I’m doing NaNoWriMo again this year, and on the forums, there are age group message boards – for the 20-somethings, 30-somethings, 40-somethings, etc. I don’t frequent the 20’s forum because it’s often filled with very young college kids who I feel very distant from, but I popped in and there was a thread asking if anyone was 29. I’m 3 months from that mark, so I checked it out. It was fun to see everyone talking about how college seemed so long ago, and someone started talking about what they would tell their 20-year-old self.
That got me to thinking. What would you tell your ten-years-younger self? There are a whole lot of things I would tell myself during my freshman year of college, and of course, not all of them would relate to money. One of them would probably be “Hey, go talk to those loud girls on the other end of the hallway, because they’re going to be your best friends. Don’t wait til May to be their friend. Do it now. Oh, and ditch the boyfriend now. Trust me.”
But in terms of finances, I was pretty smart ten years ago. Well, I wasn’t dumb at least. I had a credit card, but I always paid it off. That was the smart part. The less smart part was that I wasn’t really saving money. I had a small on-campus job all through college, and for the most part, I spent what I made. That was my fun money. I had a savings account that my parents had set up for me as a child, where I put half of all my birthday and Christmas money, so I thought I was set. I certainly didn’t have any thoughts about retirement. I should have been saving, even just a tenth of what I earned. I would have ended up with a small cushion to get me started when I graduated. It wouldn’t have been much, but something is better than nothing.
What about you? What would you tell your ten-years-younger self? I was in college. Maybe you were in your first job, or well seated in your third job. Maybe you were in your 40’s and maybe you were 10. But what do you wish you knew ten years ago?
Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
There is a lot I wish I knew when I was 17, but pretty much none if it is financial. I didn’t really start thinking about money until I got my first real job, and I’m fine with that, since I didn’t screw up anything. But what did I wish I new at 17? Oh my, the list is endless!
I was 13. Financially, I guess I would have told myself to save up more money. I didn’t start saving until last year, but I’m sure if I had started when I was 13, I wouldn’t be so worried about purchasing my first home. But, like you, I worked hard, and spent every last dime. I had fun!
I was in my second year of my first job, with a company that demanded heavy travel and very long hours. Financially, I was going strong because I had no time to do anything except work and sleep. Additionally, I was being paid overtime and a per diem for every day away from home. It was good for my savings, but personally and from a health standpoint, I wasn’t doing myself any favors.
If I could tell my -10 self anything, it would be to get help figuring out to have more balance in my life and learn to relax once in awhile. Not just talking about it, which we all did, but actually achieving it. I don’t think I could have figured it out on my own back then.
Save all of those tax returns even if you have to suffer to do it. Unfortunately something bad would happen every year or two so that the money saved had to be spent just to get by.
10 years ago I was 15 years into a 25 year career with a very high tech company (I got RIFed this past spring, shows who felt the greater dedication). Anyway, I would have told my 10 yr younger self to save 20% (I was already saving 10% in my 401k). It would have made life so much easier now.
My advice to my ten years younger self would be to have an fully funded emergency fund to pay 6 months of living expenses if needed.
10 years ago I was getting married, started my first “real job” and buying a new car. The job and marriage have worked well, the car not so much.
I would tell myself to pass on the car and save a lot more money so I wouldn’t have to work so hard now.
But then, if I hadn’t made that mistake (and others) I wouldn’t be the person I am today.
I was 19 then. I was actually pretty good with money at 19, the problems started at around 22 when I was in grad school. So I guess I would tell 19 year old me, to tell 22 year old me to NOT take out a student loan to buy a car and to NOT live off the credit card. I got paid more as a graduate student then as an undergrad and I got out of undergrad with zero debt, and out of grad school with $33k in debt. Bad news…
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