Mistakes I’ve Made With Money Over The Years
As I approach the very end of my twenties I’d like to think I am pretty good with my money. No one is perfect but I’m in a position where I have savings (until we move that is). And things are going pretty well. But it hasn’t always been like that, when I was younger I wasn’t quite as savvy as I could have been when it came to money. Here are some of the mistakes I’ve made with money over the years.
Spending everything I earned
When I had my first proper job I was in sixth form and living at home. So I had no real expenses other than upkeep on my car and a phone contract (those were the days). And for the first few years of earning pretty well, I spent everything I got. I didn’t save much money and just got used to having a lot of disposable income. This made it a lot harder when I did start to save as I went from having loads of expendable income to much less. I found it hard to draw a line between practical purchases like customizable backdrops to remember key moments and spur of the moment purchases like makeup and a new TV.
In hindsight, I wish I had started saving money even earlier to get into good habits. And this is something I’d encourage everyone to do even if it’s a few pounds you’re saving. It gets you into good habits, and it all adds up.
Not upping my pension contributions
I did one of those online quizzes a year back and got scared at how much it said I needed to be putting into my pension to get a good payout when I was older. I straight away upped my pension a little bit, but nowhere near as much as they said. But my pension wasn’t something I had thought much about before then, and by this point, I was 28. In previous jobs when I was earning I did the bare minimum that they make you do and never thought to up it. It would have been a good idea to up my contributions then so I got used to putting it in. But thankfully I still have plenty of time. But who realistically can afford to put 20-25% of their earnings in a pension?! Not me!
Paying off my student loan
Sometimes I think paying off my student loan was a great thing. It definitely helped me get my first mortgage, it means I don’t have money coming out every month and I know it’s something I don’t need to worry about. But the other part of me thinks there was so much more I could have done with the £14-15,000 I paid off. I went to uni when it wasn’t much more than £3,000 a year to study. And I lived at home so didn’t take out a maintenance loan until my third year. So in the grand scheme of things my debts were pretty low.
When my Grandad passed away when I was younger he put some money aside for me and this was (almost) enough to pay off my loans before the interest kicked in. In hindsight, though it may have been a better use to put it into a bond and save to put down a bigger deposit on my first flat. Then I’d have been paying less interest on my mortgage. At the time it was the best decision for me, but sometimes I think should I have done it?!
Not checking my credit score
Up until about 25/26, I didn’t have much of a clue about credit scores. I knew I must have been seen to have a good credit history as I had a mortgage, and that’s all I needed to know. It wasn’t until I got into thinking about the potential of moving and buying a bigger house that I thought to check my credit score. I’ve made a whole load of changes to bank accounts/ credit agreements etc thanks to recommendations shown via my credit score app.
I highly encourage everyone to check out their credit score. I use Clear Score as my main one, but need to try Experian too. You may not like what you see, but it’s a great way to help make recommendations and see it move in a positive way.
As I said above I may not be perfect with money or my spending habits. But I’m always learning and doing the best I can.
Whats your biggest money mistake?
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17 responses to “Mistakes I’ve Made With Money Over The Years”
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All About Me
Rhian Westbury
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I think we have all made these mistakes, I know I did I recently shared one of mine from when I was younger. I also think that as we grow older we learn from our mistakes and change our behaviour with finances
You’re so right, sometimes you have to make the mistakes in order to learn from them x
I got into a lot of debt when I was younger and it took me years to pay it off. I am now much more careful
We all make mistakes with money at some points in our lives. It’s important to recognise this and stop them happening again.
I definitely used to do the spend as much as you earn! I am much more careful now although I should definitely be upping my pension contributions.
It’s scary how much money they think you should save for your pension x
There are so many things I would changed but as I have gotten older I feel like I am, slowly, getting wiser. We bought our first house this year and it was something I never thought we would be able to do so I feel so proud!
That’s so exciting, congrats x
Think we’ve all made mistakes when it comes to money. I’ve definitely made the mistake of spending everything I earn and not learning to save until later life but I make sure I do now.
I’m putting some extra into my pension but not, as you say, 25%!! It’s almost impossible.
It really is after all the expenses of life x
I’ve definitely made mistakes with money over the years but am finally getting to a point where I’m much more careful. I should perhaps up my pension contributions though.
We all have our share of money mistakes. It’s part of life. I always try to be very careful now and share what I know to others.
I know what you mean about your student loan as its the best kind of debt to have and doesnt count against you when going for a mortgage the way that a normal loan would. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though isn’t it xxx
It really is, although my mortgage advisor when I first bought did say it went in my favour with lenders that I didn’t have any student loans x
Omg fearing reading the title, hah! I can truly recognised i every point, I wish I was better at handling money and my spending and that I focused on paying off my debt! Still doing it tho! These are good tips 🙂
I can definitely relate to lots of things in this post. For me I really wish I had put more money aside and saved more when I was still living at home and before I had kids! Nowadays I am lucky if I ever have much to put aside and save as the kids always need something so I do regret not having those savings in place already for sure!