Investment specialists Skandia asked 500 professionals what financial advice they would give to younger people
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LIVE within your means and don’t get into debt, start planning for your future early and make saving for your retirement a priority.
That’s the advice from the over-50s to Britain’s twenty-somethings according to a new survey by Skandia, but the advice doesn’t always get through to young people struggling with different financial priorities.
The investment specialists asked 500 professionals in their 50s what advice they would give to younger people when it came to looking after their money.
And while an overwhelming majority (94 per cent) urged the younger generation to do their utmost to avoid getting into debt, only seven out of ten twenty-somethings said they were prepared to take the advice on board.
And while 71 per cent of those aged 50-plus urged the younger generation to make saving for retirement a priority, only 30 per cent of twenty-somethings said they planned to start putting money away for when they stop working.
Retirement is the last thing on the mind of Wimbledon resident Dan Cooper, 24, who said: “I can honestly say I’ve not put any money into my retirement yet, it’s not something I really like to think about.
“I like to spend my money a bit too much. I did pay into a share scheme at my old work but it wasn’t anything that long-term, if something like a pension scheme was offered to me I would certainly consider it but for the time being I would rather focus on saving on the immediate future.”
However, according to Skandia’s Growing Pains report, published earlier this year, which surveyed more than 1,000 (1,076) people aged 18 to 30, almost half (44 per cent) are performing financially much worse than expected.
All reported some level of debt but over a third of them (35 per cent) have debts of £5,000 or above and less than a quarter (23 per cent) have some form of pension.
And 61-year-old Brian Jefferies, a chartered building surveyor from East Grinstead, said not enough young people were thinking about the challenges in their financial future.
“Unfortunately, many young people are disillusioned and apathetic, merely living for today,” he said.
“It is difficult to persuade young people to save for the future when few have sufficient funds to set aside after living expenses.
“I think we now live in a culture which promotes spending rather than saving. With the goal posts continually on the move, rising prices, reduced income and poor investment returns one hopes that there will be enough – how much is enough?”
Graham Bentley, Skandia’s head of investment strategy, added: “Clearly there is a mismatch between what young people believe they will achieve and what they are actually doing to ensure they will have enough funds to support a comfortable retirement.”
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