28-35 yr old's- Give your 1 piece of general advice in life for us in our early 20's.

[NoContest]

1. Always wear a jimmy hat!!! If you do not have one on hand, then no play.

2. Get a real college degree. Stay away from mickey mouse degrees that render no real jobs after college. Engineering, medicine, science, math are the way to go. Psychology, sociology, political science = poop. If you are unsure, research the supply and demand of careers in different industries. This will usually help you narrow down your choices to something useful to society.

3. Stay away from this stupid neo-american mentality that life is all about feeling good and doing things that feel good. To achieve anything worthwhile in this world you must suffer. You must put in the mental preparation, the sweat, the suffering, and the perseverence. Mtv and other media channels would have you believe that you can sit on your arse all day and do nothing and women, cash, and power will head your way. That's bs. Yes, a select few in life inherent mass sums of money, but sorry to break it to you, but that's < 2% of the population (and a portion of those 2% do not waste their money like that).

4. Save up. Do not buy useless material things. A car is a car. It takes you from point a to point b. No need to spend vast sums of money to make your car shine and marginally increase your chances of spreading some legs. Stop dropping money at the clubs. Clubs can be an unavoidable social venue in the early 20s, but pre-gaming will save you a ton of cash.

5. Be wary of man made institutions like religion, politics, and banks. They are made to deceive and control the population. They do not have your interests in mind, only the interests of the "special interests", those lining their pockets in washington, wall street, and the vatican.

6. Read books. Knowledge is power. Don't be just another sheep. You'll soon find out that most of what is in the media, in the newspaper, etc. Is biased and usually full of lies.
Be forewarned that ignorance is bliss and you may be disappointed to learn that mankind is inherently selfish and characteristics like lying and cheating are positive from the perspective of natural selection (but not always).

7. Learn how to invest your own money. I hope the last few years have taught most to sit down and study on their own. Banks and financial advisers cannot be trusted. They do not have your best interests in mind. Do not listen to the advice given on cnbc and bloomberg. More often than not they recommend the opposite of what you should be doing.

8. Work out. The benefits of working out will spill into your life. Your attitude will be much more positive.

9. When it comes time, be a good husband and father. Again stay away from this neo-american lazy arse mentality where couples are unwilling to work things out like adults. Additionally, educate your children. Do not let them run around and do whatever they want. A spanking is not going to scar them for life. Look at what several decades of child worship has done to our society: Lower iqs, bigger waistelines, and illusions of grandeur.

10. And finally... The vices: Parties, drugs, and women (as in hos). They will always be there. They never go away. Always put them last on your list of priorities.

this.

[Sandman33]

A lot of good stuff in here, but I'd like to add (if it wasn't said before):

DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON MODDING A CAR.

That is all.

Pretty good advice.

I did that. And it's a real REAL money pit after a while. Modding cars really needs to be for people that already HAVE a lot of free cash.

If you're living paycheck to paycheck and saving up a few bucks a month to get those fancy cylinder heads or whatever....don't. Just don't.

[Saint_James]

this is great guys. got through 3 pages reading all of it. will read the rest tonight.

all the 18-25 year olds really appreciate this.

[BORN2LOSE]

My advice (31. Law field)


3)Kids decrease your marital happiness, it's a fact.

Not true at all.

[Bcndiamond]

Do not invest in the stock market. It's bull****.
Do not throw money in a 401k for the same reason.

Buy canned food. A lot of it.

Buy guns.

Buy silver.
..

I'm not saying not to invest in certain things.
I'm saying don't play the phucking stock market unless you REALLY REALLY think you know wtf you are doing.

And do NOT buy some portfolio that some talking head from Merrill Lynch manages for you or whatever. You will be pissed.

Same with the 401k bull****. Employers used to PAY retirement. Now they bring some dickheads in suits to your business to "set you up" with a retirement program that your employer supposedly helps donate into....that your employer tax deducts anyway.

Then when the stock market crashes you're left holding your dick.

If you really want to MAKE money you need to realize the difference between wealth and money.

Money doesn't exist. Wealth is tangible and wealth is self sustaining.

Owning an apartment complex is wealth.
Having certain ammount of money in a savings account accruing interest..is wealth.

I mentioned buying silver because it's STILL relatively cheap and it's needed for the future of power production such as solar panels. It's also second precious next to Gold. But Gold is already too expensive for most people to really purchase.

I've seen silver double in the last year and a half.

The key to remaining wealthy is the healthy management of assets vs liabilities. Liabilities cost you every month...like a car payment. While assets benefit you.

You sound like someone who browses urbansurvival. Good post.

All this advice about not getting into debt makes me believe many of you experienced it firsthand, otherwise you shouldn't give it as life advice. In any case, I think a little debt isn't such a bad thing for the younger. It makes them learn the value of money and how hard they have to work for it to pay it back.


As advice i'd say use the internet/computer in moderation, unless you use it to learn new things or for work. Especially for those who want to find their passion/ live life to it's fullest. Later on you will most likely regret spending so much time doing basically nothing (excluding misc.)

[Skies]

Great thread, I'm 19 and sitting absorbing everything that is being said

[BeefyMcNasty]

1.) Start saving money right now. Research and invest. It will be worth it when you're 40 and sitting on 7 figures.

2.) Treat everyone with respect until they give you a reason to do otherwise.

3.) Trust is fragile. Your word is your bond. Never break a promise.

4.) Only you can protect yourself when the need arises. You call the police after a crime has been committed. Learn to defend yourself. Learn how to use a gun.

5.) Never cut your own hair.

6.) Our ability to always be able to learn is an evolutionary gift. Never stop learning. Learn something new every day.

7.) Read a new book every month.

8.) Learn how to write well. This generation is sorely lacking in this aspect. A lot can be told based on how a person construct a sentence. Get out of the habit of writing like a 14 year old girl.

9.) And like everyone has said, avoid debt like the plague. Get a small credit card ($500 limit MAX) to build credit and for emergencies. Debt has the potential to ruin your life.

[Sandman33]

You sound like someone who browses urbansurvival. Good post.

All this advice about not getting into debt makes me believe many of you experienced it firsthand, otherwise you shouldn't give it as life advice. In any case, I think a little debt isn't such a bad thing for the younger. It makes them learn the value of money and how hard they have to work for it to pay it back.


As advice i'd say use the internet/computer in moderation, unless you use it to learn new things or for work. Especially for those who want to find their passion/ live life to it's fullest. Later on you will most likely regret spending so much time doing basically nothing (excluding misc.)

Thanks for the compliment.

I've not heard of urbansurvival.com till you just mentioned it. But after briefly browsing it...it seems to be pretty cool.

If the system was healthy and actually legit. I'd be telling people to invest in the markets...but it's not.

The keynesian schooled always yell at me, call me stupid, and ignore me.

Just like they ignored Ron Paul.

Investing in a 401K for your future was pretty nice in the late 90's - 2005 ish. Because the fake economy was falsely growing. And it looked like your investments were magically growing!

Then the housing bubble burst just like they planned...they bailed THEMSELVES out with YOUR tax dollars. And then refused to lend it to you while reposessing your homes.

It's the single largest theft in the history of mankind. And the system is DONE.

This country will not repay it's debt in U.S. dollars.
The rest of the world will not continue to accept U.S. dollars as payment for it's exports anyway.

There WILL be a re-structure of the system and if you're investing in a failing system you're a moron. It's like dumping ALL of your money into the PAINTJOB of a car with 250,000 miles on it thats puking oil all over your driveway.

Ask the employees of ENRON how thier retirement plans panned out....

Silver and gold are tangible assets that absolutely WILL be valuable no matter what the populace is using for currency. Always has been and always will be.

"Currencies have historicly been used to rob the ignorant of thier actual gold/silver." Over and over again, time after time.

And the elastic manipulation of fiat currencies always leads to debt slavery and theft of the middle classes. Always always always.

[Buster McFats]

BRB being $50k in debt at 24.


edit: Great advice in this thread though. Thanks everyone. The marriage advice scares the $hit out of me though.

[Rolo01]

1. Save money NOW! I cannot stress this issue more, this is the most important action you will ever take for yourself! I am very very serious. Every month set aside as much money as you can - you can start with as little as $10 or more if you can. This money will turn into sh!tloads of money within 30 years or so, I know most people in their 20's can't see that far a head, hell most of you can't think an hour a head, but trust me, you will thank me for the rest of your life if you do that.
Since you have such a long time to save, put ALL your money in to the stock market, buy an ETF (or MTF if you don't have enough for ETF) that follows the S&P500 or DOW JONES, and just keep pouring money into it every month. When you're about 40 years old, then you should start decreasing your investment in stocks, and start moving some of your money into more stable investments like govt. bonds. Eventually as you age, you either start spending your money or move it all to bonds.

If you put about $100 a month for saving based on the stock market, within 20 years you would turn that amount to about a $150K.

2. Don't be afraid of rejection! - Girls are whores. Fuk them and don't care for them. Don't mind all the bullsh!t about self confidence, no self confidence, whatfukingever, there are girls out there who like all sorts. If you get rejected move on - don't even give it a second thought. If you master this (which I didn't on time..) you will fuk so many girls your dick might fall off, and I'm serious (assuming you take care of yourself and try to put your best game on - i.e. don't be a filthy homeless and expect chicks to dig you).

3. Misc. drama's lasts 24-48hrs. Real life drama lasts up to 2 weeks, because that's the amount of time it takes people to beat a subject until they have nothing more to say about it, and move on to the next drama. If you don't believe me, go a head, step naked out of your house and start fapping, when you get back from jail ask people how long they were talking about you.

4. See #1 - seriously!

5. Women - revisited. Yes, girls are generally whores, BUT, one of them, is your special one, when you find that one, you make sure to treat her like a queen, and she will make you a king. This is no BS, treat your woman as a woman, not as the rest of the whores.

6. Go to school. No matter how dumb you are, make sure you get some sort of a college degree.

Or you could just open a savings account and just put 10% of your weekly pay and just let the interest build till your 30-40 and retire. The only hard thing is not touching that money for all those years. =/

[Sandman33]

BRB being $50k in debt at 24.

There ARE two sides to every coin.

Think of it this way...they can't reposess your education and there's no debtors prison. So if the economy crashes you will come out on top during the restructure.

[...Kennedy]

Great thread.

[Sandman33]

Or you could just open a savings account and just put 10% of your weekly pay and just let the interest build till your 30-40 and retire. The only hard thing is not touching that money for all those years. =/

The interest you recieve on a basic savings account will not counter the rate of inflation effectively to actually GAIN real wealth.

To make that work you would have to put a huge chunk of money in now. And watch the money slowly grow while inflation rises. And even then it wouldn't be massive. Putting it in slowly bit by bit will won't work for gains.

[nick1990]

The interest you recieve on a basic savings account will not counter the rate of inflation effectively to actually GAIN real wealth.

To make that work you would have to put a huge chunk of money in now. And watch the money slowly grow while inflation rises. And even then it wouldn't be massive. Putting it in slowly bit by bit will won't work for gains.

so your overall suggestion is to buy silver and gold coins bit by bit, year by year?

To me this doesnt seem like a bad plan

Can someone explain why it apparently is? (according to what everyone else has said)

[Sun-Illin]

in for later

[Sandman33]

so your overall suggestion is to buy silver and gold coins bit by bit, year by year?

To me this doesnt seem like a bad plan

Can someone explain why it apparently is? (according to what everyone else has said)

I would purchase as much as I could comfortably. And when you NEED money for something..you will find that turning that metal back into cash is very easy, and you will get more back than what you paid.

I personally know a man that owns a store/business "asset" His business land and facility are paid off so it's a pure asset at this point. He started collecting gold ten years ago....he put hundreds of thousands of dollars into gold and actually HAS the metal in his safe. He's got hundreds of gold double eagle coins as well.

He paid about 100 bucks for most of them. The highest he was paying was 300 bucks for them. One oz coins each.

Gold is nearly 1200 bucks an ounce now.

He wanted an exhaust system for his car....he traded in ONE coin and got the entire job done parts labor and all....1200 dollar job. He literally paid the store owner with one coin and drove off.

I'm not saying to invest in gold and silver ONLY. I'm just saying it's solid when this market is manipulated and absolutely CRASHING.

The KEY is assets. Things that don't cost you money every month, rather make you money. Like rental homes or apartment complexes if you can attain them. Small businesses if you can maintain them.

[cletus van dam]

1. Networking is important.. This doesn't mean you have to have a lot of friends.. just have the intention of using friends also as tools towards finding a job. Most job opportunities do not come from submitting a resume. They come from knowing people and getting a foot in the door.

Example: My brother's college friend hired him fresh out of college at a large company. Eventually my brother got his MBA and took a job opportunity elsewhere making great money. My brother ended up hiring the college friend who originally hired my brother. Then my brother hired his friend's wife and two friends of theirs. 7 years later now 8 people from their social circle all work in the same corporate building.

Guess where I'm working next year?

Didn't read the whole thread, but this is one of the most important things, along with not marrying too soon.

[Jay89LDN]

been reading this thread for the past hour

[jafomofo]

this thread is dildos. 11 pages of 'save all your money and avoid commitment!!'

enjoy your life because you will most likely want to settle down and start a family. Save but don't sacrifice experience for a little extra in your bank account. Travel while you are unencumbered and don't worry about padding out your bank account in your 20s. You will have plenty of time for that.

[The_Volturi]

Wow! its a bleak future ahead.................

[RipedRX]

Background: vet of 2 wars, West Point grad, owned 2 homes, married at 32 with no kids and one dog.

1. The debt thing-Everyone's said it, let me say it again. Debt sucks. You fork over $1000 for a flat screen because you have a $15K limit thinking "no problem, I'll throw $200 in there every month." You won't. You will spend the $200 elsewhere, interest will pile up, other purchases pile up, pretty soon your $1000 flatscreen, $2000 tempur-pedic, $1600 lawn tractor and $1400 Vegas trip end up costing you 5 years of paying double that in interest cost. If you don't have the money, don't buy it. Holding off on things like Ipods for a couple of years feels good when you buy one for half the price of version 1, with three times the capabilities in it while your friend is still paying off his first one. Save money. Emergencies WILL happen. (Flying home for funeral emergencies-not "I have to have this xbox game" emergencies)

2. Girls- I played the field for 10 years, and loved it. I am a believer in being respectful of girls (ones that are worthy of respect-others I avoided). There are an incredible amount of girls who love sex and ONLY want sex and no relationship out there, especially in college. Be up front with them in a respectful way. I had a constant flow of friends with benefits, all over the country (I traveled a lot in the military) and it was stress free, because until they were married, having a fund date followed with hot sex was all they wanted. No need to act like you have other intentions or pretend you are something you are not. Be at ease, be CONFIDENT in yourself and be honest about what you want, in business, life and with women. If you want to get married to a girl that is into bondage, good at cooking and likes watching movies, be up front-you will eventually find her. If not, you spend 10 years in a gut wrenching marriage, wasting 10 years, having kids who resent you and losing a huge chunk of your wealth. Don't do it. Relax, be confident and go after what you want.

3. Body- You owe it to yourself to take care of it. Don't spend time in the gym to look good for girls. Spend time in the gym to BE someone that is strong enough to do anything in life and is GENUINELY a ripped powerhouse. There are the guys who spend 5 months sculpting to look ripped for spring break, get to Lauderdale, get drunk, get in a fight, injure themselves in a stupid accident and never even touch a girl. There is another type that maintains his body year round (cutting and bulking at his own discretion) for HIMSELF. You have the confidence in your body that when that azzhole starts something you can take him down if you WANT. You walk into a bar knowing the women want a man with a body like yours-year round. You don't have to wear a certain shirt to show off your muscles-you look good in anything. Don't waste your body with drugs. Don't EVER EVER EVER get into taking Oxycodone/Vicodin or any other opiate for recreational purposes-it will crush your life. Some crawl away, some don't. Handle your alcohol. You never look good plastered, and lose a lot of opportunities for great things, and endanger your life a lot easier. I have almost died many more times under the influence in my 20's, way more than in Iraq or Af'stan. Your friends that drink all the time will look like they are 50 when you are 35.

4. Dedicate yourself to SOMETHING. Join the military, travel for a year, move to a big city. Learn what it means to dedicate yourself and struggle to make something happen. The people who stayed in their hometown and never risked anything are the most boring people you will meet. Get out of your comfort zone and know what it means to fail and bounce back. NFQ-NEVER FKING QUIT! When life gets hard, it's an opportunity to harden yourself and build your experience portfolio. Learn to harden your mind as well as your body. Do the hard things first, and then do more of them. If you suck at deadlifts, spend a half hour with someone who aces them, have them teach you the exact form, then practice doing them over and over. Don't practice until you get it right, practice until you can't get it wrong.

5. Mindset- Life can be a constant adrenaline rush or a crapfest depending on your outlook. One man looks at his car dying as the worst day while the next guy looks at it as a great excuse to pick out a different car. One man is crushed by his father dying, while the next is thankful he was able to spend all the time he did with him, and tell him over and over how much he meant to him, and knows his father was proud of him. Keep yourself pumped, and not by drugs. Pump yourself in your own way. Put on music that riles you up, makes you so surging with adrenaline that you want to punch something, and tackle your day. Going to class? Determine to practice the hell out of it to the point where you can't get an answer wrong and pretty soon people are coming to you for answers. Going to baseball practice? Go there and practice your worst attributes-you suck at hitting? Hit off 4 different pitchers, buy them a case of beer to pitch to you for 2 hours straight. Perfect practice makes perfect-practice until you can't get it wrong. Pretty soon every day isn't long enough-you want more to each adrenaline packed day to be the best at every dammn thing you do. Master it all. Harden your mind to peak condition and pretty soon you will notice people coming to you for advice on everything-and you will know what it means tot really be respected for who you are-not because you have 22" rims or some material crap that can be taken away at any time.

6. Finally-always reflect on what you want to have done when you are an old man sitting in your rocker on your front porch when you are 90. What stories will you have? What accomplishments will you have? What will your pride feel like? You can BS everyone throughout your life, but when your curtain call is up, you will know what you really represent, and who you are. Rip this life apart like it is an adrenaline fest, don't wake up when you are 40 and realize all you have is a beer belly, a recliner and a tv. LIVE IT.

you have given too much reps the last 24 hours, repped on recharge! great post!

[nen78059]

And if you got links to similar threads post em up.

One thing I will tell my son; Live with someone for several years before getting married. You never really know if you can stay with someone longterm until you get so mad at them you want to quit. But you can't quit becuase they live with you. If you make it through this you can make it through married bliss.

Life got a lot easier when I stopped trying to impress people and just became myself. A lot less stressfull also.

I wish I would have lived with my parents until my mid 20's instead of moving out when I was 18. If you plan on buying a house saving up for a large down payment I best.

[RipedRX]

i owe $1700+ on my credit card at 20% intrest, i have 3 k on my account right now and i can pay it off, should i? its just that it hurts me thinking given away 1700+ on a credit card what you think should just say fuk it and spend it all at once, other wise im being a slave to the banks. im thinking paying 1200 at once.

[exbunobooga]

Get a trade if your not the college type.

All my friends who became welders, fitters etc are earning a hell of a lot more than anyone I know who went to university. Plus when you have a few years experience you can start your own business and rake the cash in on your own terms.

[exbuffstuff]

i owe $1700+ on my credit card at 20% intrest, i have 3 k on my account right now and i can pay it off, should i? its just that it hurts me thinking given away 1700+ on a credit card what you think should just say fuk it and spend it all at once, other wise im being a slave to the banks. im thinking paying 1200 at once.

Pay it off and cut up the card.

done.

[ppself]

BRB being $50k in debt at 24.


edit: Great advice in this thread though. Thanks everyone. The marriage advice scares the $hit out of me though.

If you went to college, then your in debt.

I haven't read all the comments but i can only assume the misc response to marriage is to not do it. :P

Well, i have been married for 4 years and been with the same women for 8 years. It's been the greatest thing ever, i help her and she helps me. We support each other when things get rough, i have lost everything but will always have her. And i have lost a lot.

So, to me. It was worth it and i don't regret it.

Only thing i regret is not researching different colleges for the degree i was going for. I could have saved tons of money by doing my basics at a community college first at home, and then moving to the big city for the rest of my degree based classes.

Or researching that my industry doesn't care about GPA's and went to a certificate based school and actually got taught with talent and left with more than a piece of paper.

[Porn_Wolf]

I disagree with people thrashing the stock market. Some of my family members have made ALOT of money out of it

[Kokanee]

this thread is dildos. 11 pages of 'save all your money and avoid commitment!!'

enjoy your life because you will most likely want to settle down and start a family. Save but don't sacrifice experience for a little extra in your bank account. Travel while you are unencumbered and don't worry about padding out your bank account in your 20s. You will have plenty of time for that.

agree with this.

[5more]

Love with your whole heart. Don't be afraid to get hurt and don't care what others think. One of the real treasures in life is true love. Don't be afraid of it.

[sydney_boy]

my advice would be avoid getting a credit card at all costs. I just finished paying mine off and it was a waste!!
also, in relationships, if you see a girl/guy you like, go say hello. Dont regret missing out on the hot guy/girl because you dont think your good enough or cool enough. they are probably thinking the same thing. Take a few risks and forget what other people think of you!