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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.

Authoress Wed 06-Feb-19 15:01:52

Spend more time with Mum. You're going to miss her terribly when she goes.

Noreen3 Wed 06-Feb-19 15:07:42

I'd have encouraged my late husband to take out life insurance,and been more assertive in general when I thought I was right about something.

AEB69 Wed 06-Feb-19 15:18:53

It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice

wallers5 Wed 06-Feb-19 15:19:49

Financially I should have been much more secure with savings & pension. I married too young. I did not follow my career path but that which my parents wanted me to do. I did not get down in writing my parents brave effort in the war. They did not like talking about it but it was too important to leave. Enjoy life before illness hits.

Stansgran Wed 06-Feb-19 15:33:16

I would tell her not to cash in her pension on maternity leave and I would insist on life insurance for us both instead of assuming we will always be well off after we paid off our mortgage. Also I wish we had stretched ourselves with buying better houses. I get quite sad when I see the houses we were capable of buying but DH couldn't be bothered moving. This house hates me.

kathrob Wed 06-Feb-19 15:38:56

definitely enjoy your children. Expensive holidays can be enjoyed in later life.

rainbowvalley Wed 06-Feb-19 15:50:54

I wish I had made a secure career choice and continued with it I would have been someone high up in a company by now!

Seakay Wed 06-Feb-19 16:14:15

Do not marry him!

noahsark Wed 06-Feb-19 16:16:45

If you ever get offered a work pension take it up. Even if you don’t intend to stay in that job. I worked somewhere for years but thought I’d only stay a few weeks & missed out on all that time I could have put in to a work pension only to take it up some 8 years later.

clinkervision Wed 06-Feb-19 16:26:59

Don't waste time on people who don't matter...just on the ones that do

jackanderson96 Wed 06-Feb-19 16:44:21

Not to eat yellow snow

jackanderson96 Wed 06-Feb-19 16:45:20

Not take life so seriously

Conniewonnie Wed 06-Feb-19 16:45:57

Put a fiver away every month for your retirement. I was told this on my first wage of £100 per month and laughed...not laughing now some 35 years later.

Ceemorr Wed 06-Feb-19 16:50:31

If anything, don't be too busy chasing the moment to enjoy it properly. No regrets though. smile

strawberrinan Wed 06-Feb-19 16:58:24

You look lovely in that photograph. If you don't think so now, you will in 20 years.

Biddysue Wed 06-Feb-19 17:01:34

Put yourself first sometimes and take every opportunity to travel .

svalentine60 Wed 06-Feb-19 17:02:35

I'm a worrier. Always have been. I worry about tomorrow instead of living for today. So I'd tell myself to live life to the full and not worry about what might happen in the future. To take each day as it comes.

Charlottela Wed 06-Feb-19 17:12:17

You should start saving and taking more risks. For example, take up that mortgage offer you were offered and get yourself on the property ladder...the payments are more than affordable! Stop being lazy and have more confidence in your ability to manage a property!

g73lh Wed 06-Feb-19 17:13:07

Have more fun! Eventually the serious stuff will be unavoidable, but don't worry about it until you have to. smile

jochrisbryan Wed 06-Feb-19 17:19:22

Don't overthink things as much, try to live a little

Ikea1234 Wed 06-Feb-19 17:38:37

I wouldn't worry so much about what people think and I would eat the cake, wear the shorter skirt, buy a bikini (not a one piece) and go for the promotion. As someone reminded me the other day: you're a long time dead.

sc00ter Wed 06-Feb-19 17:52:51

Be yourself, as they say. Yes be YOU as everyone else is taken!!
Try not to please everyone - as its impossible.
Do all you can for your loved ones, as one day they will be gone.....Then its TO LATE AND ITS NO GOOD WISHING YOU HAD.
works never as important as your family.
Lastly as my Nan used to say, the dirt will be there when you've gone.

Cailin7 Wed 06-Feb-19 18:19:06

I would not offer my younger self advice. Life should not be about regrets and the decisions we made when we were younger make us who we are today.

Cambia Wed 06-Feb-19 18:31:46

Check your pension payments! Mine was married woman’s and only found out a couple of years ago, so virtually no pension! Definitely save as much as possible.

marpau Wed 06-Feb-19 18:37:58

Avoid paying interest wherever possible