Advice to your younger self

[Vish_ram]

If you can time travel to your younger self, what advice would you give? No stock picks

 

Mine would be

Be kind to yourself when you make mistakes, Trade less, Don’t compare, be patient and own great companies and compound slowly. 

[Dinar]

Mine would be:

 

a) Keep your mouth shut.  Your tongue is your enemy.  I have seen numerous careers blown up by a single careless world.  

b) Try to find a spouse in college - the best choice and you get to observe the person all the time

c) Always grow your network of true friends, and acquaintances

[Mephistopheles]

Don’t rely too much on your parents opinion of you. Be your own person. And be bolder. Ask that lady out. Worst thing is that she will say no but most likely she will be intrigued.

[Paarslaars]

- stop chasing that one chick 

- travel more before you start kids

- read up on Bitcoin 

[mattee2264]

 

a) Maximize your chances of avoiding the "diseases of civilization" that can creep up on you in middle age by exercising regularly and following a Mediterranean style diet that limits processed foods, refined carbs, industrial seed oils etc. 

 

b) Take more advantage of tax efficient savings mechanisms such as salary sacrifice, Roth IRAs etc. and save as much as you can spare and push your regular savings into diversified index funds. That is a sure and certain way to wealth. 

 

c) Map out your career. The plum jobs that pay incredibly well and are interesting and challenging are most attainable mid-career. So early in your career it is important to get the right experience to prepare you for such roles even if they may involve longer hours than you'd ideally like or a lot of grunt work. 

 

d) Date intentionally and don't live together before you're at least engaged to be married. I think that maximizes your chances of meeting the right person while you are young and helps you avoid wasting too much time and money with people who aren't right for you. 

 

 

[73 Reds]

10 hours ago, Vish_ram said:

If you can time travel to your younger self, what advice would you give? No stock picks

 

Mine would be

Be kind to yourself when you make mistakes, Trade less, Don’t compare, be patient and own great companies and compound slowly. 

Live each day like you won't be here forever.

[flesh]

Save more. Get a pre nup. Assume female nature isn’t much different than your male friends just bad in different ways that you need to understand. Everything is a belief and all beliefs are untrue, prove this statement fundamentally wrong. 

[SharperDingaan]

Cut the apron strings at 18. There are all kinds of arms forces recruiting programs; 'find' yourself, focus on the trades, learn how to lead men/women, do your tour, use your exit package to go to school. The result of real life experience, and greater maturity, will get you multiples more out of the educational experience.

 

You do you, know what you want, have a plan, expose yourself to opportunity, learn to say no. You will have 10 years (maybe) to get your designations, find your significant other, pay off your debt, and prep for the pending arrival (maybe) of the first of future kids. Your first 'grown up' job will be largely the same no matter where you are, so if you like blue-eyed blonds .... do those first jobs in Sweden, learn the language, then pick one to learn the culture from, and do Swedish immersion with  Hopefully mom/dad endowed you with reasonable looks, good manners, and a sense of adventure; don't piss it away.

 

Work for business, own the business, or trade the stock?  Choose early, wherever possible compete against the best, hold the same union cards, develop strong risk management skills, always take the long term view. Work and stay within 1-2 industries, know/understand the business dynamics very well, expose yourself to risk, and stick to the game plan. Same as the ancient traders; buy/sell many cargoes along the way, build experience/contacts worldwide, grow individual ships into a fleet.

 

You are the master, not the money. Always take the holistic view; money works for you, not the other way around, and is just one dimension - spouse, family, employees, community, reputation, etc. are equally important. Help people out, but do it quietly, and keep your name out of it.

 

Smell the roses. Life is short, and milestones pass quickly. You owe it to yourself and family, to take a minimum 2-3 weeks every year, and vacate. There is no point to doing things well, if you are not going to enjoy it.

 

Thereafter it's your life, don't f*** ** ** !

 

SD       

 

 

Edited April 26, 2025 by SharperDingaan

[villainx]

16 hours ago, Vish_ram said:

Don’t compare

 

I'm sure you mean this in a different way, but I'm fairly competitive, so I like to have a target to go after.

 

 

[Masterofnone]

Listen more, speak less.

[Hektor]

Travel, particularly to foreign places.

[Vish_ram]

3 hours ago, villainx said:

 

I'm sure you mean this in a different way, but I'm fairly competitive, so I like to have a target to go after.

 

 

I meant in terms of envy/jealousy

[james22]

6 hours ago, SharperDingaan said:

Cut the apron strings at 18. There are all kinds of arms forces recruiting programs; 'find' yourself, focus on the trades, learn how to lead men/women, do your tour, use your exit package to go to school. The result of real life experience, and greater maturity, will get you multiples more out of the educational experience.

 

This.

[wondering]

Study harder at school, take more risks

[Red Lion]

I doubt I would have listened. I feel like Iearning by our own mistakes is natural. 

[Charlie]

Dream, Plan, Reach.

Reflect, Improve, Repeat what works.

Use wisely the power of choice.

Travel, Play soccer, Surf, Have fun. 

Edited April 27, 2025 by Charlie

[villainx]

10 hours ago, Red Lion said:

I doubt I would have listened. I feel like Iearning by our own mistakes is natural. 

 

Definitely some of this vibe.  Maybe be more careful with the f'ups, so that when you are older and smarter, there's more available capital.  Ha.

[Errold]

Put yourself out there, get rejected.  Not just by ladies but by everyone.  Once you get rejected enough, you stop focusing on it, and focus on what really matters.

 

Don't worry about the past and what you did wrong.  Work on what you can do now to improve and to avoid those same mistakes in the future.  

 

Everything is a matter of perspective.

 

The things you learn in school, question if it is actually useful or can you time be spent better elsewhere. 

 

Be more time efficient!  Be less idle.  Do more.  Does not have to be work, could be having fun, just do not waste your time.

[Rainier]

Maximize tax advantaged accounts from day 1. All of them. 401k, IRAs, HSA (and never spend the money on healthcare, just let it compound), 529…,

 

Kids are as tiring and time consuming as you think they are. But people are not lying to you when they say they’re still more than worth it. Also, even though you don’t like kids in general, you will really enjoy hanging out with your kids (no matter their age).

 

PhD’s and fancy alma maters are not signals of actual proficiency or of virtue. So, really think about the words coming out of people’s mouths and their actions versus their credentials.

 

Major in and pursue a career in something you want to do every day. As long as you’re majoring in/pursuing something that is analytical and can reasonably pay the bills at the beginning, you’ll be fine if you work hard. There’s a path to financial success in virtually every industry for people who work hard. 

Work on your people skills and don’t forsake networking. 
 

All else being equal, older people are generally more interesting to talk to and learn from. 

 

You are able to spot trends pretty well, so lean into that and don’t be risk averse in pursuing something or investing in something that others can’t see the future of.

[Charlie]

11 hours ago, Rainier said:

All else being equal, older people are generally more interesting to talk to and learn from.

+100

 

Young people have too little experience. Old people know what has stand the test of time and often has wisdom.