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I'm awake because my stomach woke me up, that's one of the fun things about getting older.
I was sitting here thinking about a conversation with my Son and wondered, "If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice, what would it be?" I ask because the advice I give my Son is based upon my view of his strengths and weaknesses and his personality. I would advise my Son differently of course than I would advise myself.
So, what would it be?
Two pieces of advice I'd have for younger me, one would be about women the other would be to have stayed in the Navy, or maybe pick a different branch all together.
And there's probably a few vehicles I'd have told myself not to buy along the way.
And don't wait until 40 to buy a motorcycle.
Double tappage….
Think about the people in your life, you are as good or bad, successful or unsuccessful as the people you spend your life with.
Don’t waste your time at college- learn sales and basic accounting and open a business ASAP instead.
Invest every penny you can into appreciating assets as quickly as possible- heaviest emphasis on real estate & land, dollar cost average monthly buys on gold & silver, bitcoin and a handful of stocks.
Learn about these accounts and plans and structures asap to utilize with your business and real estate holdings and income to avert as many taxes as possible and leverage living benefits of whole life insurance plans to your advantage :
Solo account
Roth Account
Golden account
Coverdell account
HSA bank account
501(k)
702(j)
770 account
Money is movement-> get in front of the movement and you will capitalize on positive and negative movements alike. Money movement is cyclical and historical analysis can show you the trends that will lead to better choices. **** financial advisors, learn to be in control of your own fate and money.
Learn everything possible about money and finance at the earliest you can understand it. They don’t teach you anything of value for a fiscally healthy life in school, you’ve gotta learn it on your own!
To quote the book title, "don't swear the small stuff....and it's all small stuff."
Generally speaking, I wouldn't have any better advice for myself than what my parents offered when I was young. Some I listened to, some not so much. I doubt I would be any more interested in listening to advice from an older me. That said, if I went back in time with something like a sports almanac or a binder full of financial historical charts, I am 100% certain a young me would be all ears.
it's not like I didn't know I was being a dumb-ass or lazy, so advice is kind of wasted. I got good advice, I just ignored it. Maybe "Listen to the advice, we aren't kidding....".
Of course taking any advice would have to change where I ended up, and I'm pretty happy with my life. Society- I'm not so Happy with.
Take better care of your back!
Go get a trade, screw college.
If you want to do something for a living, do it regardless of what your parents think.
Don’t get a credit card
If the whisky isn’t good enough to drink neat, it’s not worth drinking.
Never miss a chance to sleep on the ground under the stars
Invest 51% of every dollar
Save and buy a house as soon as possible. They’re only going to get more expensive.
Don’t waste time on woman that aren’t willing to make you a priority, but you also need to make them a priority.
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I would try and change some of the things I did that unintentionally impacted other people. Other than that, I'm of the mindset that even if you make different decisions you will also probably make different mistakes.
The one piece of advice that I actually took that I got from a stranger was when I told him that I had just had my second kid. He said that you need to start early with them by inoculating them to teenage stupidity as much as you can. His idea was is that you start to tell them when they’re like eight or nine when they still love and respect you that in a few years year, you as the parent are going to start to seem to be crazy and stupid. And that your kid will not think you are right about anything. He had done this with his daughters and so when they got to the shithead teenager years and he would try to tell them stuff and they would try to ignore them, in the back of their heads they thought wait a minute dad said this would happen. he said it didn’t solve the problem, but it sure took the rough edges off of some of their stupidity.
I'm going to show this thread to my son. If one of these ideas sinks in, it'd be great.
Entering college: Skip those wasted years in Business Dept and go straight to History degree.
Entering high school: Load up on Shop for electives, order those AR and 1911 blanks while I have that ONE year with the cool shop teacher encouraging me to take up gunsmithing and make the most of his mentorship.
Junior high: Tell our financial advisor to buy Amazon right at IPO.
Sometime before that: Start dragging mom kicking and screaming for a least at walk around the block every other day, get us both a little trimmer and able to hold onto more mobility longer. Also, invest in yard and house maintenance before the little problems become big ones.
Never too late call him and tell him you screwed up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Averageman
No, it's not like that, me and my Son are great.Quote:
Originally Posted by hotbiggun42
Probobly the best relationship of my life. He's doing real well and I couldn't be more proud.
I was just looking back on my own life and weighing the scales.
My boy is high school freshman. We are 1st generation immigrants. Kids were born here. Above all that's what I have been telling him.
You don't know lucky you are born in America. It is the best place in the world. Don't screw it up. You will have nowhere else to go.
-TL
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Maintain your boundaries with women at all times. Be ready and willing to walk away from any relationship with a woman.
Too bad our 3rd, 4th and 5th gen pot head idiots and their worthless kids don't share the same attitude towards America.Quote:
Originally Posted by tangolima
It's always ironic to me that the people who weren't born here, but worked damn hard to get here, understand that and that so many who were born here think it sucks and almost any place is better.Quote:
Originally Posted by tangolima
If I had a wand of justice, all these people would just trade places. Those who wish for a better life but also are willing to do something about it would find themselves HERE and all those protesting this country and talking about how it's the worst place on Earth and they wish they lived in France or Canada would find themselves living elsewhere.
North Korea, China, Cuba, Russia, they love to have American comrades to join them.Quote:
Originally Posted by SteyrAUG
-TL
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Simple advice, buy a fock ton of Apple / Microsoft / Oracle; and instead of my current specialty, should have gone into dermatology.
If I could go back in time to give myself some advice...
- Buy those HK rifles when they were $400 each (91, 93, 94)
- Buy a couple of those Bren Ten pistols you wanted
- Don't start riding motorcycles (I wouldn't have had 6 accidents - three of them bad, and wouldn't have some of the physical issues I have now).
This may sound stupid but buy a 3rd gen Rx-7 in the early 2000's when they could be picked up for $10k to $12k all day long no matter what stupid financial decision it took. Good luck finding one for less than $40k now.
More realistically when I thought of going back to school to get an engineering degree right after my daughter was born. Do it. Beyond that I wouldn't want to do anything that changed too much. Though I could be better off financially I wouldn't want to disrupt meeting my wife having my daughter etc. I could tell past me to join the army and try to fly helicopters like you wanted in the eighth grade but it would have to be after I got out of Vocational school and the recruiters were still offering me the moon (scored good on ASVB in HS) or I might not have met my wife. To quote Marilyn Manson " When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed".
I would tell my younger self to stay away from porn and the floozies, instead of spending money on booze, crappy guns/accessories, and motorcycles, save it all and sink it all into bitcoin right when it first became available and finally, to get into the gym and start lifting. Oh and I guess to skip the music business degree and just go straight to the ME degree.
Mine would be: Money isn't about accumulating possessions, it's about freedom and security. You can have a good life without it, but you're far more vulnerable than if you have it. Also, some of the life-changing opportunities you might otherwise have experienced, will be passed on because "I can't afford it."
And on that note, never underestimate the power of compound interest. Also, don't work for your money, make your money work for you. Then explain what all that means.
Oh and P.S. Women get half, if you're lucky. Make damned sure you know who you're cohabitating with. Otherwise, rent. :)
I would be less reluctant to try and would have ignored that inner voice that tells me I am not good enough.
I learned to be less risk averse too late in my Army carreer but luckily in time for my second one.
Andy