I’m 55… 25 Life Lessons I Wish I Knew Before 40

Look, I'm 55 now, and if I could go back, there's 25 money and life lessons that I wish at learned sooner. If you're in your 20s, your 30s, or even in your 40s, don't wait like I did. Learn this stuff right now. Before it cost you decades of your life. Let's talk about it. Number 1. Time waits for nobody. Guard your time. It's precious because once it's gone, it's gone. You can't get time back. And here's the kicker. The older you get, the faster time goes by. And before you know it, your time is going to be up and done. Number 2. Invest early. A little bit invested early while you're young is way way better than trying to invest a whole lot when you're older. So whatever you do, don't wait to invest money. Start investing right now. Today, even if it's just a very, very little bit, just start. Number 3. Money does not solve all your problems. Now look, money can help in some ways. That's for sure. But money is not the end all and the be all. Because some of the absolute best things that are out there in life are really free. And they don't call you any money, right? That's real. Now number 4 is don't chase money. You can chase good character. You can chase integrity. You can chase love and joy and a bunch of other things. But just don't chase money. Don't put money on some high pedestal. Because there's a lot of things in life that are more important than money. Even if you don't have any and money feels like it's the most important thing, it's not. I tell you what, if you want to chase anything, this is what I told myself. Chase becoming a valuable person to the people around you. Now number 5 is this. Change is constant. Things are going to change. And everything has its own season, right? So during the good times, you want to prepare for the bad times. And during the bad times, you always want to remember that there's good times coming. Because change is going to happen. Right? Now number 6 is this. Number 6 is patience is everything. Have patience. This is what I have to tell myself. Have patience with investing and money. Have patience with yourself. Right? Don't be so hard on yourself. Give yourself some patience. Have patience with other people. Right? Remember, slow and steady is what's going to win the race. Now number 7 is. And this one is really important because I like to do a lot of genealogy and old school stuff and learning about the history. Number 7 is talk to old people that are around you in your family, friends. Not only do they have a lot of wisdom, but they have a lot of information to share with you. And they'll come a time one day when they're no longer here. And trust me when I tell you this, you'll wish they were here to ask them questions. Get their opinions. So while you have an older grandparents who's in his 60s, 80s, 90s, talk to them. Get information. Get your opinion paper. Start writing stuff down so you can remember. But talk to as many older people that you can talk to. Number 8 is and I didn't learn this one too. It's better to have money in silence than to be broke out loud. What I mean by that is make it a habit to live simple. Right? Live quietly because flashiness and being flashy and outwardly showing your wealth and what you have is overrated. Number 9 is the absolute greatest investment that you'll ever make is the investment you make in yourself. Self improvement is huge. Keep that one in mind because as you get older, you're going to start asking yourself. Should I take this class? Should I learn this information? Should I listen? There's nothing wrong at all about investing in you. Right? That's the greatest investment you'll ever make. So you can throw out this idea that I'm getting older. I'm over four and over 50. I don't need this information or this class. That class. It's nothing wrong with getting extra information. It's nothing wrong with continuing to grow and improve yourself throughout your entire life. Number 10 is work hard but more importantly than work hard is work smart. Have a strategy. Be intentional. Play chess. Don't play checkers like everybody else is. Think two steps ahead. Think five and 10 and 15 years ahead. Write it down and plan for decades. Not just planning for the weekend or the concert or the ball game. Right? Think long term. Number 11 is discipline plus consistency is going to equal unstoppable results. And this is one that I had to learn. I had to learn to master discipline. Master consistency. And when I learn to do those things in all different types of areas of my life, life got better. So I begin to be disciplined enough to do the things that I don't feel like doing. But at the same time be so consistent with what I do that winning becomes the expectation. Right? Not the well. I'm surprised that I'm winning but I've done this so long and so repetitively and so consistent that I understand the ends and outs and I expect to win. I expect to make a lot of money. I expect to be a millionaire or have ten million dollar net worth right now. Number 12 is this. Your absolute greatest competition is always going to be the person who you were yesterday. You're going to go through life especially when you get around 40, 45, 35, 45 years old where you feel like you're competing with other people all the time. Right? To try to get the promotion, to try to get the job, to stop competing against everybody else. Just concentrate on beating and being better than the person who you were before. If you do that, look, you're already winning. Now, number 13 is your true wealth is really inside of you. Let me say that differently. Your true wealth is going to be wrapped up in your gifts, your talents, your skills, and your purpose. When you tap into whatever your assignment is on this planet, you'll never go broke. You need to ask yourself and answer the question, why am I here? Who am I designed to help? Who am I assigned to? To help. While I'm here on this planet. Ask yourself that question. After you ask yourself that question, answer it. What are you supposed to bring to the people of the planet? When you figure that out, that's your wealthy place. And wealthy doesn't have to be in money. Maybe it's wealthy in joy. Maybe it's wealthy in another area of your life where you could be prosperous. Maybe it is wealthy in terms of money. But when you're working in your assignment, working in your purpose, delivering your talent or gift to the people of the world, that's wealth. This is my favorite. I learned this when really early, but it really didn't kick you until after I reached age 40. And number 14 is this, personal responsibility is a superpower. Own it right now. Today, personal responsibility will take you very, very far in life. Why? Because it gives you the keys to control over your life, over your money. See, because I say it in my videos all the time. The best person who's going to take care of the old you is the young you. That's personal responsibility. Nobody else is fault. It's on the person in the mirror to control and manage my life. When I learned that, life got better. When I really got into with that over the age of 40, I became more powerful. Now, number 15, before turning 40, realize that you're only as smart as your last decision. Choices that you decide to make are going to really shape your destiny, your future, your life. Listen, we're all just one bad choice from living a totally different life. But if you believe that, which I do, we also have to realize that we're all just one good decision from a totally different life. Right? So the choices we decide to make and the choices we decide not to make, they can change everything. Now, number 16 is anything you mismanage you lose. Now, I definitely didn't get number 16 until after age 45. See, management is the key to a good life. You mismanage your health. You're going to lose your health. You mismanage relationships, close relationship. You're going to lose them. You mismanage your car. You're going to lose your car. If you mismanage anything, you're going to lose it. And money is no exception to that rule. If you mismanage money, you won't have any. Right? So if you want more of something, you start getting more but taking really, really good care of the things that you already have. Guys, if you're getting any value from this video, do me a favor, smash the like button, and most of all share this video with someone who you know could use this valuable information. Also, please drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts. Now, let's get back to the video. Now, number 17 is debt is the thief of your future. debt is going to rob you of tomorrow if you're not careful. So avoid it early. Only have debt on things that go up in value. Right? You want to own stuff. And bad debt makes you a servant, not on owner. When you own stuff, you have choices that you can make. Right? And choices brings freedom. And I don't know about you, but for me, one of the things that I want when I get over 40, over 50, over 60, I want to have the freedom. And bad debt robs you of that. Now, number 18 is this. You want to be the best at whatever you do. Skills will keep you fed forever. You want to build skills so well that your children's children can eat off the skills that you develop. Right? So let me put it like this. I'll sit in a different way. If you look around your city, you're town, your state. The best mechanic in the city is always busy. Right? The best hairdresser or the best barber in your city. They got a line around the corner. Wait, no, no. Right? The best plumber in your city, your state, your area. The best plumber they're going to never go hungry because they'll always be working. See, when you're the best at what you do, you set yourself up financially to have a shot at being wealthy. When you're the best. So I learned to just be the best at what I do. And when I'm the best at what I do, I'm always going to eat. Now, number 19 is joy. Joy is simplicity. Right? In other words, needing less is equivalent to living more. So when I was over the age of 40, I became more of a frugal person. I realized that the bigger the house, the more you've got to clean it up, the more maintenance it requires. The more cars you have, the more repairs, the more insurance, all that. So I learned that the most joyful person isn't the person who has all the stuff, the most joyful person is the person who needs the least to feel good. Don't rely on stuff to make you feel a certain way. Because a lot of us, we spend all of our years gathering stuff and gathering stuff. And then when we get older, what do we want to do? We want to give away stuff and downsize our living. Right? So start downsizing now, where you don't need so much, and just be joyful in the simple things. Now, number 20 is compound interest. Compound interest is important for money, but it's also important for other things too. Your habits, your relationship, your knowledge and wisdom. Right? When you start repeating something over an over every single day, it compounds, just like compound interest compounds with your personal finances and your money and your investments. Good habits compound. Bad habits compound. So compound interest is not just about money. It's about other areas of your life, whether it be the right attitude or the bad attitude. It's going to compound. Now, number 21 is learn to say no. In other words, having boundaries builds wealth too. Because every time you end up saying yes to some type of nonsense or some mess that you don't want to be in, all that's doing is stealing time from you. Remember what I said about time? You don't get it back. It's stealing your purpose from you, stealing what you supposed to be doing, something else, your energy. So just being able to say no and creating that boundary, not just for other people, but saying no to yourself, that's a complete sentence. No. Number 22, choose your spouse and your friends and the people you decide to be around, choose it very, very carefully. The wrong people are going to drain you. Drane your time, drain your energy, drain your mental capacity. But guess what? The right people around you are going to multiply all those things. So who you choose to be around? It's very important. Number 23 is learn from your mistakes and move on. The quality of your life largely is going to depend on your ability to not repeat mistakes. We all make them, but making mistakes is no excuse for repeating mistakes. You want to always live life moving forward, not looking back, learning from your mistakes, but not wallowing in the past. A lot of people they get stuck on the sad story of where they came from and all the things that went wrong in their life. A lot of people, not everybody, but a number quite a few people do that, right? Their story from the past begins to dictate their future. You never want that to happen, right? You want to be like a good basketball player, this a great shooter. A great shooter forgets about the last shot and he keeps on shooting. He understands because he's practiced and he has the mechanics down on exactly how to release and how to shoot what type of height to get, but he doesn't let the past misses affect his future shot. And that's what you got to do in life. Now, number 24 is don't chase validation. As you get older over the age of 40, stop worrying about what other people think about you. Chasing validation is a day and in. Just because somebody is on the front row clapping for you, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're cheering you on, right? See a lot of people just want to front row seat to watch you fail. So they'll clap for you and cheer for you and you're thinking there, they're all behind you, but guess what? They're really waiting on your downfall. So you have to stop worrying about the applause that you're getting from other people trying to get their validation. Focus simply on results your life and stop worrying about their validation because it ain't that important. Now, number 25 is this. Never get addicted to anything. Try to live your life without ever letting anything bind you. It could be people. It could be food. It could be gambling. It could be social media. It could be anything. But addiction steals the one thing in life that you want. I know that I want. And that's freedom. Why does it steal your freedom? Because any addiction is going to control you. It's going to own you. And hey, everybody I know this over 40, 50 years old, they want to be able to make their own choices and have their freedom. Hey, look, there you have it guys. That's the 25 life and money lessons that I wish I had learned sooner before age 40. Do me a favor? Smash the like button below. Drop a comment as well. I want to hear from you. And most of all share this video with somebody who you know. Maybe a younger person, maybe an older person. But just share it with somebody who needs to hear it. Until the next video, peace.