10 Money Mistakes I Made in My 20's That I'm Avoiding in My 30's

And a question that may lead you to quit your job in 30 seconds

Rapper Notorious BIG was murdered in a 1997 drive-by shooting.

I used to listen to gangster rap as a kid and was always intrigued by his story. His teacher once said to him:

“Take the talent that you have and think of something that you can do in the future with it.”

Initially, Biggie (BIG) thought he was passionate and interested with drawing. He didn’t like the idea of being an art dealer. He thought he could do commercial art and draw stuff for billboards.

Not long after, in 4th grade, Biggie got introduced to the drug crack. “Haha. I’m out here for 20 minutes and I can make some real, real money, man,” said Biggie.

So that’s what he did. Selling drugs eventually became part of his life, then he made rap music about it. This life of crime eventually got him murdered. Sad.

The point is this:

One of the biggest money mistakes most people make is they forget that incentives run the world. And they misunderstand that if the incentives are right, most people could do unimaginable things both good and bad (including selling drugs).

Here are 9 more money mistakes I made in my 20s.

Get comfortable being poor to become wealthy

Coming from poverty is an advantage.

My family went bankrupt multiple times before I was an adult. I lived on a knife’s edge between middle class and poverty. So I got comfortable with being poor and living off very little.

I didn’t need much. Luxury didn’t interest me. I was happy with borrowing a book from the library or borrowing a movie for free from a friend to watch on TV.

If poverty strikes again I’m comfortable. It doesn’t scare me.

By being comfortable with having less, it allows you to save money to invest in things that make you wealthy.

Over the last decade, instead of buying useless luxury cars, Rolexes, and fine dining experiences with snobby wankers, I’ve used that money to invest in financial assets.

This is how you look poor and become wealthy. And when you become wealthy your desires still remain stupidly low so you can focus on living life.

Most people never get wealthy because they’re never willing to risk what they have and become poor short term, so they can learn the hard lessons to become wealthy in the long term.

Big money mistake: taking zero risk.

"If you cannot afford to lose, you won't." – Robert Greene

Cash is not king

It’s a stupid cliche. Cash melts away with inflation and currency devaluation. Instead…

Cash flow is king.

Would you rather have $1M net worth and a monthly income of $500, or a $50,000 net-worth with a monthly income of $100,000?

Savings are overrated. They protect you in the short term, but in the long term the only thing worth having is an ever-increasing monthly income. If savings were the key to financial success then trust fund babies & lottery winners would all be billionaires.

Income creates net worth. Focus on it.

You can’t get wealthy doing these common things

• Selling your time for money

• Having your expenses higher than your income

• Starting a business with high revenue and no profit

• Saving money without ever investing in financial assets

Yet this is how most of the world operates.

The path to wealth is common knowledge. But those who follow the obvious path to wealth are uncommon. Do the opposite of 99% of people.

Overly skeptical people never get wealthy

In my 20s, I thought everything was a scam.

Meanwhile, on Saturday night I’d gamble at the casino with my best friend, bet on sports during the weekdays, and rack up credit card bills (all real scams).

At the same time two high school friends got into the scammiest industry that I hated: network marketing.

By their mid-20s they were both retired. One had a red Ferrari.

I also met a guy at 26 who wrote online and made money from it. I didn’t believe I could do the same because I had no clue how to build a Wordpress website like his and use SEO to drive traffic to it.

I later found out he just learned by googling it.

Society wants you to think starting a business or marketing something online is a scam, so you’ll choose the default path of a job and never follow your obsession.

People without dreams and money are easier to manipulate.

Weak minds try an idea they’re skeptical of once, self-sabotage, then give up forever.

Solution: 1) Stop being so skeptical of every opportunity 2) When you try something risky and it doesn’t work, have some guts and try 100+ more times.

Making millions of dollars is phenomenal

Wait, what?

Yep. My grandma always said, “Money doesn’t buy you happiness, Timothy.” She was wrong. Money buys you a lot of stuff. And whoever is telling you that being wealthy feels terrible is lying to you.

Life is 100% easier when money isn’t a problem.

Will millions in the bank solve all of your problems? Of course not. But it can certainly help to buy problem-solvers who can solve a lot of them.

The dumbest people in the world make the most money

The red Ferrari guy I mentioned before is dumber than a plank of wood.

He played footy, failed high school, drank a lot, then one day decided to make some money. Once you see this phenomenon you can’t unsee it.

Wealthy people are no smarter than you.

So what’s happening then? 2 things.

ONE)

“Someone with half your IQ is making 10x as you because they aren't smart enough to doubt themselves.” – Ed Latimore

Two) Overthinking and overplanning

Most people learn at their jobs to move slow, overthink everything, and write 5-year strategy documents that’ll become extinct as soon as they email them.

It should piss you off that dumb people make millions of dollars. The question is: will you learn then earn from it?

Hard work probably won’t make you rich

The factory worker industrial age spread this lie.

Work hard and someone will notice you. Then ask their permission to get a promotion or bonus. The internet nuked this idea.

If hard work made people rich, then the guy who used to mow my aunty’s lawn because she was too old to would be a billionaire.

Following your curiosity is where wealth is found. It’s how you unlock your creativity that’ll lead you to find your obsession.

People who aren’t curious just do the same sh*t over and over each day and never get anywhere, then why wonder why.

Being self-interested is the unconventional path to wealth

Everyone is selfish at times. Even you.

So many people delude themselves into thinking they’re white knights who only ever help others. It’s B.S. These do-gooder types are often the most evil humans.

We’re all self-interested. If it’s not money, it’s status, prestige, or achievements that you chase. But we’re all self-interested in something.

If I said “Hey, I can get you a meeting with Barack Obama who can help you get the word out about your goal” …are you saying no? Of course not. Welcome to the self-interested club.

What keeps us away from financial success is NOT being self-interested enough. 

It’s letting other people’s priorities override our own. Or delaying our dreams until we’re retired, when the best years of our life are gone.

Being self-interested is a paradox.

The more you’re self-interested and use a business to help other people get what they want, the more you get of what you want.

Helping people with a product or service is one of the greatest unselfish acts of service you can commit.

Debt limits your future opportunities

Author Morgan Housel once said “As debt increases, you narrow the range of outcomes you can endure in life.”

People who are in huge debt just need a flu or broken leg and it can be enough to put them out on the street.

The opposite is to see debt as a way to make you more fragile. The minimum you must earn each month now has a threshold you’ve got to maintain. If the job or business goes away then the gap between the next paying opportunity is narrow.

In 2019, I got laid off and it took me 6 months to get my next job.

For most people that’d bankrupt them. So, instead, they choose a less than ideal job because they’re desperate and don’t have savings.

Debt is a chain around your ankles if you’re not careful.

A question that may lead you to quit your job in 30 seconds

Let’s finish here. In 2021, I quit my job and this quote influenced me.

"If you were absolutely fearless- would you be earning a living in exactly the same way you are now?" – David Deida

Answer honestly.

My answer was NO. I quit my job shortly after. We tell ourselves we’re fearless but the truth is we sell ourselves on a less than ideal career because we’re afraid to take a risk.

Earning a living from a mediocre career feels horrendous if you maintain the lie for long enough. The answer isn’t to necessarily quit everything right now. But at the very least, make sure you’re building the career you want on the side.

That’s a huge mistake I made in my 20s that I fixed in my 30s. Thank God!

Tell me which of the 10 lessons you loved the most and why in the comments.

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PS — One final money mistake I made…even in my 30s…

Not starting an email list sooner. 

My email list is a HUGE asset in my online writing career. 

I'll be creating some new content on it soon. 

What would you like to know?

Click here to tell me your biggest challenges with starting or building an email list