I feel it is an obligation for any older folk to pass wisdom to those not-in-the-know of things regarding life. Some people are born directionless and they get lost in their lives and before they know it, they’re knee-deep in debt, they’re in awful minimal-wage jobs, they make poor decisions regarding their love lives .etc
I have several and my more prominent one is;
- Know Your Numbers
This is a key and must-have piece of knowledge. You must know your numbers. How much you’ll earn a month, how much your expenses are, how much is in your bank account, interests and much more. I don’t care if you’ve hated math growing up, you will need to know this. Because going off on guesswork and estimations, only gets you so far before you slip up. Once you slip up financially, missing a payment, you will fall behind faster than you’ll get back ahead or break even. As someone said, everyone is one car repair or medical emergency away from being in poverty.
- Do not get kids in your teens and 20s
Your teenage and young adolescent years, are better spent figuring out who you are and what you want to achieve. Recklessly getting kids with someone who you thought you loved or poor planning are reasons people end up paying child support and having to go to family court and having to deal with custody battles for the rest of their lives. Supporting a kid is $250k PER child, that’s the average, moreso because of the economy. Is it really worth the few minutes of sex at all for that expense?
- Avoid Jail
Going to jail, over anything, is a bad setback to have in life. If you think finding a job is hard normally with the way the job market is, it’ll be twice that if you have a criminal record. That is just shit not a lot will be ignored.
You’ll lose time, you’re likely to lose any jobs you’ve had at the time of going to jail, you may polarize family and friends even. It’s just not worth it, regardless. The more times you end up in jail too, consider your life over.
- Thrift and Thrift Away!
Thrifting can be a dirty word to some who prefer to get things new, which I understand. But it is a money-saver in the long run. For example, my apartment is 85% of thrifted items and I have a hard time recalling anything I’ve spent more than $10 for, aside from select things I bought new because I wanted them new, like some appliances.
Just try not to be a hoarder if it can be helped.
Watch your health. Most of my friends have just accepted that they get fat when they get older. Just don’t
Never stop learning and get educated. Take responsibility for yourself, your health, your finances. Don’t do drugs.
Older people (30+)
LOLolol…
Oof, I feel this right in the back problems.
I’m sitting here reading this and doing my back stretches before work as we speak.
Seriously
I’d give my left testicle to be 30 again.
Don’t chase after women and buses.
- Do not assume older people have anything at all figured out
True that. We’ve just got a longer list of mistakes.
Older people (30+)
After 60+ years I don’t offer generic unsolicited advice any more (I learned that lesson) but if I were going to break that rule, I’d suggest you read books. Actually read them too, don’t rely on audio books, and read as widely as you can. Sci-fi, mystery, romance, historical, non-fiction, just try to read a book a month. To lose yourself in a book is one of the great ways to maintain mental health.
Also, don’t offer unsolicited advice.
Can you elaborate on the why you don’t offer unsolicited advice? Does this include not giving advice to children or people in the way of harm?
People are naturally resistant when told “what to do” so advice isn’t often very helpful.
“Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.”
What bunkyprewster said.
If you want kids there’s a few things to consider.
- Graduate highschool then get married before kids.
- Kids are physically easier when you’re younger.
- No one is ever really ready for kids, but you should have some level of financial stability and be prepared to have significantly less freedom.
Be purposeful in what you spend money on. You don’t need the best of everything, especially when starting a new hobby. You can find someone spending absurd amounts on anything, but no one can do that on everything.
Everyone needs to do exercise with resistance (weights, bands, bodyweight). You will not get too muscular by accident. It will prevent aches and pains, it will prevent injuries, it will make it more likely you survive car accidents and false.
Everyone needs to floss, there are no exceptions.
Everyone needs time outside in nature. If you live in a city, get to a park every week, preferably every day. It changes our brain chemistry. We aren’t organized to live in boxes all day.
Learn how to breathe. If you think that sounds silly, you’re the example.
Learn to cook. When you can’t contribute anything else, being able to contribute food is universally accepted
Learn how to breathe
Any pointers or tutorials/videos that you’d recommend on this?
Is it about diaphragmatic breathing?
Or remembering to breathe calmly while exercising or doing things?The exercise bit is so important. I’m mid 40s recently started working out with weights again after about 6 years of being somewhat sedentary other than running/walking dogs. Almost instantly I had worked out some pain my shoulder had been giving me that had been preventing me from sleeping well, and I don’t grunt when getting up from a crouched position anymore. Also just feeling better and more capable all around.
Not bad although the way things are I would say don’t have kids unless your wealth can support it. Also the more you save the less you will need to know your stuff down to the penny. Personally I would say be careful about getting into an investor mindset which can lead you to things that are more like gambling and realize often times its about not losing money.
I’m nearly 40 and the world they are facing is so different to what I experienced that I don’t know if any advice I could give would even make sense.
Don’t suffer fools, I guess. Life is too short to put up with people who don’t, won’t or can’t respect you. You don’t have to make it a big deal, in fact that might be the wrong move if you’re dealing with a narcissist. Instead become uninteresting when interacting with them. The Grey Rock technique.
Never stop learning.
Take excellent care of your teeth. Whatever you need to do to accomplish this, DO IT. It’s thousands and thousands of dollars later if you don’t. I can’t stress this enough.
Also, work in some strength training. Once your joints start to inflamed and hurt all the time, you will wish you had done this. I know because I do.
Your night vision will start to degrade after age 40 or so. Prepare yourself.
Sitting at a desk all day causes cumulative damage. Standing desks, yoga, little desk treadmills, ergo keyboards and mice: all these things may sound silly when your body can handle it. But the damage is CUMULATIVE. Do the “silly” things now, and slow the accumulation the hell down!
Put effort into finding someone as a romantic / life long partner while you’re young. Be critical and aggressive in the search (ie. don’t just “be open and let things happen if they happen!”).
Most of the systems and life goals of society are tied to having two people or more in the family unit. Ideally aim for a partner that has similar economic outcomes as yourself, or at least positive ones overall, and who’s personality is tolerable / you can see yourselves staying friends indefinitely. If you’re a reclusive sort, find someone else who also values their space but is still willing to comingle finances/lives. Doing this young is important as there are more options and it’ll generally be easier to find people that ‘fit’ with your lifestyle. Finding someone close to you in age also helps to keep your life-events (such as whether to have kids, when to retire, etc) better aligned.
Everything from paying off mortgage debt, to income tax breaks, to even just having a secondary “fail safe” income stream from your partner, are really significant. Heck, with the right partner you even cut down the costs of things like Groceries (can buy in bulk = savings), chore-times, etc.
The younger you get that leverage, the better the results later on. Consider something like the time crunch many adults feel, between work, chores, sleeping, etc. If you have a solid partner, you can do something like alternate chores and workouts, so that you both maintain better overall health as you age. Eg. one partner does a workout while the other buys groceries/cooks, then the first partner does the cleanup and some light cleaning around the house while the other hits the gym. Having that sort of balance in your 20s / early 30s, will give you a better chance of maintaining your health into your 40s and 50s. There’re good reasons why single people die younger.
Take better care of your knees and back.
