Keep fit. Everything else depends on it. If you hate exercising (like me), try to find some sports that are fun to play, and find some friends who are willing to drag you to play.
Also get your tests done regularly. Blood test, etc. are super important and can detect issues early on.
Health is the basic of everything else and you don't want to try to fix it when it's broken because it's going to be too late.
Another thing is try to find a passion. Could be part of work or part of hobby but one needs to have passion on something or he lives like a zombie. It can be anything from chasing girls to star gazing, but something you are so passionate at that you are willing to throw resources into it to get as professional as possible. Do yourself a favor and put up a blog and youtube channel about your passion and advertise yourself.
So now you are mentally and physcially fit, can't be better than that. The point is not to push yourself to do a lot of things in one day, but put a bit of extra care to yourself and invest a bit of time to your passions everyday for ten thousand days.
> Also get your tests done regularly. Blood test, etc. are super important and can detect issues early on.
In the US do you get some kind of yearly health checkup even if you're healthy with your blood tested and so on?
How come the NHS doesn't do this in the UK, I wonder? If I went to my NHS doctor and said I felt fine but asked for a general health-check and blood test they'd tell me to GTFO. Are we missing out on something that we should be getting?
> How come the NHS doesn't do this in the UK, I wonder? If I went to my NHS doctor and said I felt fine but asked for a general health-check and blood test they'd tell me to GTFO.
WTF, in France you're encouraged to do so, and there are even reminders by (e)mail for stuff like dentist and specific preventive checkups for women.
I'm in Canada but you can request to do tests if you don't feel OK and sometimes you get them. It depends on the family doctor though, and the waiting time is very long. But once you get the appointments rolling then everything is fine.
I have insurance from job so I always make arrangements through private clinics who are glad to refer you to any place. One visit (to make appointments, not the tests) costs about 200 but insurance covers 80% so it's kinda OK. You also don't need to do it annually unless you are into 50 or 60.
The Affordable Care Act (also called "Obamacare") requires that all health insurance plans offer one healthy checkup every year at no cost to the patient.
And keep a copy of your own health records. You don't need to see the doctor's files, but you should know dates when different tests are done, and the results. A paper notebook is best, but I just email my wife with the subject "HEALTH:"
I'm turning 32 in 9 days. Here's what I would like to have said to myself, given the chance:
Start thinking about yourself. I mean it. Figure out what you like, what makes you feel good, what you can own and enjoy. Stick to that special something, don't forget yourself. Don't try to please everyone at your own expense. Take vacations, pay attention to your mental health. You are entering a new decade, that's going to feel shorter than the one already past you. Learn how to concentrate your efforts. Hindsight is 20/20, use that to your advantage, learn from your past mistakes.
Your frame of reference for time is changing every day. Each day feels relatively shorter than the day before.
Strangely though, some years feel very long. To me that's explained by how much activity is going on, day to day. Like how when work is not busy, everyone says "slow day." 2020 for example was less busy for most people (stuck at home), so it was a "slow year."
- Don't be afraid to try new things. (this is tech, jobs, locations, people, everything...)
- Don't be hard on yourself if something you thought was going to be "cool" or "interesting" turns out to not be.
- Don't be afraid to do the things that no one else wants to do.
- Evaluate your work/life balance and DO NOT let your work over take your life in the long run.
- Companies don't give a *$%# about you as a person, only what value you bring to them as a company. In a lot of ways that is a good thing but understand that when push comes to shove you are expendable.
Personal:
- Save for retirement, as much as you can (gentle voice, as this can be very challenging at times). Compound interest is an amazing beast that will set you up for life.
- Every raise you get put a % in retirement, and keep the rest. You need a real time reward for your hard work as much as you need to save. "Treat Yo Self"
- If you need help. ASK FOR IT. Don't sit around and wait for someone to hand you the answer. People are there just waiting to give you all the help you need.
- If you ask for help and get a crappy response, file away that person's response and ask someone else.
- Record milestones and keep them safe. Then when you need (in the low times) review those milestones and recognize how much you've accomplished. Essentially try to step away from the canvas and get out of the moment in time problem you are stuck in.
Last and most important:
- Help others, without ego, where you can. You got here by receiving help from so many people, pay that forward.
Also, setup automatic funding every month and never sell anything. Buying is easy, selling is easy, holding is hard but you'll be glad you did during every dip.
This. I knew better and still tried to play games last March/April and I'm ~5-10% poorer for my efforts.
Look back at "The Great Recession", had you bought anything, anytime between 2006-2012, you're better off today (Assuming you stayed employed and were not over-leveraged).
This is different from HODL-ing. If you double your money in a few hours, you were probably gambling and you should look for a less volatile asset to move into while you're ahead.
Money should flow to things in roughly this order: Max out your employer match, pay off high interest debt, Fully fund your Roth IRA, continue to try to max out traditional 401k then modify contributions to Roth 401k as you can afford. Once you're saving that ~24k per year and are debt free, then look to retail investing, paying off a car/home early.
If you aren't in a home but will want to be, there is some truth to the housing ladder and home equity is no joke. But remember home ownership isn't an investment, it is a lifestyle.
Vanguard has some nice funds for this for people who just want to invest and forget about it until retirement.
They have one targeting people retiring in 2065 (born 1998-2002), one for 2060 (born 1993-1997), and so on down to one for people who retired in 2015 (born 1949-1952), and one for people who were born before 1949.
Each of these invests in other Vanguard funds. As it gets closer to their target year, they decrease their stock fund holdings and increase their bond fund holdings.
The 2055 one, which would be the one aimed at someone who is currently 30, is 90% stock, 9% bonds. The stock fund portion is split about 60/40 between a Vanguard total US stock market fund and a Vanguard total international stock market fund.
Amen. I'm 43, and started putting money into Vanguard around the age of 40. I absolutely wish I'd started at the age of 30; even just a bit here and there. I have money in index funds, and a Roth IRA. I have seen overall returns of 20%, though I understand that's an anomaly from the past few years.
What's the alternative to vanguard for someone living in the EU? I looked into it, and in my country it doesn't seem possible to do anything with vanguard itself.
Instead of being obsessed by financial investments, try to invest in yourself, you are your best asset. Everyone already said about training your body, I can't agree more.
Train your mind too: learn to not being angry, to be more tolerant, to lower your ego, to reduce your anxiety, to understand yourself and others, etc. Read a lot about human feelings. Be an appeased person.
In addition, Learning high value and rare skills will probably bring more money to you than random BTC buying, in addition of making you feel proud.
If you don't like exercising or aren't able to do so conventionally, keep exploring until you find something you enjoy that keeps you fit. You lose what you don't use. The benefits are proven and unenumerable, everything from improved mood and better overall health, plus being strong or a good lover improve your well-being in non-obvious ways.
I would argue that the whole idea of thinking about exercise as something you have to enjoy is overrated.
Do you enjoy cleaning your house or doing your taxes? Do your enjoy taking your car in for maintenance?
Sure some people enjoy some or all of those things, but you still have to do them regardless. They're a part of being a responsible adult.
Likewise, regular exercise is a part of being a responsible steward of your own health and well-being. Establishing the habit, regardless of how much you enjoy it, is as important for your long-term well-being as regularly contributing to your retirement account.
Now does that mean you have to choose an exercise modality that you hate? No, of course not. But there are some tried and true modalities that are extremely effective and don't have to be torture. You might find them boring at first, but they're effective and if you could bottle their effects in a pill, you'd be the richest person on the planet.
I get where you are coming from. The idea of finding exercise that you enjoy doing is based on the thinking that you're more likely to continue to do something you enjoy.
Unlike cleaning or doing taxes, there are lots of very different ways to exercise. And most humans are conditioned to enjoy some form of exercise. It's likely you can find some activity that will give you a nice dopamine hit to keep you encouraged.
Plus, you never know what you might enjoy until you try it. I never thought I liked sports until college, when I discovered a love for playing tennis, squash, and flag football. I still hate watching any of these sports on TV, but I do love playing them.
Tremendous advice for any age, but especially for 30.
Why? Because at 30 you still have time to develop great habits that last the rest of your life. Also the time when you can develop good muscle mass to prevent additional stress on your joints and delay potential back/joint pain from say 40, to 50-55.
Without knowing anything about your personal situation, my specific advice will have little value. A better exercise would be this:
Imagine you could have a half-hour conversation with yourself 10 years from now. Once you're done with the "what stock is about to blow up?" and "who will win the world series?" questions, what advice would you seek? What do you think Older You would say in response? Bonus points for journaling it out.[1]
I've found this exercise especially valuable for certain problems and goals. You can draw some pretty remarkable insights by separating from the emotions of the current moment and reframing your perspective.
Comfort level is huge. If you don't feel like you can talk to them, they aren't worth having. You need to be able to be completely open for it to work.
Readit News
Also get your tests done regularly. Blood test, etc. are super important and can detect issues early on.
Health is the basic of everything else and you don't want to try to fix it when it's broken because it's going to be too late.
Another thing is try to find a passion. Could be part of work or part of hobby but one needs to have passion on something or he lives like a zombie. It can be anything from chasing girls to star gazing, but something you are so passionate at that you are willing to throw resources into it to get as professional as possible. Do yourself a favor and put up a blog and youtube channel about your passion and advertise yourself.
So now you are mentally and physcially fit, can't be better than that. The point is not to push yourself to do a lot of things in one day, but put a bit of extra care to yourself and invest a bit of time to your passions everyday for ten thousand days.
In the US do you get some kind of yearly health checkup even if you're healthy with your blood tested and so on?
How come the NHS doesn't do this in the UK, I wonder? If I went to my NHS doctor and said I felt fine but asked for a general health-check and blood test they'd tell me to GTFO. Are we missing out on something that we should be getting?
WTF, in France you're encouraged to do so, and there are even reminders by (e)mail for stuff like dentist and specific preventive checkups for women.
I have insurance from job so I always make arrangements through private clinics who are glad to refer you to any place. One visit (to make appointments, not the tests) costs about 200 but insurance covers 80% so it's kinda OK. You also don't need to do it annually unless you are into 50 or 60.
I'm 32 as well. Why does it feel like years go by quicker as you age? I can barely remember anything in my first 2 years of this decade.
When you're 2, a year is 1/2 of your life.
When you're 3, a year is 1/3 of your life.
When you're 30, a year is 1/30th of your life.
Your frame of reference for time is changing every day. Each day feels relatively shorter than the day before.
Strangely though, some years feel very long. To me that's explained by how much activity is going on, day to day. Like how when work is not busy, everyone says "slow day." 2020 for example was less busy for most people (stuck at home), so it was a "slow year."
I dunno, that's my experience anyway.
- Don't be afraid to try new things. (this is tech, jobs, locations, people, everything...)
- Don't be hard on yourself if something you thought was going to be "cool" or "interesting" turns out to not be.
- Don't be afraid to do the things that no one else wants to do.
- Evaluate your work/life balance and DO NOT let your work over take your life in the long run.
- Companies don't give a *$%# about you as a person, only what value you bring to them as a company. In a lot of ways that is a good thing but understand that when push comes to shove you are expendable.
Personal:
- Save for retirement, as much as you can (gentle voice, as this can be very challenging at times). Compound interest is an amazing beast that will set you up for life.
- Every raise you get put a % in retirement, and keep the rest. You need a real time reward for your hard work as much as you need to save. "Treat Yo Self"
- If you need help. ASK FOR IT. Don't sit around and wait for someone to hand you the answer. People are there just waiting to give you all the help you need.
- If you ask for help and get a crappy response, file away that person's response and ask someone else.
- Record milestones and keep them safe. Then when you need (in the low times) review those milestones and recognize how much you've accomplished. Essentially try to step away from the canvas and get out of the moment in time problem you are stuck in.
Last and most important:
- Help others, without ego, where you can. You got here by receiving help from so many people, pay that forward.
https://ritholtz.com/2014/02/the-best-investment-advice-youl...
Look back at "The Great Recession", had you bought anything, anytime between 2006-2012, you're better off today (Assuming you stayed employed and were not over-leveraged).
This is different from HODL-ing. If you double your money in a few hours, you were probably gambling and you should look for a less volatile asset to move into while you're ahead.
Money should flow to things in roughly this order: Max out your employer match, pay off high interest debt, Fully fund your Roth IRA, continue to try to max out traditional 401k then modify contributions to Roth 401k as you can afford. Once you're saving that ~24k per year and are debt free, then look to retail investing, paying off a car/home early.
If you aren't in a home but will want to be, there is some truth to the housing ladder and home equity is no joke. But remember home ownership isn't an investment, it is a lifestyle.
They have one targeting people retiring in 2065 (born 1998-2002), one for 2060 (born 1993-1997), and so on down to one for people who retired in 2015 (born 1949-1952), and one for people who were born before 1949.
Each of these invests in other Vanguard funds. As it gets closer to their target year, they decrease their stock fund holdings and increase their bond fund holdings.
The 2055 one, which would be the one aimed at someone who is currently 30, is 90% stock, 9% bonds. The stock fund portion is split about 60/40 between a Vanguard total US stock market fund and a Vanguard total international stock market fund.
Train your mind too: learn to not being angry, to be more tolerant, to lower your ego, to reduce your anxiety, to understand yourself and others, etc. Read a lot about human feelings. Be an appeased person.
In addition, Learning high value and rare skills will probably bring more money to you than random BTC buying, in addition of making you feel proud.
If you don't like exercising or aren't able to do so conventionally, keep exploring until you find something you enjoy that keeps you fit. You lose what you don't use. The benefits are proven and unenumerable, everything from improved mood and better overall health, plus being strong or a good lover improve your well-being in non-obvious ways.
Do you enjoy cleaning your house or doing your taxes? Do your enjoy taking your car in for maintenance?
Sure some people enjoy some or all of those things, but you still have to do them regardless. They're a part of being a responsible adult.
Likewise, regular exercise is a part of being a responsible steward of your own health and well-being. Establishing the habit, regardless of how much you enjoy it, is as important for your long-term well-being as regularly contributing to your retirement account.
Now does that mean you have to choose an exercise modality that you hate? No, of course not. But there are some tried and true modalities that are extremely effective and don't have to be torture. You might find them boring at first, but they're effective and if you could bottle their effects in a pill, you'd be the richest person on the planet.
Unlike cleaning or doing taxes, there are lots of very different ways to exercise. And most humans are conditioned to enjoy some form of exercise. It's likely you can find some activity that will give you a nice dopamine hit to keep you encouraged.
Plus, you never know what you might enjoy until you try it. I never thought I liked sports until college, when I discovered a love for playing tennis, squash, and flag football. I still hate watching any of these sports on TV, but I do love playing them.
Why? Because at 30 you still have time to develop great habits that last the rest of your life. Also the time when you can develop good muscle mass to prevent additional stress on your joints and delay potential back/joint pain from say 40, to 50-55.
Imagine you could have a half-hour conversation with yourself 10 years from now. Once you're done with the "what stock is about to blow up?" and "who will win the world series?" questions, what advice would you seek? What do you think Older You would say in response? Bonus points for journaling it out.[1]
I've found this exercise especially valuable for certain problems and goals. You can draw some pretty remarkable insights by separating from the emotions of the current moment and reframing your perspective.
[1] derived from this discussion: https://tim.blog/2020/02/27/josh-waitzkin-beginners-mind-sel...
2. Find a good therapist.
3. Speak with the therapist about inconsistencies between your thoughts, feelings and who you want to be.
don't be afraid to keep looking, I suppose. some people go through a dozen before finding one that works for them!