Veterans, what financial advice you would have liked to receive when you were young and inexperienced.
Young people, if you feel stuck in something share your situation for the veterans to guide you.
8 comments
I’ll start to motivate.
I am 25 years old, in my last year of university, I do not come from a well-off family, I want to be the first in the family to have 100k and later 1M and so on. I also feel that I am at a point in my life where I either start or get lost. let me contextualize, so worked during the summer, I have things to pay so that it is difficult for me to invest, I know that I am young should think more about investing myself, but being my last year all my energy must be in finishing university. What I do now is inform myself as much as I can until I am at the point where I can put my ideas into action. I have no student debt, I have a girlfriend but I have no children, also I think my partner is the kind of person who would like to have a life without risk, a 9-5 job return home cook and wait until pension me on the other hand I am afraid of that life. What I want to know is, if you were also in this situation, or if you were in this situation, what would you do. Sometimes I would like to have a Mentor or someone who is in the same situation, sometimes I am guided more by motivation than discipline and that is my biggest mistake
I am only 31, so I am not a veteran. However, I always apply two basic rules:
1) Save everything you can. I only buy indispensable items.
2) Avoid the “easy ways” for becoming rich that most of streamers try to sell you in youtube.
Only buy expensive stuff, if you could also buy it twice.
Financial only.
1. Save for retirement early, compound interest really is a miracle
2. Avoid lifestyle creep
3. Learn how to cook good food using ‘real’ ingredients, it’ll save you money and you’ll also feel much better
By Reddit standards I’m old apparently, my financial takeaways after having gotten to a quite comfortable spot in that area:
* Any savings really add up. Sometimes youre not in a position to save anything at all – been there – but anything you save will be more helpful than it at first seems in the long run. Compound interest is magic.
* The cheapest item of a kind is almost always crap. You don’t have to pay out of the nose for quality, there are good cheap purchases. But even between the cheapest and the next cheapest, there’s usually a significant quality gap. The very cheap ones do end up more expensive because they need to be replaced.
* You can fix a surprising amount of modern appliances by replacing one cheap part and spending 20 minutes to do it. When your vacuum, dishwasher or other thing breaks, it’s often some simple plastic component that fell apart. The Internet has been great in this regard – you can usually find a Youtube video showing how to fix that on your model, and you can get the replacement part of a few euros, extending the lifetime of your appliance by years.
* Subscriptions cost more than you think. Subscription-based businesses are successful because subscriptions seem cheap. What’s seven euro a month, less than one pizza? Then it turns out you have two such subscriptions that you don’t really use. That’s 14 a month, or 168 a year. Which you could have simply saved. Or event spent.
* Spontaneous purchases are a huge financial drain. There’s a personality difference here as some people are much more impulsive than others. If you’re the impulsive kind, learning to limit that may be the biggest financial saving you can make. See something you like, note it, and only buy if you still think you need it two days later.
* It’s okay to spend on some things you don’t need, just be aware of what they are. For example, I eat out somewhat often because I like to. But I know that’s an unnecessary expense so if I had to lower my expenses, I’d start here. A surprising amount of people lack this awareness.
* If you can pay your bills and basic expenses, the next financial goal should be the emergency fund. Which has to be treated as money you don’t have unless it’s an actual emergency. Handling an unexpected emergency from this fund, without if affecting your day to day expenses, is a sign you’ve reached a level of financial stability.
* Any time you see an “easy way to make money”, ask yourself why everyone isn’t doing it. Because if there was easy guaranteed money, everyone would.
Biggest advice I wish I got earlier: money isn’t just about earning, it’s about building freedom.
* Pay yourself first even if it’s small, automatic saving beats “leftovers”
* Learn how taxes, pensions, and compounding actually work the earlier you grasp this, the more leverage you get
* Avoid lifestyle creep don’t inflate expenses just because income rises
* Invest in skills as much as markets the best ROI in your 20s is making yourself more valuable
* Debt is a tool use it for assets, never for lifestyle
Young people underestimate how much small, boring habits stack up. You don’t need to gamble or chase hacks you just need consistency.
[The NoFluffWisdom Newsletter](https://NoFluffWisdom.com/Subscribe) has some sharp takes on financial habits and long-term freedom worth a peek!
I’m in my late 20s so I can advise and take advice, but I think I’ve done pretty well for myself. I haven’t taken massive inheritance too so my savings are self-made.
The biggest piece of advice I have for people is to be careful with the classic vices such as drugs, alcohol and smoking. In the UK, the government is taxing alcohol and smoking infinitely every year. Even vaping. And people spend soooo much on all of it now. The people I work with who I know drink *a lot* will spend £100+ on a night out without realising and we really do not earn life changing money here. They struggle – but their priorities aren’t really financial so who cares. If they’re happy then go for it.
People will drink, smoke and maybe do drugs. That’s just what people do, and I think this will never stop. But, just moderate it. Because, society is not at a point yet where it’s completely forgiving to people who have fallen into these habits.
Don’t spend all your money on going out and buying needlessly expensive stuff. You don’t need ultra expensive brands, that’s not for you, that’s for rich people. Save your money for later. This will not only get you started easier, but it will also bolster the habit of saving rather than spending. It will help you avoid having to take out a loan for that unexpected expense.
8 comments
I’ll start to motivate.
I am 25 years old, in my last year of university, I do not come from a well-off family, I want to be the first in the family to have 100k and later 1M and so on. I also feel that I am at a point in my life where I either start or get lost. let me contextualize, so worked during the summer, I have things to pay so that it is difficult for me to invest, I know that I am young should think more about investing myself, but being my last year all my energy must be in finishing university. What I do now is inform myself as much as I can until I am at the point where I can put my ideas into action. I have no student debt, I have a girlfriend but I have no children, also I think my partner is the kind of person who would like to have a life without risk, a 9-5 job return home cook and wait until pension me on the other hand I am afraid of that life. What I want to know is, if you were also in this situation, or if you were in this situation, what would you do. Sometimes I would like to have a Mentor or someone who is in the same situation, sometimes I am guided more by motivation than discipline and that is my biggest mistake
I am only 31, so I am not a veteran. However, I always apply two basic rules:
1) Save everything you can. I only buy indispensable items.
2) Avoid the “easy ways” for becoming rich that most of streamers try to sell you in youtube.
Only buy expensive stuff, if you could also buy it twice.
Financial only.
1. Save for retirement early, compound interest really is a miracle
2. Avoid lifestyle creep
3. Learn how to cook good food using ‘real’ ingredients, it’ll save you money and you’ll also feel much better
By Reddit standards I’m old apparently, my financial takeaways after having gotten to a quite comfortable spot in that area:
* Any savings really add up. Sometimes youre not in a position to save anything at all – been there – but anything you save will be more helpful than it at first seems in the long run. Compound interest is magic.
* The cheapest item of a kind is almost always crap. You don’t have to pay out of the nose for quality, there are good cheap purchases. But even between the cheapest and the next cheapest, there’s usually a significant quality gap. The very cheap ones do end up more expensive because they need to be replaced.
* You can fix a surprising amount of modern appliances by replacing one cheap part and spending 20 minutes to do it. When your vacuum, dishwasher or other thing breaks, it’s often some simple plastic component that fell apart. The Internet has been great in this regard – you can usually find a Youtube video showing how to fix that on your model, and you can get the replacement part of a few euros, extending the lifetime of your appliance by years.
* Subscriptions cost more than you think. Subscription-based businesses are successful because subscriptions seem cheap. What’s seven euro a month, less than one pizza? Then it turns out you have two such subscriptions that you don’t really use. That’s 14 a month, or 168 a year. Which you could have simply saved. Or event spent.
* Spontaneous purchases are a huge financial drain. There’s a personality difference here as some people are much more impulsive than others. If you’re the impulsive kind, learning to limit that may be the biggest financial saving you can make. See something you like, note it, and only buy if you still think you need it two days later.
* It’s okay to spend on some things you don’t need, just be aware of what they are. For example, I eat out somewhat often because I like to. But I know that’s an unnecessary expense so if I had to lower my expenses, I’d start here. A surprising amount of people lack this awareness.
* If you can pay your bills and basic expenses, the next financial goal should be the emergency fund. Which has to be treated as money you don’t have unless it’s an actual emergency. Handling an unexpected emergency from this fund, without if affecting your day to day expenses, is a sign you’ve reached a level of financial stability.
* Any time you see an “easy way to make money”, ask yourself why everyone isn’t doing it. Because if there was easy guaranteed money, everyone would.
Biggest advice I wish I got earlier: money isn’t just about earning, it’s about building freedom.
* Pay yourself first even if it’s small, automatic saving beats “leftovers”
* Learn how taxes, pensions, and compounding actually work the earlier you grasp this, the more leverage you get
* Avoid lifestyle creep don’t inflate expenses just because income rises
* Invest in skills as much as markets the best ROI in your 20s is making yourself more valuable
* Debt is a tool use it for assets, never for lifestyle
Young people underestimate how much small, boring habits stack up. You don’t need to gamble or chase hacks you just need consistency.
[The NoFluffWisdom Newsletter](https://NoFluffWisdom.com/Subscribe) has some sharp takes on financial habits and long-term freedom worth a peek!
I’m in my late 20s so I can advise and take advice, but I think I’ve done pretty well for myself. I haven’t taken massive inheritance too so my savings are self-made.
The biggest piece of advice I have for people is to be careful with the classic vices such as drugs, alcohol and smoking. In the UK, the government is taxing alcohol and smoking infinitely every year. Even vaping. And people spend soooo much on all of it now. The people I work with who I know drink *a lot* will spend £100+ on a night out without realising and we really do not earn life changing money here. They struggle – but their priorities aren’t really financial so who cares. If they’re happy then go for it.
People will drink, smoke and maybe do drugs. That’s just what people do, and I think this will never stop. But, just moderate it. Because, society is not at a point yet where it’s completely forgiving to people who have fallen into these habits.
Don’t spend all your money on going out and buying needlessly expensive stuff. You don’t need ultra expensive brands, that’s not for you, that’s for rich people. Save your money for later. This will not only get you started easier, but it will also bolster the habit of saving rather than spending. It will help you avoid having to take out a loan for that unexpected expense.