Congratulations Amber, Greg (and Jayden)

In a shameless attempt to attract younger readers to this boring blog, I publish this picture of 16-34s favourite, Greg and Amber. Love Island winners, they’ve dominated the twittersphere for 8 weeks with 4.3m viewers plugging in to ITV2 every week.

Greg and Amber are now set for a lifetime of endorsements for hair products, tattoos and money generation for every other body image under the sun (or sunlamp).

It’s also been a good weekend for the get rich quick brigade with Fornitely star Jaden Ashman pledging to spend the £900,000 he won on a house for his parents.

Back in my day you made it rich quick by being in the Bay City Rollers and I remember teenyboppers up and down the land scaring parents by pretending they would put popularity before pension , success before sobriety and try to get rich quick.

Now I’m writing a blog with the words of Laura Lambie of Investec ringing in my ears as she sounds off on Wake Up to Money about Jayden being a dangerous example for young kids.

Oh my goodness – how I’d like to be Jayden or Greg or Amber!

But I’m not, I’m a boring 57 year old in receipt of a pension with a substantial pension pot that went up 2% yesterday because of Boris’ plans to sink the pound   take us out of Brexit.

If you’ve saved all your life and saved hard and worked for employers who help you save you accumulate a lot of money, so the 2% rise in my Legal and General pension fund is worth about £10,000 to me, which is not as much as Jayden and Greg and Amber won, but so long as I stay calm and invest in sensible things that do good for the planet,  I am going to be alright.

My advice to Jayden and Amber and Gregg – for their own sanity – is get rich slow. Do not forget to put money into a pension fund and make sure that the pension fund you put money into is invested for the future – with an eye to keeping this planet’s land  green and ocean’s blue.

Jayden, don’t put all your money in a house for your parents, put some in a pension for yourself.

Gregg and Amber, make sure your savings don’t run out before your good looks.

Be kind to yourselves – all three of you – for no-one will be kinder.

A cautionary tale – look after yourselves.

A friend of mine emigrated 25 years ago with a young son from Moldova, she was a nurse but chose not to join the NHS pension scheme so that she could save for a deposit for her house.

By the time she could buy the property , her son was old enough to be on the deeds and she made him the house’s owner. He has married , has kids and a good job in the City. He is selling the house but none of the money will revert to his mother who is living in rented accommodation after spending some time living in her car.

She has finally joined the NHS pension scheme but has missed a lifetime of saving which could have set her up in later life. Such is the risk of putting others before yourself.

Greg, Amber and Jayden, do not give it all away, put money in your pension for the future, the taxman will look kindly on you and provided you use a sensible pension scheme ( a workplace pension or a copper-bottomed SIPP) you will not go far wrong. If you are reading this – call me at henry@agewage.com – I’ll tell you it how it is.

Do not let yourself be beguiled by sentiment – look after yourselves so you don’t become a burden on others as you get older.

Youth’s a stuff will not endure

Laura Lambie, is right to warn the rest of us of relying on Amber , Greg and Jayden’s good fortune. But it takes more talent and application to win Love Island or come second in Fortnite than winning the lottery.

There will always be people who rely on winning the lottery for everything and they are playing a dangerous game, there are many aspirant Jaydens Gregs and Ambers who will get over it and get on with living a normal life.

There will be some who become beauty school drop-outs or nerdy Fortniters wasting away in their bedrooms, but not many. The casualties of Love Island will be few and far between – for the most part it gives the under 34s a laugh and (dare I say it) the over 34s a memory of what life once was like.

What’s to come is still unsure ; so come kiss me sweet and twenty.. youth’s a stuff will not endure.