This Is The Age Most People Reach Financial Maturity

Published: 05/12/2019

Have you noticed that the balance of your savings account is suddenly seeming a little more promising? Are you rarely touching your overdraft? Maybe you’re preparing your own lunch and taking it to work instead of forking out a fiver daily. These are just a few signs that you may have reached financial maturity

According to a recent survey by lender Zopa, the average UK person doesn’t reach ‘financial maturity’ until age 31. The survey also suggested that age 22 is when we are most frivolous with our money – overspending on holidays and nights out. In our 30s, however, we tend to start taking better control of our finances by, for example, opening and contributing to a savings account and our pension pot. Women take a little longer than men to become financially mature, the study found, with the average ages being 33 and 29 respectively.

In total, 1500 individuals were surveyed. 

What are some other signs you’ve hit financial maturity? Well, the survey doesn’t give us much more insight, but this fun article by The Guardian does. 

According to The Guardian writer Stuart Heritage, some other signs you’ve become financially mature include:

1) You can check your banking app without having a 45-minute full-body palpitation.

2) You can receive a brown envelope in the post without automatically assuming HMRC is planning to throw you in prison.

3) You make your own lunch every day, ideally from things you have scavenged from a neighbour’s bin.

4) You can walk past an estate agent’s window without having a tantrum about the impossibility of home ownership.

5) You don’t buy anything until you have searched the entire internet for the best deal.

6) You shun holidays in favour of closing your eyes and thinking about holidays – basically the same thing.

7) You refuse to lend your friends cash, preferring instead to deliver a quick motivational address about the power of aspiration.

8) You can read literature from a bank or insurance company without glazing over like a shop mannequin.

9) Your pension plan doesn’t revolve around you dying in a suspiciously timed skydiving accident on the eve of your 70th birthday.

10) You have incredibly rich parents.

11) You shun all the latest expensive fashions, such as trendy clothes and dentistry.

12) You have an emergency fund that does not solely consist of £23 and a Twix.

13) You can be told your credit rating without asking anyone whether it’s good or not.

14) You know how much money is in your account at all times, but not because your bank keeps sending you panicky texts about the payments it is having to refuse.

15) You have incredibly rich parents.

16) You’ve realised that friends are ultimately a financial burden, and so spend all your nights in silent pitch-black solitude.

17) You have home insurance.

18) You have life insurance.

19) You have life insurance that doesn’t constantly act as a terrifying reminder that you are worth several times more to your loved ones dead than alive.

20) You cook your dinners in batches to save money, because eating shepherd’s pie every night is actually quite underrated.

21) You can look your children in the eye without wondering how much you would get if you harvested their organs on the black market.

22) You spent your entire childhood dreaming of the day when you could become a cackling unscrupulous private landlord.

23) You have never bought an avocado, for you know that a supermarket avocado represents the highest possible level of insane decadence.

24) You haven’t been to a Pret in eight years.

25) You have incredibly rich parents. I know that this is the third time I’ve mentioned this, but, well, it definitely seems to help.

All jokes aside, reaching financial maturity is a fantastic life stage to reach. Some of the advantages of being financially mature include:

  • Less stress (and less fighting with your family or partner about money!)
  • You can be more organised and more easily plan for the future (e.g. big purchases like cars, holidays, having children, pursuing personal passions and hobbies, buying a home, and so forth)
  • Having savings in a savings account will allow you to build up interest and ultimately make money 
  • You’ll feel more independent knowing you are no longer reliant on overdrafts, overtime at work or your parents 
  • You may begin thinking about purchasing a property of your own so you no longer have to waste money away on rent 

Advice for first-time buyers

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Content correct at time of publication.

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