Take care of your fucking teeth.
Take care of your fucking teeth.
And once more, for the folks who don’t get it…
Take care of your fucking teeth.
This, but also your knees.
Any body part with a double E really.
Weener
Spleen
The real value is in the comments
In addition, take care of your fucking joints and your hearing. They will never get better, you can only slow the degradation.
- If you need medical care, get fucking medical care. Seriously. It will get worse if you ignore it, whatever “it” happens to be.
- Following the above, have at least one trusted advocate (partner, family member, friend, doesn’t matter) who can explain any chronic issues, typical medications, etc., and who can and will advocate on your behalf with medical professionals in e.g., a hospital setting as and when necessary.
Start saving for retirement now. You can make literally millions by putting away 10% of your income early on. Do it automatically so you never even notice the money gone.
If you are worried about making the wrong choice and your company doesn’t have a 401k, open an IRA somewhere (Fidelity if you need someone to make the decision for you) and pick a date targeted fund. Set up auto deposit. Never look at the balance.
You can always make it better later but for now the best thing to do is start. Don’t let analysis paralysis get in the way.
If 20 year old me put away 10% of her income, it would just mean borrowing more. Current me would just have more debt and be worse off than now.
Yeah a lot of people in there twenties can’t even spare 5%. I’m thirty and I can’t.
I don’t want to come off as insensitive, so I’ll try to phrase things carefully.
If you have even the slightest spare money per pay period, like $30, and a 401k or 403b is offered to you, you really need to do it.
That money comes out of your check before taxes, so you will be investing more money than what actually comes out of your check. By deduction 6% of a $15/hr full time job, you’re putting in $36, but your paycheck will only go down about $30-free money!
Many places will match you some, say half of that first 6%, so now you’re saving $54 while only being out $30. You’ve almost doubled your money in one week!
Come tax time, you’ve saved $1872, and you’ve been given a free $936. It doesn’t stop there though, because now you only are paying income tax on $29,328 instead of $31,200. If you get a tax rebate now, you will get even more back!
So now you’re saving $2808 a year at age 20. Let’s put that in one mutual fund, a SP500 index fund. Over the last 10 years, that has returned 12‰, but let’s be conservative and call it 10. If you never make a cent more per hour, by age 65, you will have saved $84,000 and your job has chipped in $42,000, over a year’s pay! But with that 10% compound interest, you have $2,000,000! You are a multi-millionaire for $30/wk!
If you get a raise or get a better job in the future, this number can be even higher.
Please keep this in mind. Even if you can’t do it now, do it ASAP. Here are the same numbers, but starting at 30 instead of 20.
Still amazing, but seeing this difference is why we older on ones tell you not saving earlier was our big regret.
I hope this was helpful and doesn’t get taken as a “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” thing.
Yes that’s cool and all but I have to pay rent and food and as things stand now the average salary is like enough to cover ⅓ of the rent
You entirely missed the point he was trying to make.
No, I understand what he’s trying to say. The point is: doing what he recommends requires having money to save up in the first place, and for a big portion of people in their 20s that’s not the case.
It’s valid, and it sucks. If you can even do $5, it’s worth it. But the world is absolutely against you right now. A lot of older folk don’t quite get how bad it’s gotten.
However, saving a dollar today is worth more than saving two dollars ten years from now. And having an emergency fund might actually save your life.
Hopefully something happens to shake up housing. These prices are absolutely criminal.
Smoking, drinking and gambling never ends well. Stay away from addictions.
Don’t try to proof how manly you are to your friends/girls. It rarely pays off. Its ok to have a veggie dish at the restaurant instead of a bloody steak. Its ok to not speed with your car to look cool. Its ok to wear whatever the fuck you want as long as you like it, it fits well and its practical for you. Do what you like and be proud of it.
Always save time for your hobbies. Growing up doesn’t means you can’t have fun. If you are in a relationship make sure your partner gives you enough space and time for yourself.
Protect your back. Use proper form when lifting heavy weights. I let my back go round while pressing a few hundred pounds on an inverted incline leg press in my 20s, bulged a disk, and ever since my mid 30s it has been my Achilles’ Heel. Goes out without warning. Completely lays me up when it does. Rubbish. Wish I could go back and undo that.
I came here to say that, and I’ll add wear ear protection if you’re anywhere loud. Who gives a shit if you don’t look cool wearing a headset or ear plugs. You know what else isn’t cool? That constant ringing in my ears because I was an idiot for years. I have to sleep with two loud fans now.
Omg yes the ear protection. I never paid attention to the warnings, it was just a loud club on a random Thursday after all. I was too young to realize the compounding effect. Even now I look back and feel like my partying and exposure to loud fun was mild, yet here I am with partial hearing loss and a portable white noise generator.
my dumbass fell asleep with mp3 at full blast when i was 7. WHYYYYYYYYYYY
I’m 50 and a woman, but my advice for the hell of it is be nice to your knees and back, and don’t waste your time on relationships that suck.
Dead on, and applicable to nearly everyone.
Exfoliate, moisturizer, sunblock
- Don’t be afraid of loneliness; don’t be afraid of too many people around; don’t be afraid of sharing your life with an SO you think you don’t really know. As you age, these phases tend to blunt and blend together, like the seasons. The only thing you really have, in the end, is yourself.
- Adult life is a lot more about compromising than fighting. Don’t make other people’s life shitty on purpose, neither allow them to make yours shitty.
- Get your regular medical check-outs.
- Leave a place if you positively can’t stand it any longer, and start from scratch. It’ll be okay.
Learn to clean your butthole and keep it clean
You will get fatter unless you eat less and less for the rest of your life, probably starting around 32
Appreciate what you have. I know you think you are doing that now, but you’re probably steamrolling over people and things all day long
If you are doing something awesome, remember it and document it. You’ll want to revisit that many times later - see above
You will get fatter unless you eat less and less for the rest of your life, probably starting around 32
The healthier you eat, the more difficult it will be to become and stay overweight.
A McDonalds hamburger with a medium fries and medium drink is 1,200 calories. This is almost trivial for most people to eat.
Conversely, 1 lb of lean ground beef, 2 cups of rice (when dry), 2cups of vegetables with a dessert of two cups of fruit is also 1,200 calories, yet represents almost 3× the amount of food when fully prepared.
Eat healthy raw foods, and viciously limit your intake of highly processed foods, and you will likely remain decently slim without even trying.
Also, unless you’re one of those people who legitimately doesn’t care if food tastes good or not, learn to cook. You don’t have to be good a cooking everything, but develop a repertoire of food that is healthy and you like to eat.
The age where you could depend on a wife to be a good cook for you are long past.
The starting gun has already fired. Don’t be idle and wait for life to come to you, you need to go get it!
Listening to other people, especially to women, is a skill. Don’t spend silent time in a conversation waiting for your chance to speak or be smart or witty, stay quiet and really process what you’re hearing. Imagine yourself in their situation. Accept that what they say is exactly how they feel.
The less time you spend talking, the more your conversational partner will tell you, and the more you will start to understand them, their lives, their goals, and their anxieties.
Knowing and understanding other peoples’ experiences will help you not only make better decisions in your own life, but understand why other people act and think the way they do. You’ll be less likely to snap-judge or make assumptions about others. And knowing more about your loved ones, co-workers, and neighbours will allow you to help them effectively if they need it.
And travel abroad as much as possible - listen to people from other countries and cultures. The human experience is wildly varied and endlessly fascinating.
Meet with a trusted financial advisor and plan your retirement ASAP
Mine is modest; but practice being mindful of your emotional reactions.
If something upsets you, interrogate why, and whether your reaction will help. 90% of the time it won’t, so learn to appreciate that you are upset, but don’t let it control you. Because if you don’t you’re going to start seeing the world through incredibly negative eyes.
For example, I used to be a nightmare behind the wheel, always getting angry with shitty drivers and red lights. But I began trying to catch those thoughts, and asked myself whether they would stop other drivers being shitty, or whether it would stop me getting caught at red lights. Would I still be angry in ten minutes? The answer is almost always no, so to expend that energy feels like a waste of time to me now.
Sure, I still get pissy, but I don’t sit with it for longer than I need to. You wouldn’t sit in acid, so why sit in anger?
Compatibility is probably the most important quality to look for in a romantic partner.
I’m 2 months from 36 so I want to weigh in, behind every great man, is a good partner. Don’t waste your youth chasing flings and living it up, find your person, someone who will help you build yourself in a better person every step of the way. Not controlling but supportive, and do the same for them.
