THE WEEK
At 25, I believed a pay rise would sort everything out, and that my savings were whatever sat in the account the night before payday. I believed super was payroll's business. I believed the Samsung flip phone I saved up for in South Korea counted as a financial plan. I believed I'd feel like a grown-up by 30 and the money would arrive with the feeling. And I believed talking about money was bad manners.
Jordi Quoidbach, Daniel Gilbert and Timothy Wilson have a name for the confidence in that list. They measured more than 19,000 people aged 18 to 68, and young, middle-aged and older people alike reported a lot of change behind them and relatively little ahead, as though the present were the moment they had finally become themselves. They called it the end of history illusion, and it carries a price.
In a smaller test of 170 people, the researchers asked how much people would pay to see their favourite band perform in ten years, and they named $129 on average. People a decade older named $80 to see the band they had loved ten years earlier, playing next week. The younger group's price ran 61 per cent higher. Critics note the study leans on memory.
Four of my beliefs lasted about as long as the flip phone. The pay rises came and my spending kept pace, a habit personal finance writers call lifestyle creep and I’ll come back to it in the next few weeks. The grown-up feeling is still on its way.
The manners belief turned all the way over. Every useful thing I know about building wealth arrived in conversations, and I started Wild Money to pay it forward. The twenty-five-year-old who thought money talk was rude would wince to find me writing to you about it every morning.
Yesterday I asked what your old age will run on. My inbox is quiet on that one so far, so I'm asking again, and I'll carry whatever arrives into next Sunday.
Write to me with a topic you would like Wild Money to cover, as always.
TOMORROW
Back to Port Moresby and what it actually costs to make a magazine
Best
Amanda
P.S. What’s your view on today’s newsletter? Did I miss something out that you’d like to share? Write to me, [email protected]. I may not get back to you, but I will try to read what you send in.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Wild Money is general information only, drawn from my own experience and research. It isn't financial advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or manage money in any particular way. What worked for me won't necessarily suit you. Please seek advice from a licensed financial adviser before making decisions about your own money.