I saw a news report the other day about “Generation Y†people and questioning how the economy is going to impact this group of people. There were ordinary people in the interview such as some people living on loans, others getting by, etc. I’m personally a “Generation Y†individual and to me every generation is the same when it comes to one’s financial stability and situation for the most part as the choices you make is why you are where you are.
But like a lot of people, I personally have and like to learn from previous generations and take what I think works and doesn’t. Here are some points that molded my way of thinking about money and finance in life as a result of observing the previous generation and my knowledge at the time:
Getting And Maintaining A Credit Card Was A Foundation of Financial Success
I know most people in my generation are terrified over the credit card as it shouts out debt to them. Like how a lot of young people saw a car as a symbol of “making it†with many saving up to buy one, for me it was building up for the credit card.
When I saw some adults with credit cards and others mentioning that they were denied, at a young age this made me believe that having a credit card was a key separation between people who were very good with money and those that are just average. Therefore, what I learned from the previous generation of people was that getting and establishing that credit card at a young age was very important.
I had no clue about things like credit scores or how the approval processes worked exactly, but one thing I knew I had to do was save money as the main difference I saw was that the people without a credit card seemed to be broke all the time. Of course that’s not always true, but that is was what I saw. At the same time, I heard of people who have had one but because of mismanagement they were no longer eligible to use one. Again, that re-affirmed, my belief that people who had and were able to maintain a credit card were the financially successful ones.
I literally thought it was a grueling process as a result where say the bank will constantly look at how much money you have saved up, scrutinize how much you make, the amount you spend and so fourth. Right at the age of eligibility I applied for one and to me that was the first step to taking care of my finances and to avoid mistakes that previous generations have done.
Planning For Multiple Streams of Income
I also noticed that a lot of people from the previous generation would often complain that at times they don’t have enough money to pay for the bills and would sometimes have to take a second job. For people that were pretty well off financially, it seemed that many never had enough time for their personal life.
Of course you still hear that today too, but because of this I developed the mindset that it is necessary to find ways to generate multiple streams of income at an early age that would give you that extra money that you may need in the future and at the same time not tie you down time wise. Because of this, I was a lot more open minded and curious about alternative forms of revenue. While I am very diligent when it comes to many things before jumping into it, again learning from the previous generation made me more active in finding these opportunities.
Not Borrowing Money To Buy Things You Can’t Afford
I guess one of the last important points I learned from the previous generation is the simple concept where if you can’t afford it borrowing money isn’t the answer. Although, I took this to a bit more extreme than most would where I classified say student loans as bad as well.
Seeing some people talk about how they still struggled to pay off student loans or trying to pay off a bank loan for years well into their late thirties and forties didn’t seem wise to me. This is also why with credit cards I have always maintained the mentality that you should never use it on items that you cannot pay in full cash.
So, those are some of the key points I have learned personally from the previous generations while molding my path in this “Generation Y†era. Although, when you look at the points above I’d say the points can hold true for most generations as it is mostly dependent on what you think will work for your lifestyle.