For those 30+: What would you do differently?

[Sal_Paradise]

For all their faults this is one thing the US get half right. Now there higher education system is probably just as stuffed where they churn out too many graduates and have a stuffed job market but it is culturally the done thing to move interstate (for college) as soon as you hit 18. That way their youth are able to live life on their own terms and view the world through independent eyes rather than have a biased view rammed down their throat. Part of the reason innovation thrives there while Australians are too busy lecturing and bemoaning their youth.

(I realise the USA is completely buggered in many ways and Australia for the majority is the better place to live imo but you can't deny US innovation).

I've discussed this with an American friend and I don't know how accurate this is these days. Maybe once, but I think there's been a pretty big push over there recently to study in your home state. Think they get subsided tuition fees etc if they stay local

 

[Vic Vinegar]

For all their faults this is one thing the US get half right. Now there higher education system is probably just as stuffed where they churn out too many graduates and have a stuffed job market but it is culturally the done thing to move interstate (for college) as soon as you hit 18. That way their youth are able to live life on their own terms and view the world through independent eyes rather than have a biased view rammed down their throat. Part of the reason innovation thrives there while Australians are too busy lecturing and bemoaning their youth.

(I realise the USA is completely buggered in many ways and Australia for the majority is the better place to live imo but you can't deny US innovation).

Having studied on a US college campus, I wouldn't exactly call US college kids "independant" (the notion over there is that universities are glorified baby sitters and its true). Students also get charged out-of-state tuition which means that except for the white upper middle class, most stay fairly close to home.

US innovation arises mainly because there is a lot more money because a) many colleges are private and charge far higher tuition fees than here so there is more money for research and innovation b) students deal with a far higher level of competition so the cream naturally rises to the top and c) private industry has a far greater input on the US college research scene.

When you are over there and you see how big even things like college basketball games are and how everything is a business you realise how small Australia really is.

 

[crownie]

would not of invested as much time on people in regards to making efforts catching up and trying to keep friendships going.

i now have a rule that if i don't have contact with someone for me then a year and they can't even be bothered to reply to texts or fb messages then i move on.

 

[LanceRomance]

Not dropped out of ADFA


Been 10 years and it still pisses me off.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Excellent thread. It is this kind of stuff that makes GD a worthwhile place to visit

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Excellent thread. It is this kind of stuff that makes GD a worthwhile place to visit

Yeah, the guy who started it was a great bloke wasn't he.

 

[Mancey]

• I wish i bought that 1 acre beachside block in Dunsborough for 92k in 1996.
• Put one through a hot chick in high school who i later found out thought i was awesome and was just waiting for me to ask. I was too busy surfing and drinking beer. Although she is fat now so...
• Kept a couple of my awesome old cars that I sold or traded for peanuts to buy cars that are now a bit lol worthy and tragic
• Told a couple of mates who got taken away way too soon to stop being dickheads and be a bit careful rather than encourage their stupid acts
• Bought some shares in apple and rio tinto

 

[LennyStarkiller]

Bookmarking this thread so I can respond in 5 months time

 

[Catsmaninamerica]

Id have stayed single and travelled South American as Asia extensively through my entire 20's. Done 10
Years. Instead I focused I career and the girlfriends I had at the time. When you're 20
You don't really understand just how much strange ass is out there for The taking.

 

[crownie]

Id have stayed single and travelled South American as Asia extensively through my entire 20's. Done 10
Years. Instead I focused I career and the girlfriends I had at the time. When you're 20
You don't really understand just how much strange ass is out there for The taking.

any still around?

 

[Catsmaninamerica]

any still around?

nope. thank *.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

I rented an apartment in inner city Melbourne. Literally in the CBD. This would have been 2003-5, I reckon. The landlord wanted to sell the apartment (1 bedroom, with a carpark) in order to raise capital to buy a box in QV Melbourne. She offered it to me and given I needed to let in the valuers into the apartment, I had a fair idea of the value ascribed to the apartment. I wasn't earning big bucks at the time, though, and with a young family to support, I didn't want to take on what was at the time a big amount of debt to finance the purchase.

Idiot. Even accounting for the GFC, had I held onto it, it would have been worth a lot more than what I paid for it, and it is in an apartment block where there are very few apartments and they generally are tightly held. Could have made a decent whack of money.

 

[Gough]

I rented an apartment in inner city Melbourne. Literally in the CBD. This would have been 2003-5, I reckon. The landlord wanted to sell the apartment (1 bedroom, with a carpark) in order to raise capital to buy a box in QV Melbourne. She offered it to me and given I needed to let in the valuers into the apartment, I had a fair idea of the value ascribed to the apartment. I wasn't earning big bucks at the time, though, and with a young family to support, I didn't want to take on what was at the time a big amount of debt to finance the purchase.

Idiot. Even accounting for the GFC, had I held onto it, it would have been worth a lot more than what I paid for it, and it is in an apartment block where there are very few apartments and they generally are tightly held. Could have made a decent whack of money.

Property is always an easy one though. With hindsight instead of extending my adolescence well into my thirties I could have bought a house in the 90s like some of my more savvy contemporaries and made a pile on it. I still don't regret my choices though.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

That is one of the sickest things about the conditioning of the masses to view their home as as a financial asset: people are now basing one of the most important life decisions (where to live) on how much money they think is in it for them.

Dark days for our society now but better times ahead

 

[Gasometer]

I rented an apartment in inner city Melbourne. Literally in the CBD. This would have been 2003-5, I reckon. The landlord wanted to sell the apartment (1 bedroom, with a carpark) in order to raise capital to buy a box in QV Melbourne. She offered it to me and given I needed to let in the valuers into the apartment, I had a fair idea of the value ascribed to the apartment. I wasn't earning big bucks at the time, though, and with a young family to support, I didn't want to take on what was at the time a big amount of debt to finance the purchase.

Idiot. Even accounting for the GFC, had I held onto it, it would have been worth a lot more than what I paid for it, and it is in an apartment block where there are very few apartments and they generally are tightly held. Could have made a decent whack of money.

Always remember capital gains tax...it bit us on the arse hard once.

 

[Resistor]

I have read this previously, but would love some more ideas.

Should I travel and spend my money or save and be well off later?
Should I get a job that pays well or do my own thing and have a good lifestyle.

I've been thinking about it lately and I pretty sure when I finish my degree I'm doing to spend two weeks (or however long) on a beach and see what I actually want from my life. Thoughts would be very beneficial, thanks

 

[Scotland]

Should I travel and spend my money or save and be well off later?
Should I get a job that pays well or do my own thing and have a good lifestyle.

If you're standard uni age (ie graduating 21/22) then you have a lot of options in your 20s. You can take a gap year straight out of uni and travel, or work a non-career job, or focus on your professional origami career - whatever floats your boat. There is no right or wrong path, with the exception of choosing against something you have your heart set on.

I've got friends that have never really traveled and have been totally career focused, friends that have school aged children already, others that did a full year of travel straight after uni and have been in career mode since, others that did that and have traveled again since etc. Horses for courses. Personally I finished uni at 22, worked for 3 and a half years to set myself up, then took a leave of absence and went to Europe for half a year. I'm 30, have a house and have been overseas half a dozen or so times. That's not a bad 20s on reflection. It all depends what you're looking for, though.

 

[BALKAN]

That is one of the sickest things about the conditioning of the masses to view their home as as a financial asset: people are now basing one of the most important life decisions (where to live) on how much money they think is in it for them.

Dark days for our society now but better times ahead

Same with cars. People just want to know the approximate re-sale value in X number of years. I just don't know how people can be bothered with all that s**t. Just get a house or apartment and live in the bloody thing forever FFS

 

[radiojake]

having turned 31 yesterday, I now feel even more legitimised to post here..

just don't have anything new to add since my last one here..

 

[Scotland]

Same with cars. People just want to know the approximate re-sale value in X number of years. I just don't know how people can be bothered with all that s**t. Just get a house or apartment and live in the bloody thing forever FFS

Different schools of thought.

The house thing is just a bit sad. It's a zero sum game, so if your house appreciates you don't achieve anything until you sell it... at which point you buy another house which has appreciated in value. Cool. The best thing you can do with your house is pay the loan down so that it isn't a source of stress that governs all your life decisions. The only way people 'win' in real estate is by stockpiling houses they don't live in and speculating on price rises down the track.

The car thing is smart. Cars are a depreciating asset. However well you look after your 2015 Toyota Corolla, it's still going be worth half what you paid for it in a couple of years. If you pay $20k now, then $500 a year in services, $50 a week in petrol etc. then in 4 years time you'll be down $32k on something you can maybe sell for $10k. If you buy a Clubsport or something then you might drop $80k, spend more in services and running the thing and end up with something you can only sell for $30k. Cars should be viewed as an ongoing expense. If you can't afford to never see the money you spend on a car again then you're probably spending too much.

 

[Resistor]

That's not a bad 20s on reflection. It all depends what you're looking for, though.

Thank you for that! All good points and taken on board

 

[IschenkoUBeauty]

Wish I could have a healthy liver again. So I could trash it again.

 

[Dagless]

I have read this previously, but would love some more ideas.

Should I travel and spend my money or save and be well off later?
Should I get a job that pays well or do my own thing and have a good lifestyle.

I've been thinking about it lately and I pretty sure when I finish my degree I'm doing to spend two weeks (or however long) on a beach and see what I actually want from my life. Thoughts would be very beneficial, thanks

I just finished my Masters last year, spending the first half of this year building furniture then just bought airfares to spend the last four months of the year in SEAsia... When I get back, despite solidly working throughout uni, I won't have a dollar to my name after two previous extensive trips in Central Asia and Europe. Im pretty sure I won't ever regret a thing. Turning 26 this year (not old, but at a point where some maturity is expected from me I suppose...)

I'm sure you'll be fine with two weeks .

 

[PP34]

What do you old campaigners recommend someone just out of school does financially? Did you just spend your part time wages from week to week? Saving some? Or were you looking at investments early?

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

What do you old campaigners recommend someone just out of school does financially? Did you just spend your part time wages from week to week? Saving some? Or were you looking at investments early?

I grew up in a period where no employer would hire anybody at school or uni. So, no idea.
Helpful much?