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Great question but there isn't enough room here to express it all. For certain I sure wish someone had told me about the power and glory of a sawz-all and a pressure cooker!!!! Also, I wish someone had somehow convinced me NOT to tan - it's costing a fortune to undo all that sun damage to my skin. And hey, someone else should have told me to NOT go to New Mexico - there had to be a better and warmer place on this earth.
My advice would be to live a life of reasonable moderation.
I'd advise someone 20 years old to reasonably enjoy their current lives, and not overly plan for the future. However I'd also recommend that they save at least 5% of their take home pay, especially if they have a matching employer contribution, and get comfortable with taking some financial risk.
Below that 5% savings amount, I'd say go enjoy yourself as long as you don't do behavior that may be hurtful of others, be personally responsible and don't accumulate any long term or credit card debt.
1) Be very careful who you marry. This will set the tone for your whole adult life
2) Always have a savings account with money in it for emergencies. And needing new shoes or an new Iphone is NOT an emergency.
3) Surround yourself with positive people who will encourage and support you and return the favour. You will have friends that last a lifetime.
4) Try to remember that life is short so set out to have adventures and enjoy the journey.
I'm sure I was told some of these things, I just wish I had of listened.
Everyone gave excellent advice, but if you only follow number one above, you will have a much better life. Everything else is really secondary and will fall in place if you choose to marry and marry the right person.
Also, if you could have a vision of what a perfect (but reasonable) world looks like, what would it be? (just curious as to what kind of attitude/desires/beliefs you wish your fellow travelers among humanity would mostly adopt, regardless of whether it will happen or not).
-avantgarde
20yr old male realizing that Murphy's Law isn't a joke, and I now realize how alone everyone really is in this world, but this isn't a sympathy-seeking question and I'd appreciate some authentic responses
The real answer is probably not found in what one impulsively writes on a forum, but, in the advice one gives their grown 'kids'
No matter what someone told me when I was 20, I probably wouldn't have listened carefully, or considered it relevant. That's been true throughout the generations. You learn life by living it. There are no short-cuts.
That's what I was thinking. In the movie "A Passage to India", someone says to a wise old Hindu professor, "Why didn't you tell me that?" His answer: "You can't tell someone anything until he is ready to hear it".
Get a job with insurance and pension
Save
Buy a house early
Get life insurance when it's cheap
New cars have warranties
Education is wasted on the masses
I ignored all the advice, except the education, left home at 21 on a loaded bicycle and have continued to have one adventure after another ever since.
So I guess I wish someone would have told me it is OK to be true to yourself and live outside the box. I might of had less anxiety about this whole thing called life..
So my missing advice would have been--
Work when you are hungry
Smile when you are sad
Sleep when you are tired
Play when you have time
Love often
Cry when it hurts (or when very happy!)
Hug when you are lonely
Dream when you are stressed
Hope when you are betrayed
And most of all--Give a hand up those who struggle
Not to be so hung up on being older, . I should not have got married at 20, not a child.....I missed out on a lot of things, it was tough, paying child support and all the material things I gave up.... It was not until I was 30 that things turned around, I started living what I has missed......only with money ! My social life became an overload, sure was a lot of fun living in a singles comples! I finally found myself after all those miserable years. Moral here, is stay single ,at lest to about 33.
T b
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What advice do you give your kids?
