Dear Andy of 2000
Dear Andy of 2000,
Congrats on graduating from high school. Let me give you some advice that will make life in your thirties a bit more stress free and enjoyable.
From here on out, start respecting your time and money a bit more than you do. It’s actually not even all that hard. Seriously, start saving money. None of that 20% either. That’s for chumps. If you ever want to be free from the chains of a 9-5, I’d suggest 50%. That’s right. Half of it. Think about it for a second. You’re 18 now, you don’t really need all that much right now. The thing you’ll want most is time and that’s what I’m trying to make sure you have.
So here’s what I recommend you do. It’ll be hard at first because you wont always have a steady job. But still do what you can to save away. Now might be a good time to cut up your credit cards too. I don’t think you’re responsible enough just yet to use one. Maybe in a few years when you’re older you can find a decent one with some good perks. But seriously, you better be damn sure you pay off the full balance every month. Otherwise you’re just giving your money away. You see that jerk of a guy over there in the suit? Yeah, imagine that he is the dude getting all your interest fees. Don’t make it so easy for him.
So yeah, with this money you are saving go ahead and open an IRA and stick that money in there. Throw it into some low cost index funds and forget about it for a while. Even when everything crashes in a few years, don’t worry about it. It’ll bounce back up, so throw some more money in there then too. Things will be okay.
When you hear of a company called Google invest in that. When you hear of a company called Amazon, invest in that too. Apple computers will be a big thing too, so throw some money in there. Just role with it for a bit and when you’re ready, you’ll know when to sell. But don’t spend all that money you get, just invest into some more index funds and live off that growth.
Creatively speaking, just keep making things. Make poems. Make stories. Make movies. Make everything you feel like. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Work with people that care about what they are doing. Work environments are like teams. Remember that.
In terms of your health, stay active. Take care of your diet. Eat more vegetables and go hiking more. Just stay fit because you don’t want to make it so easy to switch over to dad bod mode. It can happen really fast.
Socially, stay friends with people. Keep in touch with the ones you like. It’ll be easier to stay in touch with social media, but it’ll also be harder to actually care with social media. I just realized you don’t even know what social media is. Don’t worry, you’ll understand in a few years, just don’t customize your Myspace page too much.
Trust me, you don’t need much to be happy.
Sincerely,
Andy of 2018
P.S. Bitcoin.