I'm 54. If You Are In Your 30s or 40s...Read This!

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I’m 54 years old as of the writing of this article, and I made some of my biggest financial mistakes in my 30s and 40s. If I could go back to my 30 or 40 year old self, and give myself some advice about life and money, here is what I would say.

1. The best person to take care of the old you is the young you. Don't willingly leave your future well-being in the hands of others. Stretch your saving and investing today while you are as young as you'll ever be. You’re going to pay for the "old you" today or when you get older, so you might as well pay now. Strategize and do more now so you can chill later.
2. You must save yourself financially. Nobody is coming to rescue you. Your money is 100% your responsibility. You may have to motivate and encourage and inspire yourself. You must get organized, develop a plan, gather the information, and execute. Your money is on you!
3. Don't waste valuable time with invaluable people. Surround yourself with the right people. You may have to cut some people off and cut down time you spend with people who aren’t going in the same direction you want to go with your money. Look to attach yourself to people who are at where you want to go or headed in the same direction.
4. Don't give in to fear. Don’t be afraid to make major changes if you want different results. Don’t get caught into doing what you’ve always done because then you're going to get what you have always gotten. Be empowered to make changes in your financial life despite fear.
5. Don't drive half your money and wear the other half. In other words, the pursuit of stuff and material things, will keep you broke. Put more of your money to work in the background and spend less time putting your money to work out front. Stop trying to look rich with stuff and focus on being wealthy with assets people can't see.
6. Forgive yourself and your parents. You made financial mistakes. Your parents made financial mistakes. Let's move on. You did the best you could, and they did the best they could with what they had. Don’t live back there in the past. Live life looking forward and moving forward with forgiveness in your heart. You and your parents weren’t perfect with money, with life decisions, or any of that. Hindsight is 20/20 and we all make mistakes. The key is to recognize it and move on and don't repeat them. You could be doing better than you think with money.
7. What you focus on will grow. Abundance and lack are all around you. You get whichever one you focus on the most. Whatever you decide to put intention and energy behind will change in the direction you want. Spend more energy and focus on fixing problems than trying to figure out who is/was at fault. This means spend time and energy on your money, on your budget, on your net worth statement, on your reading and learning, and on your investing and money management. When you focus on it, it has no choice but to grow!
8. Today you are as young as you will ever be. You don’t get moments and days back. They go fast. The older you get and the closer to your own mortality, the faster time goes by. So you have to seize opportunities with money and time. Value your time and use it wisely.
9. Your life and money change when you change. You want things to change with your money, start changing the things you do with money. You hold the key. If you want the day to be a good one, you have to make it a good one. When you change, everything around you has no say in the matter, and it changes too. Getting better with money requires you to become better.
10. Help other people and be a giver. Give and help others, not to get something out of it, but just because it’s the right thing to do with your money. Giving and helping the people who need the most help, is the small price you pay for living and breathing and enjoying this world we live in. There is enough abundance on this planet for everyone to enjoy. Your job with your time, your energy, your words, and your money, is to help others enjoy it.
11. Focus on the controllable things, not the things you cannot control. You can't control the economy, the rate of inflation, the stock market, other people's money, politics, foreign affairs, etc., but you can control your thinking. You control your thoughts, and your thoughts determine your behavior, and your behaviors determine your outcomes. The results of your life and money always tie back to how you think. So, develop good common-sense thinking!
12. Take exceptional care of your body, your soul, and your spirit. Walk a lot, exercise, eat right, and take good care of the only physical body you will ever get. Health is truly wealth. Stretch, stay flexible, and get accustomed to working out and moving regularly. What good is money if you’re in poor health and can't enjoy it fully. And never neglect the well-being of your mental health and your spiritual journey, which is there to help guide you and carry you through life.

So, these are the things I would tell my 30 or 40 year old self, if I could.

The truth is: we can all blow off our 20s and recover financially. But most of us cannot afford to blow off our 30s and 40s and expect to live the life we desire with our money in our 50s and 60s, and beyond.

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The best person to take care of the old you, is the young you!

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