I’ve recently been hit by a reality shock that I’m already in my mid-20s and nowhere close to the level of success/wealth I thought I would have attained by now. What makes it even more crushing is the realisation that unless I experience some form of a miracle/breakthrough, even continuing on my current path will not bring me the status or ground-moving wealth that I am after.
I guess we all aspire to be billionaires when we first start out in our careers, but this sudden slap in the face is really getting to me. I have always been an incredibly driven individual; born without a silver spoon but desperate to get to a highly respected spot in society.
I would appreciate your thoughts, especially from those of you who are more seasoned and have encountered this in your younger years.
Thanks
It's the social media effect. Not everyone can be retired at 30. It's a very small percentage. But instagram only shows the success stories, not the 99% who failed their startup etc.
True personal financial freedom is creating the ability to cover your cost's almost passively. Whether this is cash flow generating assets or a business that then gets run by someone else but generates dividends for you as a shareholder.
One clever one I saw was one guy who bought a van to remove people's junk. People are always clearing out junk. It then grew quickly into a 3 Van fleet and then even more. It started as him only doing it on weekends for extra money when he wasn't working then became a job and then once it grew large enough he just hired people and wasn't actively involved in the business day-to-day.
Side hustles are important, investing is important. Use those bonuses wisely.
Fully agree with the post above. Expectations adjust over time and frankly by now you should realise true wealth does not come without risk. We are paid well comparatively to the risk we’re taking.
My advise would be start thinking about wealth accumulation/passive compounding asap, spend your bonus smartly. On my end, RE investing ended up a good choice, reasonably hard not to generate wealth there over time even in pessimistic assumptions. Won’t go into much detail for now. If you have savings, I would prioritise this over stock market personally.
Lastly, networking served me well personally. Don’t miss out on connections and opportunities that come to you over many years of networking/building relationships. This can translate into business opportunities, co-inv/angel, new positions, etc.
When did you start spending money on RE and did you harvest before last year’s rate increases began?
Not that long ago - less than 5yrs ago. No plans to harvest in the medium term, only paper gains with LTV well de-risked and rates locked (EU based). I’m happy to both sit on it or take equity out when the time is right.
If you think about it, on a levered basis RE gives you a fantastic risk-return proposion with good safety net. Also did some value add works on properties (extensions, add sq ft/beds), on average that immediately made >$1.5 for every $1 spent (and this is based on bank appraisal not even market/buyer value).
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don't we all
This is a big issue with a lot of people. It's magnified in this group as there are lots of "type As" who are used to success and getting to the next step. The track record is achieve, achieve, achieve (and be recognized as a top performer each step). It's just simply not how life is long term. There will be setbacks, challenges, bad decisions, etc. Sometimes you'll have to go backwards or sideways to navigate moving forward. Life is not a straight line. Financially, they'll be surprises as you age. Caring for older parents (this has cost me over 500k in cash over 20 yrs - think about the lost opportunity cost), health issues, house repairs.
The key is finding something you like doing. Doing it well. Getting paid well for doing it. And then enjoy your time away from doing it with the resources you've built. Very difficult but avoid (at least try to) comparing yourself to others. I'm 58. I used to do that ALL the time. When I looked at successful peers who were killing it (I did quite well but they were 2x - 5x me), I'd ask myself why am I not making 2M. Then I figured out I wouldn't want to do the things they were doing AND I'm doing quite well doing what I want to do. And I'm investing.
Also, temper your "exotic spending". I know tons of guys killing it but spending a ridiculous amount on things I would consider unimportant. That's a life style issue and you decide what works. For me, I don't fly first class or stay at the Four Seasons if I'm just doing a quick trip. We've gone on many wonderful family trips where we've rented beautiful lake homes and things like that. Great experiences but I didn't shell out an extra $X to get there first class. I don't drive an $100k car. We have nice things but nothing crazy. Essentially we can do anything we want (within reason), but we don't really want to do those other things. If you do well and invest, you willg et to the point where you can pretty much do whatever you want. It just won't happen when you're 30. It doesn't for 99.999% of us. That's not bad.
beautiful
Thank you very much for your response.
I think something I need to work on is to stop comparing with others, but I also feel a strong intrinsic desire to attain more wealth. As your interests matured and goals changed, did you ever feel like you were ‘settling’ in a sense?
Not settling. Just didn't want certain things. When I was younger (20s), I wanted the fancy watch , car, etc. and couldn't afford them. When I could actually afford them (say at 30ish), I didn't really care about that anymore. I'd get in someone's Beamer or Benz and think, "this is nice" but then would never care to do anything about it. Now I do like good wine, and cigars. I do spend plenty on golf and it's not eve an afterthought to drop hundreds on an event I like but I can without thinking about it because I invested well as a kid.
I know it's not easy. It took me years to stop comparing. I'm very much like moist of you where my MO is achieve, drive, get rewarded, set new goal, etc. I've learned to temper that with meaning behind the goals. What do I really want to do? How do I really want to spend my time? I spent 6 yrs and A LOT of money in a business coach program for entrepreneurs. This was great and served as a quarterly group therapy program if you will. Learned a lot about systems and processes for business but also for life. At some point the light bulb went on and I gave myself permission to not care what s/he was doing. I don't/can't be them and they can't be me. I used to think I'd love to own a company that did X but I wouldn't want to build it. So I built a company that I enjoyed building and am peaceful with myself. I also got to spend tons of quality time with my family which was important to me. Things like not missing high school baseball games or theater performances. To me that's worth a lot of money.
Run your own race!
Don’t chase wealth. Chase your passions. Wealth will eventually come through.
I was well on track to meet my financial goals until the stock market crashed last year.
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You're in your mid-20s... exactly what kind of wealth did you think you were going to have when you are ostensibly still new to the workforce?
Isn't this just the most entitled generation of spoiled idiots
One thing that took me YEARS to accept was that some people move more slowly than others. Your title says IB Assoc 1 so I am assuming you are doing pretty well relative to people your age. I would try to look on the bright side and look at your progress YoY, this often helps me realize how much progress I made.
I graduated college late, hopped around a bit, and saved less than many of my friends. It would be easy to beat myself up, but I refuse to do so. Why? TTM, I have saved more money than I ever have before, found a better job, and have improved numerous areas of my personal life. So, even though I am behind in the grand scheme of things, I am catching up as quickly as I can.
Dont create expectations for yourself based on others around you. I have learned to accept I will always be slower to reach certain milestones. I changed majors more times than anyone I know, but eventually I found something I liked. I have job hoped more than most people my age, but I finally found a glove that fit.
In summation, forgive yourself for not being the perfect person in the past, but also make sure you are improving YoY. I have taken this approach since college and find myself continuing to grow and develop personally and professionally, whereas many of my friends have stopped entirely in one of the two previously mentioned buckets.
Keep your head up and take a second to look back and be proud of making it to IBD Assoc 1 at whichever bank you are at. I am sure you have accomplished much more, so recognize that as well. Then, start to plan out your '23 goals and make sure you start taking the steps to accomplish them now.
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