When did you become “money aware”?

Photo Credit: kenteegardin via Compfight cc

When I was around 10 years old, my mum introduced me to the idea of working for my money. Although I’d had pocket money before that and was expected to help out with odd jobs around the house, it wasn’t until I was around 10 that Mum started offering me the chance to earn “big bucks” by doing bigger jobs around the house.

For a girl with an obsession with Tammy Girl and The One And Only clothing shops, this was like a dream come true. Finally I could earn my own money, save it and then spend it on a new T’shirt or skirt (or, later, a pair of Adidas Campus trainers).

As I grew up the amount of money I could earn got bigger. By the age of 14 I was allowed £20 a month from the family allowance, earned through doing the family ironing each week (I think my mum got a good deal there!). This was topped up with cash earned from other odd jobs around the house. 

And then, at 15, I got my first proper job. I was a Saturday girl in a local hairdressers’. I earned a whopping £17.50 per shift for sweeping up hair, making tea, answering the phone and – eventually – washing hair and rinsing foils. At the time, this seemed like big money.

I saved my money, using it to buy clothes and, when I was 17, pay for my first holiday without my parents. By then I had worked in an after school telesales job and graduated from there to sales assistant at a high street cookie chain (that one won me some new friends at college as I’d get to bring in all the unsold cookies the following day!).

I’m not that surprised to learn, then, that 66% of 18 – 24 year olds today are saving regularly each month. Although their average savings pot is much bigger than mine ever was, at an impressive £3,200, they’re proof that many young people are already familiar with the idea of putting a bit of money aside when they can. However, according to the latest Disposable Income Index less than one percent of young people questioned said their financial priority was to put money into a pension. As Scottish Friendly put it, they’re “raving, not saving”.

This is a familiar concept to me. As an eighteen year old student my last priority was a pension. I needed to earn money to pay for bills, nights out, new shoes and Topshop accessories. I wasn’t about to start thinking about retirement.

But now, at the age of 30, the idea of a pension doesn’t seem like such a silly one. In fact, it’s strange that I don’t have one really, because I’ve always been pretty sensible when it comes to saving. And – let’s face it – it’s not like I’m getting any younger.

Do you have a pension? When did you start becoming aware of the value of money? Are you a saver or a spender? 

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