What you need to do in your 20s to be more successful in your 30s
By TRISOFT team
Our twenties are widely known as the age of the experiments and restlessness, the age of not knowing what you want and how you want it, of making a thousand plans and dropping them all the next day, the age of careless, free time. But does it really have to be that way? Are we really so unprepared for real life, so immature that we cannot build anything solid during our twenties. We don’t believe so.
The education factor
We believe that, like with everything else, education plays an important role in our growth and definitely in the way we choose to plan ahead for ourselves. It comes from our families first. If we are lucky enough to have parents who are saving-savvy or have entrepreneurial skills, we might have a head start over others. Or if we are lucky to go to a school that will focus a bit on helping youngsters become something more than just naive graduates after finishing their studies.
Well as they say … if ifs and buts were candy and nuts…
In our hands
Of course, education is always a big plus (we can’t emphasize enough how important it is!), but even if nothing in our background is favorable, that doesn’t mean we are sentenced to failure. For better or for worse, we are architects of our on future.
Most people get to find their calling and make it into wealth in their late thirties and forties. This is why, studies have been showing, major life milestones previously reserved for twenty-somethings — like marriage, buying a home and starting a family are occurring later in life nowadays. Somehow the two universes seem to be difficult to combine successfully at the same time. However, the twenties are as important for building our personal life, as they are for building our careers. They are a time when character development occurs and choices set a course for the future.
So what can we do to valorize our very young years in such a way that will not turn our resources to waste or, of course, go to extremes with the concern for a successful professional life. We are proposing 5 strategies, developed by Mr. Thomas Corley, an American accountant and financial planner who understands the difference between being rich and poor.
1. Follow the 25% rule
First rule: don’t spend more than one third of your income on house expenses. As much as possible, you should try to keep it below 25% or even less than that. No matter if you own or rent your house. When you have a high rent or mortgage, it’s practically impossible to accumulate wealth.
2. Learn and follow the 10% rule
The second ”percent rule” is related to how much we spend on entertainment. Which in our very young years is kind of the main reason for overspending: clothes, bars, movies, restaurants, holidays. The trick would be to keep it under 10%. Can you do that? :)
3. Make your money grow on its own
Investing isn’t just something we should do when we are ”old”. Because most investments involve risk taking, you should consider multiple streams. This way, you increase your chances of being successful. Wealthy people usually invest from 25 to 50 percent or more of their savings in investments. Some good options would be stocks, bonds, real estate or gold.
4. Invest in the right people
Talking about investment, there is a kind that is more valuable than stocks and bonds and that is investing in people. The research conducted by Thomas Corley shows that 79% of rich people maintain social contact for more than 5 hours a month, compared to only 16 percent of poor people.
It seems the secret is to realize that almost no one becomes successful on their own. The more acquaintances you make, the more friends and even mentors you can gain. Anyone can help you at some point or the other — be it with advice or more practically. You never know what’s going to come out of a relationship.
5. Invest in yourself
But maybe the most gainful investment is in yourself. Enrich your education with every opportunity that you get, read, travel the world, eat healthy, go running, take long baths, go to professional conferences in your field of work, get a pet, get a plant, do whatever you need to feel good about yourself physically and mentally, because if that doesn’t work well, nothing will.
Is that something they tried?
Maybe you are wondering how many highly successful people have done these sorts of things in their 20s. Well there are many more than you can imagine. Let’s see just two famous and eloquent examples of people who not only made it, but have radically changed their vision early in life.
1. Steve Jobs
In general, school is a great idea. But for some, making their own education was a far better one. Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College and started Apple Computers with Steve Wozniak in a garage. At his 2005 commencement address to the graduates of Stanford, he explained: “After six months [at college], I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.”
2. Richard Branson
Founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson started with opening a record label. He was twenty-something. His advice? Hard work is the most important. “Building a business from scratch is 24 hours, 7 days a week, divorces, it’s difficult to hold your family life together, it’s bloody hard work and only one word really matters — and that’s surviving.” — he said in an interview years ago.
Conclusion
So we’ve heard about others’ success and the way they did it right from their early 20s. It’s sometimes hard to imagine how someone could be so motivated and hard-working to start so young. But is it really that difficult? Or is it just about discipline and about having the right goals in life?
At TRISOFT, we believe in the advantage of growing young talented people who can become stronger along with the business. Investing in their creativity and enthusiasm, supporting their fresh input, is one winner card we have been betting on successfully for 10 years.
