Getting old isn't just rubbish, it's also expensive. You might have thought that you were skint as a kid, cobbling together pennies to buy sweets in the corner shop, or when you were a student, consigned to pound-a-pint night at pubs that a regular human would never set foot in.
You might even have thought you were feeling the pinch when you were a fresh-behind-the-ears recruit, starting off on a basic salary in a job, but nope: those were actually times when it was going relatively well for you financially.
A new study has revealed that your 31st year is actually the most expensive of your life, with a whole range of life-changing purchases that set you on the road to real financial ruin. (Well, sort of.)
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According to British credit check company CreditScore, the plethora of 'proper' purchases you'll rack up - think houses, cars, weddings and the like, rather than your lad's trip to Magaluf - are centred around the age of 31 and make it the dearest year of your existence.
They surveyed 3,000 people and discovered that getting married was the biggest expense of all, with 27 percent of people claiming that their eternal love for their partner was their biggest financial drain - Jennifer Lopez's love might not have cost a thing, but let's assume that her wedding cost an arm and a leg.
After that (or before, assuming you've decided you can put up with each other's bathroom habits before getting hitched), you're going to need somewhere to move into together, and that was the next big expense reported in the study, with a full quarter of respondents saying that buying a house was their main purchase.
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Of course, once you've got a house and a spouse, then the next logical step might well be a kid, so 31-year-olds can look forward to paying for that as well. Another 25 percent of respondents put that down as their biggest buy.
These things aren't much fun, either: weddings are only good for the people not getting married, buying a house is all well and good, but think of the Saturdays spent in Ikea, and having kids just destroys your life until they're old enough to be funny or play football, whichever comes first.
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It's nice to know, then, that a whole 14 percent of people splurged their cash on a honeymoon, which is so much fun that the phrase 'honeymoon period' was invented to describe it.
CreditScore's survey calculated the total value of all these things at £43,000 ($59,800) in total, so if you're in your mid-20s, then get saving now.
Featured Image Credit: PA