Live way below your means, but still go out and have fun. For cheap. Dont cheap out money or time wise on things that need to last, like education, health, and shoes.
Do one adventure trip where you are out of your comfort envelope, pushing yourself physically, etc. Don't make it a booze/party trip.
Don't drift through this phase or you'll regret it later. If you go to college have a plan to graduate in 4-5 years. College isn't the place to find yourself, it's a place where you trade money for knowledge. You will learn about yourself, but you can get more self discovery in other environments for far less expense.
This is the time to establish a career and not just a job. It doesn't have to happen at 22, but you need to know what you want and work towards it by 30.
If you want kids younger is generally better, but not so early you have no means to support them. There's never a perfect time, but there are bad times for kids. Aim for a good enough time. It's a lot easier to chase a toddler at 25 than 35.
Your life will likely significantly change several times in this period, embrace it and enjoy it. Single life, dating life, married life, college life, full time job life, and parent life ate all very different. You'll experience many of these in this period.
I disagree with your having kids sentiment. I didn’t find the right woman until I was 33 and didn’t have kids til 39. I worked hard, got promoted and accumulated wealth before then. I started from nearly nothing. Now, my kid (hopefully) won’t have to struggle as much as I did.
And I chase that kid for 30 minutes until she gets worn out.
…
My advice, in your 20s: travel, make friends, make mistakes.
Get a job that has growth potential or become a rockstar in a small pond.
Find some hobbies, work out. Even better, find a hobby that also is a workout. Sock away 5% of your income towards retirement if you can handle it. Volunteer. Habits are formative in your 20s, you’ll find them easier to maintain (or avoid) in your 40s.
Don’t spend all of your time chasing tail or trying to find a mate. That’s a trap. instead, open yourself up to experiences, events and places where those things can naturally happen. And make memories along the way so you have fun things to share with that person when you do find them.
Get out of your comfort zone, get off of your comfort phone. Read a bit, learn to weld or sculpt or play an instrument. Take a dancing class, even if you go alone, there are usually people around to partner up.
Learn 5 or 10 jokes. Don’t be embarrassed to tell them often. Anyone from politicians to public speakers to hey, even comedians, will tell the same jokes over and over and over.
Get an Education, even if it’s a community college or a few professional certifications. It will demonstrate that you can learn. Absorb as much as you can while you’re young, because it’s true, learning does get harder as you age.
Take a course or two in psychology. Avoid people who bring you down, find people who build you up but are honest enough to keep you grounded when you need it.
Don’t live for anyone else, live for you. That isn’t to say be selfish, you’ll need people in your corner. But know that, no one else can experience how can experience. No one else lives through your eyes; no one else loves through your heart; no one else dreams how you dream. We have so few precious years on this tiny rock, so make them tell the story of you.
Learn how to be happy alone. Simple!
Really though, if you figure this out, a lot of other things click into place. I used to think it was impossible. Just words miserable people said to make themselves feel less lonely.
Okay, sometimes it's still that, but I've come to enjoy being able to focus on whatever I want to focus on without the distractions, drama, and/or gnawing desperation.
Breathe
Honestly go out and figure out your sexual preferences by exploring and experimenting. I find this happens a lot. A young couple get together in early twenties. Then they slowly drift apart because y'all honestly didn't make a solid decision on who to settle down with. It causes so much pain, heartbreak and financial stress.
Just be honest. Hit the apps and let everyone know what you're doing. Just meet people. If they are weird no big deal meet the next person. And you will probably fall in love but you have to be strong and make sure to only give that heart out to the one you know will take care of it.
When you get that feeling about a person but you know they aren't the one identify why you like them. You will probably form a pretty solid idea of your preferences this way. At least I did.
Make a budget. Live by that budget for a month. On the first of the next month, make another budget.
You don't actually have to do this forever, but long enough to get the basic ebb and flow of money into your head. Planning to put more into x category means having less for y category.
Build up savings, a little at a time. Get used to dipping into that for emergencies.
Disregard if you're a billionaire or entirely living off the land.
As best as you can, max out Roth IRA with an S&P 500 fund like VOO or a targeted date index fund. Also contribute to a 401(k) as much as possible.
If you are not American, this is a retirement account thing.
The Roth IRA is great advice. I think a 401k is good as long as you are maxing your company's contribution. Any higher than that would be better invested in another account so you could use it for an emergency before retirement
Ideally, you set aside 3 to 6 months worth of your typical monthly spending to cover (some) emergencies and job loss, then invest everything else. 401(k) is still tax advantaged in the same way as an IRA, and you can typically do roth contributions to a 401(k) too. So there are benefits to going above your employer match.
But, you're right that you don't want to trap all of your money into a retirement account either. You'll probably want to make large purchases like a car or house. In that case, you plan out a timeline and invest in less risky things depending on how far out you plan to purchase said thing.
The overall idea of "invest in index funds as much as possible" can be applied generally, but the amount that you contribute and in which types of accounts heavily depends on the individual.
I just wanted to point out that 401(k)s without employer matching are basically just IRAs with high yearly caps because it took me a few years to realize that, and I fancied myself financially literate. It can be a good idea to contribute more, so long as you don't need the money elsewhere.
Put money aside for the future.
Meditate as much as you can. An hour a day would not be overkill.
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