6 Money Habits I Regret Not Starting In My 20s

Since entering my twenties, I’ve realized that strong money habits are key to creating financial success and that you should practice them as soon as possible. So today I’m sharing with you seven money habits I regret not starting in my twenties. These won’t be the opinions you used to hear, but rather unique ones that have upped my money game in my twenties and may up yours as well.

Habit One

Focus on income, not just savings. Saving money is preached as one of the best ways to increase your wealth and it rightfully is, but saving itself can only get you so far, especially if your income is low. There’ll come a point where there’ll be no more cost for you to cut. Even if you invest your savings. It can only make you so much if your income is low.

Let’s say you’ve saved a thousand bucks and invested in the stock market with a good 10% return, you’d end up with a hundred dollars gain. It’s money, all right, but it’s probably not the life-changing money that you may be expecting. If you wanna increase your wealth, focus on increasing your income, work on your career, pick up a second job, start your own business. Do what you gotta do to bring in more money. Remember, you can’t save what you don’t have money.

Habit Two

Give yourself time to make money. It seems like everywhere on social media nowadays, there’s always someone pitching a quick and easy way to make money. Whether or not all of it is real is debatable, but I do know that this type of content has put a lot of pressure on us in our twenties to get rich quickly. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to get rich quick, I mean I wouldn’t mind. It’s just that focusing on it too much often leads to acquiring a short-term mentality. You might gamble all your savings away on a risky meme coin, or lose money working for an MLM (Multi Lelve Marketing) pyramid scheme, or you might actually start a promising business up your own, but because it isn’t making you a lot of money immediately, you quit too soon.

The reality is the average millionaire is 57 years old and they probably didn’t make their wealth. Listening to a fake guru knowledge building a long-term career, business or investment portfolio may make you so much more money down the line compared to just chasing ways to make a quick buck money habit. For invest in tax advantaged accounts, we often overlook the taxes associated with investing. They can eat into your profits, making you earn less money.

It doesn’t have to be that way though with tax advantaged accounts, tax advantaged accounts or registered plans if you live in Canada, accounts registered with the government that allow you to hold qualified investments such as stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and more. More importantly, they may offer tax advantages that may help you pay less tax and keep more money.

Habit Three

Inform yourself about taxes. You might have heard of the saying nothing is certain except death and taxes. Knowing the basics can help you tremendously when it comes to paying your taxes, planning your finances, saving money, and avoiding a knock on your door.

A great way to learn is to try to file your own taxes. For most people, it’s actually not that bad. There are tons of resources out there and free or affordable tax software that can help you do the job. If you need to use an account, it’s still helpful to get familiar with how taxes work so you can personally review your filings and catch errors. I recently worked with a new account and let’s just say wasn’t the best experience. If I didn’t review my filings, I would’ve paid way more tax than necessary money.

Habit Four

Consider high quality products. In the past I I was a pretty cheap guy. My purchases were always based on the price and well, I usually got what I paid for today. I still love my good deals, but I now know that the more expensive product can actually sometimes be the better bargain. For products you need to rely and depend on every day, such as your computer or camera or underwear.

Always consider the higher quality options versus just the cheapest ones. They often last longer and work better, which may help you avoid repair and replacement costs and save you more money in the long run. Let me be clear though. A higher price doesn’t always mean higher quality. Also, you don’t actually need the best quality most of the time. Do your research, be practical and don’t fall for the hype money.

Habit Five

Always negotiate. Now, I don’t suggest you walk into a fast food joint and negotiate the price of a cheeseburger, but for a lot of products and services out there, always consider it negotiating the bill to save money. Examples include your phone plan, internet and rent. I know what you might be thinking. Negotiating is intimidating all they think of me. A lot of times people already assume you will negotiate, so they may start off with a higher price that they already expect to lower for you. It’s similar. On the flip side, when someone offers you money like a job salary, they usually start low because they expect you may ask for more. You can’t get what you don’t ask for during negotiations. Beware of price anchoring. This is when you use a reference price to help you decide how much something is worth.

For example, if someone is trying to sell you a used car for $10,000 and you bargain it down to $7,000, it may seem like a great deal, but only because you’re comparing the negotiated price to the offered price. What if the used car is actually worth $5,000? The negotiated price doesn’t seem that good of a deal now does it? To combat price anchoring, you’ll need to do research on what you’re negotiating for and not be influenced by any initial offers.

I actually believe it’s best to always put out the first offer when negotiating, because then you’ll have the power of price anchoring on your side. Now, what if you fail at negotiating? The worst that usually happens is that you just go back to the original offer, which you would’ve accepted anyways if you didn’t negotiate. Negotiation is typically worth a shot.

Habit Six

Learn to want less. So I own a storage company and over the years it’s been eye-opening just to see how many things an average person owns and I understand. In today’s materialistic world, we’re constantly told to seek happiness in what we own and buy things that we don’t need. Learning to want less to be satisfied in life without having lots of possessions and fancy experiences is one of the best and easiest ways to increase your wealth. With this mindset, you may naturally spend less and save more.

I think the best way to learn how to genuinely want less is to experience more priceless things in life. See things that make you happy, that also don’t cost you much money. Over time, you’ll realize that you don’t actually need a lot, and that there is beauty that comes with modesty.

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