Travel... sleep on the beach... drink the whole weekend and show Monday to work, straight from the bar... fight with the police... have all the fun you can get, do all the crazy stuff for the next few years, because once you get married and with kids, you won't be able to... There are no memories from money in the bank and from sleep... Enjoy!
-Chances are whatever you are currently stressing about at 18, you will forget about in 3 or 4 years. Then laugh about in 5 years and then in 10 year get mad that you stressed about it. ;)
-Work hard at being a good person and helping people.
-The only problems are the ones that money can't solve. (life,death, health, etc) Everything else is just figment of our fears or insecurities or lack of hard work.
That calculus class the university thinks you tested out of is pretty important and you should take it anyway because EE classes will make a lot more sense if you already know Taylor series.
Also, take stats in college even though you don't have to.
- get vasectomy - I tell my kids this and I want grandbabies - helped one daughter with paying for an IUD - not having kids is way better than having kids
I would actually give all those concepts from TRP (Hypergamy, Love (men love women, women love children, children love pets, etc), Solipsism, etc) and the concepts from MGTOW (that marriage is ONLY a financial contract and legally divorce favours females).
I'd like to +1 this because it needs to be repeated until the whole world has heard it. Since 1950 or so, the S&P 500 has averaged 8% per year growth. Nearly all managed funds have done worse -- and that's before you pay their management fees.
Here is all the investment advice you will ever need: Open a Schwab account, and buy their S&P 500 index fund (SWPPX). There are no fees to open a Schwab account, no trading fees to buy the fund, and essentially no fees to hold it. Do not sell if you think it's going to go down. Just keep buying with whatever extra money you have month-to-month. That 8% per year (plus dividends) will add up fast.
Once you have some assets to your name, managed investment firms like JP Morgan will be courting you. Don't be fooled -- they won't do better than the market over the long run, and you'll pay a 1% per year management fee regardless of how well they do.
And if you're wondering "who is this guy and what is his authority to speak on this?", consider that Warren Buffet, world's greatest investor, agrees with me. Look it up.
Pretty much the same thing. I recommend SWPPX for several reasons:
1. Schwab is pretty much the best bank in the world for many reasons. Most professional service, no fees for banking, and minimal fees for trading.
2. With a Schwab account, buying and selling SWPPX incurs no trading fees -- since they own the fund.
3. The fund expense ratio is ever-so-slightly lower, 0.03%. VOO has 0.04%.
..but if that doesn't work for you for whatever reason, VOO is great!
My main point is that too many people are either afraid to invest at all, or they get robbed blind by investment managers like JP Morgan who take 1% of your money every year, regardless of their own performance.
I agree with you completely, but if I actually had a chance to talk to my 18-year old self, I'd tell him to put every penny he could spare into Apple ;-)
Be who you want to be. At 18 I thought I could do what I wanted and eventually morph into a person that had qualities I valued.
You won't magically turn into who you want to be. If you want to be a hard working person then start working hard. If you want to be an independent person stop depending on others. If you want to be a nice person then start being kind and empathetic towards others. You have to BE, right now and in the present, who you want to become.
So simple and self evident but I didn't figure it out until my mid-late 20s.
I would second the never start drinking and stop doing drugs advise but pretty sure 18 year old me would never listen to that advice.
Depending on where you live / the culture you grow up in, this may be easy or challenging. I had to make up for "lost time" after I arrived in America as a 24 year old from India (where, as you may or may not know, dating is(was?) a taboo.)
If music in a club seems very loud, leave. Or at least, if you're going to stay, take frequent breaks out of the blast zone (maybe hang out in front of the club, or maybe around the bar if it's quieter there) as this will greatly reduce the chances of permanent hearing damage and tinnitus.
78 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 138 ms ] threadYou have more of an advantage when you are young as time is something you have less of when you get older.
the real learning begins now in the real world, not in a room where you take tests.
The right girl is out there. She's very much worth the wait. Be patient.
very very very true.
-Work hard at being a good person and helping people.
-The only problems are the ones that money can't solve. (life,death, health, etc) Everything else is just figment of our fears or insecurities or lack of hard work.
Also, STOP DOING DRUGS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3BMkHg9_Pg
This. Reminds me of the quote from the movie "Rounders". At the very end.
"People insists on calling it Luck."
I'm sorry, you're not going to die young.
The marginal cost of an additional class in college is entirely in time (see above).
Study languages more. Do not stop with the minimum requirements for your degree, continue on to at least sound reading proficiency.
Take more math classes.
That VDT with a blinking cursor? Learn something about it. Computers are more usable when you can get away from punch cards.
Tell your loved ones that you love them.
Exercise classes can be really fun.
That calculus class the university thinks you tested out of is pretty important and you should take it anyway because EE classes will make a lot more sense if you already know Taylor series.
Also, take stats in college even though you don't have to.
2. DEFINITELY DON'T HAVE A CHILD WITH HER.[1]
---
[1] I love my daughter to the end of the universe and back, but my ex-wife...? Um, not so much.
That would save me from making ^^^^^^^^^^ too
Here is all the investment advice you will ever need: Open a Schwab account, and buy their S&P 500 index fund (SWPPX). There are no fees to open a Schwab account, no trading fees to buy the fund, and essentially no fees to hold it. Do not sell if you think it's going to go down. Just keep buying with whatever extra money you have month-to-month. That 8% per year (plus dividends) will add up fast.
Once you have some assets to your name, managed investment firms like JP Morgan will be courting you. Don't be fooled -- they won't do better than the market over the long run, and you'll pay a 1% per year management fee regardless of how well they do.
And if you're wondering "who is this guy and what is his authority to speak on this?", consider that Warren Buffet, world's greatest investor, agrees with me. Look it up.
1. Schwab is pretty much the best bank in the world for many reasons. Most professional service, no fees for banking, and minimal fees for trading.
2. With a Schwab account, buying and selling SWPPX incurs no trading fees -- since they own the fund.
3. The fund expense ratio is ever-so-slightly lower, 0.03%. VOO has 0.04%.
..but if that doesn't work for you for whatever reason, VOO is great!
My main point is that too many people are either afraid to invest at all, or they get robbed blind by investment managers like JP Morgan who take 1% of your money every year, regardless of their own performance.
If you get in, make friends with that Andreessen kid.
You won't magically turn into who you want to be. If you want to be a hard working person then start working hard. If you want to be an independent person stop depending on others. If you want to be a nice person then start being kind and empathetic towards others. You have to BE, right now and in the present, who you want to become.
So simple and self evident but I didn't figure it out until my mid-late 20s.
I would second the never start drinking and stop doing drugs advise but pretty sure 18 year old me would never listen to that advice.
I would also thrown get into good shape, take college seriously and get your depression treated.
Depending on where you live / the culture you grow up in, this may be easy or challenging. I had to make up for "lost time" after I arrived in America as a 24 year old from India (where, as you may or may not know, dating is(was?) a taboo.)
Youth is fleeting.