If there was a way to send back a message to the past, this is the money advice I'd give to myself. This isn't a professional financial advice, this is just what could've work better for me if I knew the stuff that I do now a decade and an half earlier. I guess this is the life path if I had a chance to redo.
As a teenager, I'd spend some free time learning how to edit videos, use excel, get better at math, saving and budgeting, do extra reading on economics, get into art, or learn some basic life skills that can be marketable. I wouldn't be too hard on myself if I hit some roadblocks like limited internet time because these were the days when dial up to connect online was a bitch to do and getting a home computer was expensive.
I didn't realize the value of the library at school until I started counting the time I spent wasted. I may have reduced my time reading English literature (not that I hate it, I think it's still great getting lost in the beauty of English literature but it serves no purpose to where I'm at right now).
In college, getting into healthcare studies like Nursing wasn't a bad idea as it's paying off dividends now. But I do wonder what I could've have been had I applied some of my creativity and drive mixing IT + Entrepreneur mindset. This was a time when I first heard about bitcoin trading at 48$ each should've been focused more on reading about stock investing. I probably should've have been more proactive about continuing using skills set I tried to learn as a teenager (assuming I actually did the prologue). By this time, I should be starting some mutual funds or personally picking stocks.
If money was tight, it would hurt to just spend extra on reading more financial books than trying to get along with people I'm unlikely going to have long term relationships with.
In graduate school (Med School), other than trying to graduate, I should be have multiple side gigs and started taking position trading seriously. I this section of the story bites the most as this was when I could've put more effort when knowledge was given to me and I didn't have the wisdom to use it to the fullest.
I started earning money but didn't know what to do with it as efficiently as I should. Things like emergency funds, learning more marketable skills, and just building social capital. If I could restart, I'd put more effort to the stuff I knew would eventually pay off but consistency wasn't there.
If someone said life starts in their 30's, it's probably one of these moments where I realize it makes sense now.
Thanks for your time.
and maybe baka mag drop na ng college and just concentrate on earning like the billionaires we have now.
Reading this made me stop for a moment and think about mine. It actually made me want to try doing a reflection like this, too. I wonder how things might have turned out if I had known a bit more.
I’m curious though, did anyone ever give you advice like this when you were younger?
I feel like even if someone had told us all these things back then, I don’t think we would’ve followed them anyway hahaha we didn’t have the maturity yet to understand why those skills (and being consistent) mattered. idk anong pinagkakaabalahan mo when you're younger tho hahaha
In a way, I get why some parents push their kids into extra activities or classes they don't even enjoy. Back then I used to think it's exhausting pero now I kind of see the intention of planting seeds for skills we’d only understand years later.
Di ko rin gets yan dati but now, I couldn't agree more. Well, I’m not there yet but close enough to feel it and I already have so many realizations.
I got the advices from the books I've read. I didn't have any real role model to lead me to the path of becoming rich since no one around my social circle was while growing up. I think I just took more notice when I was on my teens becomes the books became more complex and better. Mga mystery novels na minsan may pa dialogue about life/money yung character na napapaisip lang minsan. When they think of what they thought about why some other characters go into debt and making poor decisions moments.
I agree with this statement. That's why I don't really hold childhood me accountable for missing those chances. But I think things would have changed if someone was there to consistently guide us to the right path. I learned this part from talking to those that grew up in a Fil-Chinese culture.
Ito na talaga dis.
Pasulyap sulyap kay crush at mag pa bibo sa teacher.
I forgot na andyan parin pala age mo sa calendar. Pero totoo, you can see the landscape na and get a few years in advance to change things. I've been thinking how much a single month of dedicating to learning a marketable skill can compound with interest later in life. Maybe it's time to reflect nga what your current version should be doing so that your future version wouldn't make a post about not doing it now.
Good luck and take care~
Update: @adamada, I paid out 0.364 HIVE and 0.038 HBD to reward 2 comments in this discussion thread.