This Is The Biggest Financial Mistake I Made When I Was Younger

I’m on a personal finance kick lately. Maybe it’s because we’re looking ahead at a softer market and it’s such a prime opportunity for people to get rich. Maybe it’s because my boy Ramit Sethi just released the second edition of “I’ll Teach You To Be Rich” which was the book that finally brought it all together for me. Whatever the reason, I’m on a mission to make sure you, my readers, have basic knowledge of debt, savings and investing and the path to true financial freedom.

I just released my first free download, check it out here. It’s a super easy to follow checklist to help you crush debt, build your savings and investments and have an easy plan that you automate. I spend maybe 30 minutes a month on my money. That’s it. I don’t want you living in spreadsheets and tracking how much you spent on chai tea lattes. Yawn. Go live your fabulous life!

One thing I don’t go into in my financial guide is my biggest personal finance regret. You might think my regret is not making more in my 20’s. That would be wrong. Because honestly if I made more in my 20’s I would have just spent it all at the mall.

My biggest regret about my personal finances from my younger years (18-30, we’ll say) is that I had the KNOWLEDGE about the power of investing early, the time value of money and the magic of compound interest, but I didn’t ACTION it. I read books about personal finances in my college years. I understood the concepts. Then I went back to my daily life and didn’t do the work to make a little extra money and invest it.

Now, giving younger me a bit of compassion, it was a different time. Today you can pop open the Betterment or Ellevest app and automate your investments in a matter of minutes for almost no fees. Back then I had to find a brokerage place, go in, set up an account, send them a check each month or something… It felt very grown up and scary. So I didn’t do it. If I had…I would have SO MUCH MONEY now. So much.

This isn’t about feeling bad or living in the past, but it’s about sharing a mistake I made so you (hopefully) don’t make the same one. And this isn’t just for my readers who are in their teens and 20’s. Right now, as you read this, you’re the youngest you’ll ever be again. Do it now. They say the best time to plant a tree is 100 years ago. The second best time is today. so what you didn’t do it decades ago. Something is better than nothing.

I just recorded a podcast with some more flavor on this topic. Now go make some money, you beautiful souls.

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