What would I do if I was 35 something years younger again? That’s a damn good question.
Start That Retirement Savings Early
The first thing I would do would’ve been starting my retirement account as soon I turned 21 and not having listened to my parents. When I was first thinking about it, I actually had the opportunity around 22 and missed it. I didn’t start my first IRA until I was in my late 30s and easily could have gained almost 20 years' advantage investing for my later years had I done different.
Stop Drinking So Much, Pay Attention More
The second thing I would’ve done different, I think, would’ve been paying better attention to market changes and disruptions. The most classic example, I definitely fall in that bucket of the people who had the distinct opportunity to have gotten Bitcoin when it had an extremely low value. The crypto was right at the beginning, a weird novelty, and I didn’t jump on it. I will say it was a lot harder to get into crypto at that time, especially compared to today. To find access to Bitcoin and exchanges at that time in the early 2010s was fairly difficult. It wasn’t as if there was an exchange everywhere you looked on the Internet. Instead, only a handful of players existed, and most of them were sketchy. They wanted direct access to your bank account, which of course anyone with a brain probably would say, "I don’t think so." So I missed that train too.
Start Something Online Early
The third thing I would have pursued was working on the income side of things a lot sooner. I think folks these days have a huge advantage with the availability of the Internet and the ability to start working even while they’re in college or before they start their regular careers. I’ve even met some really smart teenagers who’ve already made anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 in crypto or other resources simply because they got active on the Internet before they ever had to be serious about life. They don’t have any of the typical living costs associated with taking care of a family, all the required expenses of owning a house, etc., car maintenance or school loans hanging over their head. It’s basically just free money that teens and young people can just amass for doing simple things like earn rewards, free airdrops, or even just faucets. Think about how much of that adds up over time from age 16 to 21? It can be in the thousands of dollars, free and clear of liabilities.
Live Smart
The next thing I would’ve done is probably focused on living a hell of a lot smarter financially. I really didn’t get savvy about my spending and how to avoid over-spending on things I could get at a discount or lower cost by simply just researching or looking around until my 40s. Again, we throw away so much simply because we’re too lazy, too angry at the world and don’t pay attention to other options available with a bit of homework.
Rethink How to Pay for Education
I think lastly, and probably the biggest one that would’ve saved me a ton of money and avoid a lot of debt had it been up to me, is probably taking advantage of the ability to use community colleges to transfer to a big-name university instead of spending big bucks out the nose with student loans for a mediocre 4-year school. The worst thing that saddles a person through life is literally just the amount of debt involved of student loans and how it bites into monthly cash flow.
Woulda Coulda Shoulda
Getting older is full of thinking back, wishing about what I could’ve done, would’ve done and should’ve done. I can only learn from experience, which is why older people are famous for not making the same mistakes again, usually. I can’t promise it’s perfect, and of course I try to pass on the same wisdom to my kids, and maybe to a few readers who are entertained by my writing. Yeah, I would have a field day if I had a time machine. Now I just need to find a crypto project named after H.G. Wells that can actually produce results!
