5 years ago, I was just finishing up my third decade on the Earth, and had been working for a couple years at my first “real” job at a Korean university. I lived in the beautiful Korean countryside and life was good. Here’s some advice for my 30 year old self:
1. Your student loans should be paid off by now. If not, get on that. And unless you have a house mortgage, all your debts should be paid off or getting close to it. Check out Dave Ramsey
if you need some help.
2. Consider not buying a car, house or any of those other things that other people think are necessary. Renting a modest place is a good option (or finding a job that provides housing!), as is biking or public transportation. If you must buy a car, make sure it’s a used one that you pay cash for. Some sacrifice at this age can pay off big dividends later in life.
3. Build up your emergency fund to around 6 months of living expenses. You’re not invincible anymore and you can get sick, or need a root canal or have to take an emergency trip home to visit sick family members.
4. Keep studying and learning new things. The job market is changing rapidly and only those that adapt will be able to guarantee themselves continuous employment in the future.
5.Enjoy yourself too. It’s fun to travel when you’re young and healthy. Just don’t go into debt doing it.
6. Work on getting a side hustle going. If you lose your day-job, life won’t be so terrible.
If you haven’t already, check out my advice to my 18 year old self and my 23 year old self.
Really enjoying the “advice to my younger self” series! I recently read that you should only spend 10% of your income on a car, and that is where so many people go wrong.
It’s so true! People spend ridiculous amounts of money on new cars that they can’t afford.