58 Things I’d Say to My 21-Year-Old Self About Money

Wealth is measured on calendars, not calculators.

Tim Denning
The Startup
Published in
5 min readMar 25, 2022

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Image Credit: Getty Images

2007 Tim Denning was a dumbass.

I think we can all agree.

I was 21 back then, buried deep in the world of startups. I had an ego so big my head couldn’t fit through the average Aussie door.

This was before I’d ever read a book on money or worked in finance for one of the largest banks in the world. I wish I knew back then what I know now.

If I did, I wouldn’t have spent most of my salary on payday and saved money in a high-interest bank account that now pays 0% while inflation silently gives it to us up the butt.

These are 58 things I wish I knew about money.

  1. Money doesn’t impress people. Your character does.
  2. Don’t donate to 99% of charities. They use your money to buy Mercs for the jerks and fancy coffee machines. Choose charities that have extremely low expense ratios. Or donate directly to those who need it and cut out the ugly middle man.
  3. “Go to college and get a degree” is the worst financial decision you’ll ever make (except for the obvious doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc). A college degree is a 6-figure ticket to a job interview with zero guarantees.

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Tim Denning
The Startup

Aussie Blogger with 1B+ views that made me 7-figures — Get my free email course: https://timdenning.com/1k-mb