Save money. The earlier the better. The more the merrier.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

The advice…

Start saving money as soon as you can. The earlier, the better. The more, the merrier.

Where it’s coming from…

They don’t tell us much about this in school. At least not in my days. So what happens? When we grow from children (with no or little concept of the value of money) to teens and start our summer and student jobs, we are soooooo happy to be earning our own money. We feel ‘rich’ and independent.

And we spend it all. On ourselves and friends.

Because we can.

Because it’s fun.

Because the concept of becoming an adult with responsibilities and bills doesn’t dawn on us.

The years pass. For a long time there are no major commitments like home loans, utility bills, insurances, school fees etc. The next big thing in terms of expenses might, at most, be a car. But by the time we reach that ‘age of expenses’, unless we’ve saved money…. it sucks.

Granted - you’d probably have a great wardrobe from all those shopping sprees, you may have travelled the world (which is fine and to be encouraged) but if you would have saved something along the way, the reality is you will be starting life off at an advantage. You will get many urges to buy stuff you don’t need, try to fight the useless urges.

Money does not buy you happiness. But neither does debt.