hhmmm the youth of today - high expectations or spoiled rotten by us?

[FILFAN]

when i was 16 my mum got me a vw beetle but it was a complete wreck and i had to sort it all out myself.

 

i paid for my own lessons and have always paid my own insurance

 

i know when my 2 are old enough ther eis no way that i will be paying 1p towards their insurance and running costs. if they cant afford a car then they have no need for one. i will help them with servicing and looking after it as i think thats important

[User0083]

Too right!

I had a bike, then car, between jobs, so car had to come off the road and I got a cheap 125... Then joined army, saved... You know, not spend every last penny in my pocket, then got a car insured, taxed, mot'd and looking pretty. Now wife and I have built up a credit card, three house moves, marriage and £500-£750 a month on petrol due to 200 mile distance between us! Now decided to pay it of, destroy it and if we can't afford it in cash we won't have it!

[cidersurfer]

My first car was a Metro. I was 20 and bought it myself for £500, it was crap but I didn't care - it was a car and it worked and I could keep it working. I paid for everything and managed to pull the money together after grafting on building sites through the summer breaks from Uni. Before I graduated I bought a 205gti and a holiday to Greece with a loan advanced by the bank ahead of my starting work. I presented the bank manager with two job offers and he said how much do you want! I said £5000 but I won't be able to start paying until September - he said no problem have a great summer!

I'm not sure that would happen today...

[housebeautician]

My first car was a Metro. I was 20 and bought it myself for £500, it was crap but I didn't care - it was a car and it worked and I could keep it working. I paid for everything and managed to pull the money together after grafting on building sites through the summer breaks from Uni. Before I graduated I bought a 205gti and a holiday to Greece with a loan advanced by the bank ahead of my starting work. I presented the bank manager with two job offers and he said how much do you want! I said £5000 but I won't be able to start paying until September - he said no problem have a great summer! I'm not sure that would happen today...

 

Probably laugh at you and tell you to sod off 

[Tyson]

I never asked my parents to buy me cars or motorbikes,no point they would have told me to do what they did, so i did and worked long hours to pay for my racing when i was 17, i did the same for my car, insurance and tax. I went without other things in my life to do what i loved, at least i can say that i have never had a handout and earnt what i have. The important part here is that you tend to appreciate and look after things more because you have worked hard to get them. I see too many youngsters getting everything they want and then not even looking after there stuff, easy come easy go type of thing.

I realise life is different now for a lot of younsters and in a lot ways harder for them to get on the road with the costs etc. But it will not do them anygood in the long run if they have everything given to them whenever they ask for it.   

[iain m]

My Mother gave up driving and we used her old Mini Metro teach our two sons to drive and get then through their tests, they were then on their own. Our local garage recenty closed, their main income was repairing older car for youngsters, this has now ceased as youngsters have new cars bought on credit. Buying a car usually provoked questions like whats the cost of insurance/road tax/servicing costs/depreciation/fuel. Not any more,now the 3 major questions are has it got bluetooth/satnav and will it charge my ipod?? With 7 Grandchildren that keep up with every latest gadget and fashion fad, car ownership could prove interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[User0083]

My opinion on it...

Car choice

Was: budget, condition, mot left

Is: is it cool? Will my mates like it? What's monthly payments?

Very few people pay for anything in full now, like America, it's not cash in the bank, but plastic and what lifestyle you can get on credit!

[Norman Verona]

it's not cash in the bank, but plastic and what lifestyle you can get on credit!

 

 

Do we never learn?

[Tyson]

My opinion on it... Car choice Was: budget, condition, mot left Is: is it cool? Will my mates like it? What's monthly payments? Very few people pay for anything in full now, like America, it's not cash in the bank, but plastic and what lifestyle you can get on credit!

We can all go out and have credit cards, fill them up, buy nice things and then show off to people.....Thinking we are wealthy.  .....All ok while you can pay the cards off but the trouble starts when the job is lost or the income stops

If i haven't the money for something then it's simple......I don't buy it. I would rather not have something than have the stress of paying loans/cards etc.

At least i can stay at home now and have a nice break instead of rushing of to work to pay off my cards.

[s2rrr]

Some of us are managing to spoil our kids by giving in to peer pressure and supplying all sorts of goodies from X boxes, PS2's then cars then gap years then houses or deposits etc etc. We may learn one day that spoiling the kids is just that, spoiling. They won't learn the value of money until there own hard earned cash is at risk by their own (sometimes) wreckless activities. The lesson which we should all learn is that paying for todays goods tomorrow is a flawed arrangement only encouraged by those veritable institutions the banking system.

If you can afford to do it , you aren't going to stop and it puts pressure on those less fortunate people who can't really afford it but manage to juggle the numbers to provide for their own.

 

The rat race I think its called or was that keeping up with the Jones's. No offence to Jones's my daughters one. Maybe the country needs a bit of austerity instead of health clubs, beauty spas, nail clinics or err toy cars.

 

Bob 

[jim_l]

Off at a tangent but -do we ever learn, indeed...

 

We are in a crisis because as individuals we thought it was a good idea to spend tomorrow's pay today, as companies we thought it was a good idea to spend tomorrow's profits today, and as a nation we thought it was a good idea to spend tomorrow's taxes today.  It might have been obvious this couldn't go on indefinitely and payback time was going to come..

 

As a response - almost 400 Billion in Quantitative easing in an attempt to promote more of the lending that got us into the hole we are in beggars belief.

 

The only way is to rein in spending and grind away at paying off debts, as many are doing.   Wouldn't it be nice to imagine having all of tomorrow's income to spend, tomorrow!

 

Of course borrowing isn't always bad,  borrowing to buy a place you are going to live therefore reducing your costs tommorow, infrastructure projects that have a value proposition i.e. make you better off tomorrow, etc. but there isn't much of that going on.

[CRAIGR]

Bought my own damaged moped  at 16 with saved paper round money and my dad paid to have the forks straightened and i paid the insurance and tax. At 17 i bought my first car a cortina mk2 600 super with a blown engine for £15 and and bought a 1300 engine for £20 Dad helped me to fit it, i insured and taxed it.

Never crossed my mind to ask my parents to pay for any of it and never has since. If i haven't got the cash it doesn't get bought period !. 

Whereas my sister has always bought everything on plastic,racking up the debts and my dad bless him has just bought her a 10k volvo because she's potless and he feels sorry for her..   .

[Graham0127]

I keep reading these replies...These spoiled kids are our products,we love them,provide for them,give them what we can when we can and always will.Times move on....we once lived in caves.I think todays kids are just different.My dad did give me some great things but always told me how he had nothing & I didn`t appreciate anything..I DO.My two youngest are 6 & 8...one has a KTM50 & a 65 ,the younger a Honda 50 & a quad.Am I spoiling them or giving them things to enhance their lives?They love flying but I can`t afford an aeroplane & they understand that.When they start work,like their big brother, it all changes......my dad called this a learning curve     ....and it`s what all youngsters embark on.They will all learn and pass their experiences onto their children.Remember what you want and what you get are two different things....WE ALL HAVE HEARD THAT ONE ??   Happy and safe blatting to everyone in 2013.

[Pilot Pete]

Talking to the cap, we cant really remember how it came about that I got a car. I didn't learn to drive until I was 18 as like Dan, I had a bus pass to get to college. I think its when I finished college and was looking for a job that the rents funded me driving lessons, but mainly because the bus service from Etherley is crap and really narrowed my job prospects. The job I eventually got required a driving license at the time, thats when the cap rushed out and bought me the micra. I soon earned some money and quickly changed it for something nicer!

 

Get him a car if he needs it, but not just because he's 17.

[jeff oakley]

This thread has all the hallmarks of the Monty Pythone scetch. "When I were young we used to lick road wit tongue" etc. Yes some parents are stupid, they give unconditional gifts to their kids and if they can afford it or are happy why do we all have to follow like a herd?

We bought our daughters first and second car, but she knows how lucky she is has it spolit her as a person, well all who know her will tell you that is not the case and there in lies the issue. Some parents do not instill any value past possessions, with Charlotte she has worked as a hospital health care worker during her first degree and is now doing medicene she knows what things are worth and how hard they are to come buy for most people.

Expectation has moved on, Christmas is no longer a shiny new penny an apple and an orange and one gift, it is an exercise in one upmanship for some parents. If you can afford a car for your kids and are happy then do it, if you see your kids expecting everything without work don't. As someone said our kids are what we allow them to become.