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Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

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Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#51

Post by xapata »

pyuser583 wrote: post #39

Exercise! Can’t emphasize this enough! Makes you happier and healthier. Also a harder habit to adapt later in life. Don’t do drugs, gamble, drink, or watch tons of porn. Do read. Books. Not kindles. Books. Be part of a regular community. That could be church, a sports team, chorus, etc. Invest. Put money in an SP500 index fund. Especially if retirement accounts available. Don’t be an asshole. If you need therapy, get…

Children aren't as important as friends (including family, or a spouse, that you're friends with) for mental health.

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#52

Post by caslon »

pyuser583 wrote: post #39

Exercise! Can’t emphasize this enough! Makes you happier and healthier. Also a harder habit to adapt later in life. Don’t do drugs, gamble, drink, or watch tons of porn. Do read. Books. Not kindles. Books. Be part of a regular community. That could be church, a sports team, chorus, etc. Invest. Put money in an SP500 index fund. Especially if retirement accounts available. Don’t be an asshole. If you need therapy, get…

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-parents-children.html As many as one in eight (13%) Polish parents may regret having children

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#53

Post by viraptor »

Unless you have a good network of friends in the area where you plan to live long-term, start making more friends or find a social hobby which can give you an instant network where you move. (Dancing worked for me, but sport clubs or other events should work too)

It's much harder to make friends in your 30s when people spend more time with their families. No experience with 40s yet, but extrapolating, I suspect it becomes close to impossible :)

Otherwise, I'll just +1 early investing and dentist others mentioned.

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#54

Post by EnlightenedBro »

GianFabien wrote: post #22

Read biographies of great people across all walks of life. Personally I got a great deal from reading about Thomas Edison, Richard Feynman, Winston Churchill, Nikola Tesla, etc. Also basic psychology, e.g. cognitive biases, Maslow's Pyramid, physiology. Watch documentaries about various industries, manufacturing, construction, etc. Understand basic accounting and finance principles. The reason I suggest the foregoing…

Agreed. Here's Nikola Tesla's autobiography book called "My Inventions" https://www.kevinsworkbench.com/teslasautobiography/my_early...

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#56

Post by haraldooo »

The „boring things“ that compound over time like - a fitness routine - yearly check ups with your physician and dentist - invest 10% of what you earn (no matter how little it may be but make it a habit)

Learn how your mind works (eg. read „waking up“ by sam harris and know that people don’t think as much about you as you might think. Therefore don’t spend money you don’t have to impress them.

Keep learning in general and have fun in your profession - not in „fun every day“ but don’t become one of those people who drag themselves to work just to make ends meet.

Travel within your means. There is a lot of fun in learning about different cultures. The best way is not so sit in a pricy hotel room.

Keep strong relationships with friends and family if possible. A supportive network of people that care about you can be very hard to build when your older and might be worth more than money some times in your life.

You‘re going to do better than a lot of your peers with these simple things.

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#57

Post by omeze »

3 things:

Build a reading habit. Books have evolved as a central tenet of knowledge preservation of societies for a reason - they contain a lifetime of wisdom in a few hours of consumption. Read books that are 10+ years old, like High Output Management, The Mythical Man Month, and Good Strategy / Bad Strategy. They’re written by people who have done great things and condensed great lessons, don’t underestimate the depth of the words and revisit them often!

Make at least 2 really close friends that you can tell anything, preferably outside of work. You can make friends at work, just make sure you keep the friendship and hang out afterwards since work can distort relationships. As you get older it’s generally harder to make friends, but just as important to have them - so make them young!

Exercise is great, has been mentioned multiple times. Carve out an hour a week, start small, but be consistent. Healthy body = healthy mind!

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#58

Post by jakelazaroff »

As someone who just entered his 30s, here’s my list of things I’m glad to have done or wish I had done (sooner):

Start investing. You don’t have to learn a ton about picking stocks — start by consistently putting money into a robo-advisor like Wealthfront or Betterment. This compounds; a small amount of money invested now will be more impactful than a large amount of money invested later.

If your job offers a 401k, contribute as much as possible. If you can afford it, max it out. This also compounds.

Appreciate your body. Years down the line, you will have to expend a lot of money and effort to look the way you look right now for free. I used to love having long hair in my teens and early 20s; now I need to take hair loss drugs.

Related: start exercising. The aforementioned money and effort will be much less if you build up good exercise habits now.

Learn to cook. Cook a variety of things. This saves money and becomes more important socially as you age.

Take a hobby seriously. I’ve played guitar for almost 15 years, but haven’t tried to really up my technical skills until recently, and now there’s a long road ahead of me until I can play what I want. Whatever you decide to do, when you get serious about it you’ll wish you had done so years prior.

Related: if you’re in tech, finish your side projects. It takes a lot of dedication, especially in the home stretch, but it’s much more satisfying to be able to point to one finished thing you made than a dozen abandoned works in progress.

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#59

Post by dougmwne »

quiffledwerg wrote: post #42

Holy heck lots of boring adult advice in these comments on how to be sensible. Get wild, just don’t make permanent mistakes like taking hard drugs or getting killed in a car accident. Apart from that, break all the rules kiddo.

Yeah, all this damn investing advice. Don't suffocate your youth with frugality. You will have decades to chase money and career and the money will come much easier later. Spend it, but aim it on improving yourself or opening new doors in your life, not on vanity. Invest in yourself now, the index funds can wait a few years.
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