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What advice would you give to your younger self? Share with Legal & General - NOW CLOSED

(624 Posts)
EllieGransnet (GNHQ) Mon 04-Feb-19 14:42:13

We’ve all been asked this question at some point. Our answers can vary from ‘I wish I’d taken more risks’ or ‘I would have stopped caring about what people think’, to ‘I wish I’d had more fun’ or ‘I wish I’d travelled the world more’. But if you really think about it, what practical advice would you have really benefited from when you were younger? What would you have told your younger self? What would you have done differently? A recent survey carried out across Mumsnet and Gransnet revealed that some Gransnet users consciously put off financial decisions. Is going further with your finances something you might have given more consideration to, with the benefit of hindsight? Whatever advice you’d like to give to your younger self, Legal & General would love to know.

Here’s what Legal & General have to say: “On our savings journey, a nudge in the right direction can make the world of difference when it comes to our financial futures. It’s starting off early, saving little and often over a longer period, that can really pay off*. Although it’s never too late to start saving, what tips and guidance would have motivated you to do more with your money and just get started?”

Would you have taken more risks when you were younger? Is there any information you wish you would have known back then, such as how to save into your pension, how to invest your money or even how to save your money from an earlier age? Would you like to tell your younger self to be more confident in the decisions you make? Or perhaps you wish you’d spent more time with friends and family?

Whatever the advice you would like to give to your younger self, post them on the thread below and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one GNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).*

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
GNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

*Open 4/02/19 to 25/02/19. To enter please post on the thread below. One entry per person. One prize to be won: £300 voucher of winner’s choice (from a list). Winner chosen by random draw performed by computer process.

*The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and any income from them is not guaranteed. Legal & General Unit Trust Managers Limited.

mbody Sun 10-Feb-19 10:02:21

Get a career that can support you

albertina Sun 10-Feb-19 10:39:53

When I got my first proper wage I would have listened when told that it's a good idea to save.

As a teenager I should have sought help for my situation at home, that would have made a big difference to my mental health in adult life.

I would have appreciated my much older brother and sister more.

There's a lot more, which sounds as though I am discontent, but I am not.

OliverZach Sun 10-Feb-19 15:01:26

I wish I had realised how much even just £1 a week could grow!

lauzc87 Sun 10-Feb-19 15:08:15

Don't buy that house as a 19 year old with that silly bloke you thought you'd be together with forever. Hindsight is a great thing! Other than that, now I'm in my 30's, things are starting to come together.

Shanice Sun 10-Feb-19 18:11:05

Never try and please everyone just do what you want always and don’t trust anyone except yourself keep smiling no matter what x

Lollin Sun 10-Feb-19 19:23:39

Every penny counts, so keep saving what you can afford to and don't spend to keep up with your peers - they won't be there when your savings have depleted.

etheltbags1 Sun 10-Feb-19 20:01:21

I would have said marry a wealthy man. Wear make up and diet on order to keep the man also have more than one child so i would need to have lots of time off work and only work part time for years

Maggiemaybe Mon 11-Feb-19 00:05:10

I appreciate where you’re coming from, ethel. I did have the one besotted and rich boyfriend with a sports car and a penchant for writing me very soppy poems. I could have had an easy life if I’d stuck with him (and hadn’t died of boredom). Second thoughts, I’d have advised my younger self to move on, as I did. grin

tubbyj Mon 11-Feb-19 00:27:10

Have confidence and take more risks career wise

darklocke Mon 11-Feb-19 01:35:43

Put more into your pension pot!

Loranne Mon 11-Feb-19 05:06:14

I would tell my younger self to listen to myself. How many dark mistakes I made because I ignored that inner nudging! If only I had the confidence and knowledge that my own instincts were true and good, life today would be much less tangled.

mcclureamanda11 Mon 11-Feb-19 07:48:41

i wish i would have fostered or adopted sooner

Johno Mon 11-Feb-19 12:21:46

Wheres the competition when the winner is chosen at random? I could say anything.

DotMH1901 Mon 11-Feb-19 12:54:02

I would tell myself to pay more attention at senior school and go on to do my A levels, to wait another year before having my first child, not to rely on my mother as a childminder but find someone outside of family and to make sure my DH looked after himself better so we wouldn't have lost him so soon - oh, and, make sure I purchased the Financial Times daily so I would be informed that I would have to wait an extra six years for my pension (as that was where the Government's plans were announced and we all buy the FT daily, don't we??)

helenclare Mon 11-Feb-19 13:07:30

Be brave and follow your dreams.

LynnKnowles Mon 11-Feb-19 13:12:04

I would tell my younger self to worry less about absolutely everything

emmmaaa26 Mon 11-Feb-19 16:14:10

Get a good job, but balance it with family because thats the most important thing in life.

gemmalaird Mon 11-Feb-19 17:48:37

I would tell my younger self to stop wasting money, to not get into debt and you wont need to struggle later on in life.

RMonkton Mon 11-Feb-19 19:57:45

Don't sweat the small stuff!

abwhite Mon 11-Feb-19 21:41:18

To stop feeling you aren’t really up to the job and will be found to be an imposter, no one is 100% up to a job or they would have moved up!

Dormouse1940 Tue 12-Feb-19 10:15:28

Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and go after opportunities- even if they don't work out, you'll learn so much more than if you'd just stayed stagnating.

I wish I could have believed that things really do work out, somehow. Even when it seems like everything's wrong and it'll never improve, things do pass and you'll be back on an even keel soon. Heck, things usually end up BETTER than they were before. Just keep doing your best and somehow things will be ok x

maciv234 Tue 12-Feb-19 10:47:47

to take more chances if you want to get somewhere in life

funsizescot1975 Tue 12-Feb-19 11:12:14

I wish I had been true to what I needed to be happy took me till my 40s to live the life I wanted wasted too much time pleasing others. Not that I would've taken the advice far too concerned with pleasing family friends etc.

Breeze81 Tue 12-Feb-19 11:36:49

I'd tell my younger self not to spend my whole 20 and a lot of my 30's wasting so much money on drink and drugs.

olivia280177 Tue 12-Feb-19 13:54:21

Stay on the property ladder!! I wish I had fought harder to stay on it when my ex husband and I split up.