Right now, you’re in your 20s and when you see the rich people around you they have one thing in common: They’re old. Now, I don’t mean “has to wear adult diapers” old but they definitely have more grey hair than say you or me. Now, I think we can all envision ourselves attaining wealth in our later years but I know you don’t want to wait until your 60 or 70 years old to have money which is why I want to share the 5 things you must do in your 20s to be rich in your 30s!
Number 1: Master Your Time
If right now you’re in your 20s, then you may not realize it but you are in fact already wealthy. Now, you may not be “7 figures in the bank” wealthy but, all things being equal, you are wealthy with time. Time is by far our most precious resource because it is the only one on Earth that can be turned into anything we want. For instance, want to make more money? Spend your time working. Want to build better relationships? Spend time with your family and friends. Want to finally get those 6-pack abs? Spend time working out. As you see, time is incredibly versatile but unfortunately, most people in their 20s are wasting this precious resource day after day.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, we live in a very technologically advanced world. Sure, I love the fact that I don’t have to drag my ass to the library every time I need to look up some remedial facts, however with all good comes some bad. Have you ever gotten that weekly screen time message on your iPhone? If you have then you’ll know the horror that comes over you when you realize that you are spending on average 12 hours a day on your phone and that that number is down 20% from last week! What’s worse is that this is just one distraction device amongst many we use on a daily basis!
Now, I know that you’re already aware of the time sucking mechanisms that fill our lives but here’s why it matters. Every hour spent watching TikTok videos, every Friends re-run you sit through and every YouTube blackhole you fall into is time taken from getting rich in your 30s. In your 20s, you need to make every second count because getting rich in under two decades is no easy task. If you aren’t doing it already, ensure that you are minimizing the amount of low-value activities you have in your day. You can do this by performing weekly audits to see how your time is presently being spent and then replacing those 10 hours of useless TV watching with more productive activities like reading, taking courses or working overtime at work.
Let’s face it, you’re only 20 once and when you are you need to ensure that your most valuable resource, time, is deployed properly!
Number 2: Make “Outside The Box” Income
Have you seen the commercial where Johnny, a young guy who needs financial advice, hires “dad’s guy” to help him out. The idea behind the commercial is that what worked for our parents years ago may not work for us today because simply put we live in totally different times. For instance, back in your parents’ day, you could get 10% interest by leaving your money in the bank. Nowadays, leaving your money in the bank collects you mounds of dust and perhaps an extra penny or two if you’re lucky. Well, this same notion of what worked back in the day but doesn’t work now must be applied to your income if you want to get rich before you’re 1000 years old.
While there is no doubt that being in your 20s today has its challenges, we can’t refute the fact that we live in a time where it’s never been easier to make money. Take for example the fact that people are selling NFT of rocks and are making a six-figure income from it. If this isn’t enough evidence to prove that it’s never been easier to make money then I don’t know what is. Sadly though, most people overlook this fact and as such will never become rich in their 30s. But why is this? Let me explain.
Most of us, myself included, were raised to take the traditional life path of getting a good education, finding a secure job and biding our time until retirement. Is this a reasonable way to spend your life? You can be the judge of that but what’s not up for debate is how inefficient this path is for becoming rich — especially in your 30s. While you were probably blinded by the excitement of getting your first job out of college, you may have overlooked the fact that starting salaries have barely budged in the last 60 years. Not to mention, the average raise is between 3–5% and I’ll be honest, from my experience and those of my friends those numbers seem rather generous. Even taking the best case scenario, it would take you a decade to crack the six-figure income mark and that’s assuming you chose the right field and have made all the moves you can to climb the corporate ladder.
Because of the inefficiencies that exist in working a 9 to 5 job, it’s for this reason that if you want to be rich in your 30s you need to find “outside the box” ways of making money. Now, I am not telling you to run a crypto-Ponzi scheme or trade on insider information. I simply mean you should be using the tools in front of you to maximize your income. For instance, if someone like me can start up a six-figure business on YouTube then trust me anyone can.
There are way too many lucrative businesses you can start these days to limit yourself to your bi-weekly paycheck. Now, I am not saying you should give up your job altogether. In my eyes, a job is just another way of making money but it should be paired with other non-traditional income sources so that you can gain the income you need to make your dream rich lifestyle a reality while still in your 30s.
Now, let’s say that you do get your income on point at a young age, are you guaranteed to be rich? It all depends on how that money gets deployed.
Number 3: Stop Using Money As An Emotional Band-aid Or Reward
Do you remember back when you were a child and you would scrape your knee or cut your finger and your Mom or Dad would put a Harry Potter or Power Rangers band-aid on you. If you ask me it was almost worth hurting yourself because of how cool these band-aids looked and made you feel. While back in those days, our problems came in the form of minor bodily harm with band-aids being the solution, in our 20s and 30s, our wounds tend to be more emotional with spending money being the go-to remedy.
Let me ask you this, how many times have you been feeling upset, stressed or anxious and soothed yourself by giving Jeff Bezos and Amazon some of your money? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Now, if soothing minor emotional speed bumps in our lives was the only time we spent money then I would say it’s no big deal but obviously our spending extends well beyond these circumstances. For instance, we also use spending as a reward for achievement. Get a good grade on a test? Go buy a bottle at the club. Graduate college? Go on vacation in Tulum. Finally get a promotion? Buy that new Beamer you’ve had your eyes on for months. As you can see, we don’t just spend money to survive, but we have been conditioned by society to spend no matter the circumstance. Unfortunately, having this disposition will never allow you to become rich in your 30s.
Money in your 20s absolutely must be deployed in the most optimal ways possible if you want to get rich in the next decade. How do you deploy that income you may be asking? Well, keep reading and I will break it all down for you!
Number 4: Distinguish Between Saving and Investing
If you saw a truck and a car, chances are you would be able to distinguish the two right? They are obviously both vehicles but they are different in almost every single way. Well, the same can be said for saving and investing. They are both methods of storing value but for some strange reason, people often conflate the two which is a one-way ticket to living a life of financial mediocrity and squandering any chances you have of becoming rich in your 30s.
Now, you may be wondering what really differentiates saving and investing and it comes down to two key elements: risk and reward. Both saving and investing come with varying levels of risk and as such come with vastly different rewards. For instance, your normal savings account generally offers interest rates of 0.04% while investing in Tesla stock in 2020 would have garnered you a 695% return. The difference, other than Elon Musk being involved that is, pertains to the amount of risk you have to take on to get those kinds of returns. Putting your money in the bank won’t give you those crazy returns we saw in 2020 but it also won’t have you seeing your money lose 30% of its value when Elon tweets something stupid or delays a project for a fifth time in a row.
Presently, you may not be a savvy investor or even willing to invest your money; however to put it bluntly, you have no choice but to invest if you want to be rich in your 30s. Let me share with you an example to drive home this point.
Let’s say you earn $100,000 a year from age 20–40 and you save half that money each year until your 40th birthday. At 40, you’d have saved $1,000,000. This is a good sum of money right? But what if you invested instead? If you received the average historical S&P 500 return of 7%, you’d end up with $2.1M after that same time period. Now, of course with investing nothing is guaranteed but if you want to get rich before you’re grey, you have to have your money work for you and the best way to do this is to invest.
Number 5: Have A Money Mentor
If you’re anything like I was in my 20s then you probably think you know everything. If this sounds like you then here’s a newsflash for you: You don’t! One of our biggest hindrances to our financial success in our 20s is not acquiring more education because we think we already have all the tools we need to be successful. This isn’t the case.
Now, when I say education, I don’t mean you need to go get three degrees and saddle yourself in insurmountable debt. What I mean is that you should be constantly pursuing new information that will allow you to make strides in your wealth building journey. You can read books, take online courses but the one element you need in your financial game plan is a mentor. I can tell you without a doubt that if I had connected with more mentors earlier on in my 20s, I would be significantly better off financially than I am today. Why do I say this? Let me explain.
First of all, a proper money mentor would have been able to open my eyes to the inefficiencies that were plaguing my income. Solely, relying on a 9 to 5 income was like trying to dig a hole with my bare hands, I was going nowhere fast. Luckily, I had the realization myself that my 2% raises weren’t going to make me rich and as such I pursued online ventures like YouTube to help speed up my path to financial success.
However, then I dwindled in frustration for a few years trying to figure out how to grow on the platform and it took one important step to finally break through: I got a mentor. A mentor not only showed me what to do but how to speed up my path to success. If I’m being honest, I attribute most of my ability to earn a six-figure income through YouTube on having had the proper guidance because anyone can work hard but just because you can drive down a highway at fast speeds doesn’t mean you’re taking the right road that will lead to your ultimate destination.
Therefore, while it’s not easy to submit to the wisdom of those around us, especially during our stubborn 20s, it’s absolutely crucial to achieving wealth at a young age.