If you had only known...

[reallyprettyhappy]

If you could go back in time and talk to your 26-year old self, what is the one piece of financial advice you would tell yourself. What do you wish you had known back then? And how might your life be different now if you could have followed your own advice?

I'm just curious.

[Radiance]

Have a [financial] plan and give yourself the right to modify it. But have a plan.

[GREENBACK]

"Start saving stupid even if it's a really small amount", which it would have been.

[wvufan1985]

Glad I found this board at age 24!

[kenyantykoon]

am not yet 26 but if i could go back to my teens i think that i could have saved some more cash. or started my blog earlier. i could be making more money. i would also tell myself to start a social network called facebook and a search engine called google. i would be the richest guy that ever walked the earth(i think)

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Financially, I can't think of anything I'd do differently, believe it or not. However, I would tell my 26 year old self to try not to worry, everything was going to work out just fine. (I did the right things, but had a lot of anxiety motivating my actions.)

[Granite]

don't get married

put yourself first !!

go back to school and get a degree !!

[JustDave]

"Don't take out a car loan, especially on a brand new car."

[reallyprettyhappy]

am not yet 26 but if i could go back to my teens i think that i could have saved some more cash. or started my blog earlier. i could be making more money. i would also tell myself to start a social network called facebook and a search engine called google. i would be the richest guy that ever walked the earth(i think)

That made me LOL

[elessar78]

"Pay off debt and live like a hermit for a year."

[cschin4]

My best advice. Don't buy stupid stuff. I have bought way too much stupid stuff thinking I "needed" it , it would be fun, it would make my life easier, etc. In reality, more stuff meant more stuff to keep track of, more stuff to maintain, more stuff to clean, more stuff to store, more stuff to learn how to use, more stuff that needed accessories and on and on. Of course, more stuff meant A bigger house, bigger car and yet more stuff. Looking back, I would have been just as happy with LESS stuff. A smaller home for starters as I now have a big house full of too much junk that I am trying to downsize. So, I guess I am saying that most of what you purchase is a waste and won't make your life anymore enjoyable and eventually the stuff owns you as you are a slave to take care of it, pay for it, etc.

[maat55]

There are too many, but, I wish I knew what I know now. When I was 26, I was right on track. I had an affordable home and was investing 300 per month.

Later I lost 10 years while living a little above my income and taking on too much debt. I wish I had my financial bearings before we made that move.

[KTP]

So I can go back 13 years to 1996 and tell myself what to do?

This is so simple it really doesn't need an answer!

Hey, you 26 year old dummy! Ya I am talking to you. Start eating rice and ramen and buy as much of this new company called Google as you possibly can. Hold it until it hits about $600 a share then sell sell sell.

Oh, and don't eat that leftover ham that you put in the fridge in march 2005.

[whitestripe]

lol, i'm 22 but even some of this advice is something i would have told my 18 year old self

[red92s]

I am 26, and at this point there isn't a ton of stuff I'd do differently financially. I've made some dumb impulse purchases, and spent too much on things I later sold for too little . . . but I've avoided most of the major "traps" to this point in my life. I guess I'd say spending less on eating out during college and right after graduation. And if I could go back 10 years telling myself to drop cars as a hobby.