Have you ever wished you could write a letter to your younger self? I know I have!
What would you tell yourself?
- Don’t date that girl
- Jump on that opportunity
- Eat more veggies and exercise more
- Call your mom more often
Turns out I’ve been talking to your future self and have been sent with some things that you should know now!
5. Forget about the Joneses. By trying to keep up with them, you will waste so much time and money; learn to be content with what you already have.
4. Don’t take investment, tax, spending, or other advice from your friends (or strangers on the internet). Invest in working with a professional with the heart of a teacher. Professionals have spent years becoming an expert in their area; what makes you think your broke friends know as good or better? Money spent in this category will pay dividends in increased wealth, avoided tax penalties, and better money control.
3. Stay away from debt. Sure its nice to get things now instead of waiting, but if you play with snakes, you will get bit! Debt is the enemy of wealth; do you want to have some money at retirement or lots of nice stuff with payments? Get out of debt now so you can build your retirement and enjoy the income you have!
2. Grandma was right; it will rain! Build up an emergency fund as soon as possible. A rainy day fund will take the stress and crisis out of anything that comes up: car broke down? Fix it without worrying how you will pay for it. Sick relative you need to visit? Buy the plane ticket without worrying how you will pay for it. Broken furnace in February? Call the repair tech and not worry about how to pay him. Get the point? Bonus: when you have a 6-month emergency fund, you tend to make different decisions when an ’emergency’ happens, which can save you money.
1. Start saving NOW! The longer you wait to start saving for retirement, the less you will have. Money invested now is much more valuable than money invested in 5 years. Once you are debt free and the emergency fund is built, start taking advantage of employer matched 401k’s and ROTH IRAs. You won’t regret saving that money instead of buying that new car in 20 years, but you just might regret buying that car!
Now, will you listen to your future self? Or if you are the “future self”, what do you think? Anything different you would tell the younger generation? Post below:
