Martin Hawes: Ages on wrong money pages

Opinion

Recently I have worked with a group of people in their 70s and 80s, and another group in their late teens and early 20s. Each had a different money mindset - which was the opposite of what it should have been.

The older group did not want to spend more than necessary, asked the price of everything and would forgo an item unless they really wanted it. Their budgets were sparse - no luxuries, even though they could usually afford them.

If there is ever a time when you do not have to be careful with your money, it is at this age.

The younger group's aim was to get more money to spend. They spent on what their grandparents would see as luxuries, even though they could not afford to.

When you are young, it is important to save as much money as you can. After all, compounding investment returns mean a dollar in the hands of someone who is 20 is worth far more than a dollar in the hands of someone 50 years older.

There are ages and stages that ought to drive financial attitudes and behaviour. Older people need to enjoy what they have - the evidence for being able to take it with you is thin and now is the time to age disgracefully.

Young people should value what they have. Not all their income should pass through their hands - money put aside today will be worth many times more in decades to come.

George Bernard Shaw said youth is wasted on the young. I would hate to think young people wasted their youth by being mean, but neither should they waste the opportunity to turn $1 into $10.

Older people can quite cheerfully say "she'll be right". However, young people should be careful - what they have today is the most valuable money they will ever see.

Martin Hawes is a financial adviser. His disclosure document can be found at www.martinhawes.com