem belongs to all of us to solve. Feeding your kids from food banks but having Sky TV and X Box is asking for trouble and you don't have my sympathy. If you can pay for it, don't borrow for it. Different World now, I want it, I'm getting it.

MissAdventure

I suppose we can also ask how many are helped by their parents towards house deposits, child minding (free) and all kinds of other goodies?
Lots on here have and do help their adult children.

There are companies that are sponsored on here to talk to members and advise how to "gift" money to their children without it affecting the tax, the savings for care, etc.

Yes I know, I said earlier re free childcare etc
I don't know who these people are that smoke and have a huge tv etc
what on earth are people on

My GD and her partner have quite recently bought a new house. They have bought new sofas new dining table .new beds they sold their original furniture for next to nothing the list goes on and on . When I got my first house I had a second hand sofa which lasted 12 years I have had 2 new beds in 51 years of marriage it's a very different world nowadays

We bought our house when we got married, but didn't have a car or holidays for a very long time. The house cost the sum of our annual salaries - we each earned a reasonable amount, nothing amazing, but how many couples now have a combined income of £250,000, which would buy only a modest house in the south? I do agree about wanting everything new and NOW though - a recipe for financial disaster, along with credit card companies upping the maximum amount if you spend to your limit.

So who has friends who are in debt but have all these items?
You all mix with people closely enough to know all the ins and outs of their financial status?
All very strange, considering how little you have in common with them.

I'm right at the bottom of the pile, financially, but actually don't know anybody who feeds their children from food banks but have huge sky packages.

The only person I know who lives in any way similar to that, has a whole host of other issues going on.
(See the thread about children let down by social services)

Itotally agree with the OP that there needs to be strict regulation on loan and credit card companies, especially the payday loans companies. They should be doing far more checks around affordability and making customers aware of exactly how much these products will cost in real life before just handing over cash or cards.

A PP said something about the fact that money management and the effects of debt should be taught in schools, whilst another said that Martin Lewis's team have information on organisations that will help those in debt.

Anyone who watches Martin on TV or receives his MoneySavingExpert.com emails will know that Martin actually produced a book on financial matters and debt and has distributed it to thousands of schools around England (at his own personal expense). He's lobbied government to get this subject onto the school curriculum for 11-18yr olds too, and all these schools are using his book to teach kids about financial matters.

When my ex and I divorced, shortly before it was finalised, my ex ran up in excess of £50k of debts then immediately notified the credit card companies that he was out of work and couldn't pay. Because at that time we were still legally married (although separated and going through the divorce) they transferred all his debts into my name, I was working and as I was still legally his wife, I was jointly responsible, they weren't interested in the status of our almost divorce. So I have spent over 23yrs paying off his debts and I'm looking at another approx 4yrs before I'll have cleared them.

I am disabled and unfortunately haven't been able to work for the past 11yrs so have to live on benefits. I bought my house (with a mortgage) 20yrs ago when I was working for the NHS and earning £14k a year, I was still only earning £21k when I was forced to give up work.

I raised my son on my own and taught him about the value of money from a young age, involving him in my household finances and budgeting. On advice from a friend, I started giving him a fairly decent allowance of £60/month at the age of 10 (15yrs ago) but he had to pay for his own sweets, games, clothes (except school uniform), trips with friends etc, out of it. It was amazing how quickly he started budgeting and saving his money throughout the month because he knew he didn't want to spend weeks with no cash until his next allowance payment. It stood him in good stead for when he went to university and later going into work and having to pay household bills etc.

Because of my financial situation, I was unable to contribute more than an occasional grocery delivery for him whilst he was at university, he had to manage on his maintenance loan.

As such, he does have student loans but he's fully aware of how much he'll have to pay on them and for how long. Martin Lewis regularly advises that unless university graduates are expecting to be earning mega salaries (doctors, solicitors etc) they will highly likely never repay the full loan and anything unpaid after 30yrs (from the April following graduation) is written off.

My son is now 25, he never buys anything he doesn't have the funds available for, buys his clothes in sales, looks for voucher codes to save on delivery charges or for extra savings, he uses Aldi and Asda for his groceries but keeps a Tesco clubcard in his wallet in case he goes in there and saves his points to exchange for partner vouchers which are worth 3 times their face value and puts them towards holidays or days out.

I was talking to him about my money and the fact that I'd just made the final payment on my mortgage a couple of months back and he told me that he actually has around £15k in savings. He's only been working for about 2yrs.

I'm so proud of the fact that my boy is so good with money, I know it's because I taught him well and that he's seen what his father's debts have done to us.

Basically, what I'm saying here is that there IS education in schools for the kids and that it should be reinforced by parents. Whether the parents can financially afford to support their kids through university, help them with deposits for housing, offer free childcare, etc, or not, we can teach them how to budget, what impact the 20% or 49% interest on loans, overdrafts and credit cards (and the 1000s% interest on payday loans) will have on the actual cost of purchases, how to look for savings etc, basically give them the tools they need to make sure that if they go into debt for whatever reason they know what they're doing, but also they need to know that if they get into a financial mess, it's their mess, their doing, not ours but that there is also help out there that will show them how to dig themselves out of the mess, and that even if we don't/can't help them financially, we're still here to support them emotionally and for advice.

I enjoyed reading your post Harmonypuss and found it inspiring. You could write a book on your experience in this area.

pce612

How many smoke, have huge Sky subscriptions, take a holiday every year?
Every child should be taught money management at school, together with how to cook.
If I can't afford it I don't buy it and save up.

"Teaching" children about money management and how to cook at school is a waste of time, which could be used more profitably.

By the time the skills are needed, most will have been forgotten. In any case, children notoriously are reluctant to listen to teachers about practical matters. There's a vast gap between teaching and learning.

I guess it might tick somebody's box that something is being done, but that's about it.

A big part of the problem is the disgustingly high cost of housing. Everyone wants a secure roof over their heads and the spiralling costs lead a lot of young ones to get in over their heads. I thought maybe a solution would be to stop people owning multiple properties but that is not the answer,either, because there would be less rentals available without these investors. I think no one should be allowed to own these massive properties that could house many- royalty being a prime example. It is,quite simply, wrong.

Martin Lewis is campaigning for money management to be taught in some schools, some are already doing this. A lot of children have parents who cannot manage their finances properly and don’t look ahead for future planning, this means that they don’t have a base line. When my parents married in the 40’s, they made sure they could manage on just my DDs wage in case a baby came along sooner than planned. My Mom’s wages were saved. Yes, times are different but the have now pay later culture doesn’t help, having credit and borrowing left right and centre is thrust in the faces every time they watch TV or use their phones, eventually they are brainwashed by the money lenders. This is where it has to be tackled. Also the idea that you just have to go bankrupt to get rid of debt, insane.

A young woman in my office got herself into all sorts of trouble with payday loans - it was alarming as they rang her every day, often twice, and were so unpleasant and threatening. She borrowed from a family member to pay off the loan, and told us that she had wanted to give her children lots of Christmas presents. They may have had plenty of gifts, but at what a price - a nervy and jumpy mother who was afraid to answer the door or the phone for months.

I would say that is the exception rather than the rule.
There is only so long someone with not enough money coming in can rob Peter to pay Paul.

Most people only turn to these measures o the day that Peter and Paul can no longer be put off.

Payday loans should be outlawed completely, interest on credit cards is plenty high enough, if for whatever reason you can’t manage there needs to be a regulated agency to get you out of debt.
Not free money, help to put your finances and maybe life in order.