About to turn 30. Any advice?

geeovana

Not long until I turn 30 and recently got the fantastic news that we are expecting our first baby. Really excited.

What advice would you 'life experienced' people give your 30 year old self if you could do it all over again?

Alexland

Congratulations,

Try to own a suitable property with an affordable mortgage and fix into low interest rates while they are still available.

Pay enough into your workplace pension to get maximum employer matching and also avoid paying higher rate tax or suffering child benefit clawback (if applicable).

Join your local NCT group. Start investing in mainstream S&S funds for the child's future. Get lots of sleep in before the baby is born and get a nappy on it before it does its first massive green poo all over you.

Alex

Nasqueron

I guess start a S&S ISA earlier, when I was 30 FTSE was around 5900-6000 so I could have been at a point worth selling where the money was a lot up after 5 years and even while the market is down now, it would still be higher than back then.

I'd remind myself too of the benefits of avoiding having kids as well, the last 7 years since 30, have been fantastic for not having a child and long will it continue

MisterMotivated

Buy the £100 of Bitcoin I considered having a punt on, when they were worth about £0.00003 each.

justme111

Go to bed earlier .

Lomcevak

geeovana wrote: »

Not long until I turn 30 and recently got the fantastic news that we are expecting our first baby. Really excited.

Congratulations

What advice would you 'life experienced' people give your 30 year old self if you could do it all over again?

Took me a couple of years past 30 to figure these out, but a few serious ones from me:

- Learn to budget, and don't beat yourself up if you go off-budget, life happens. But if you go off-budget, fix it next month, don't let it snowball.

- Don't go in to debt to buy stuff. A mortgage is necessary, but save for everything else (including cars). Saving helps you figure out if you really want it, too. Use a credit card, but pay it off in full each month. Always.

- Avoid lifestyle inflation. In your late-20s/early-30s you may not have a ton of spare cash (especially with a baby) but if you keep your outgoings constant as your salary goes up, you'll start to find yourself with a lot of spare cash. Especially if you...

- ...Invest in your career. Even harder with a baby, but look at a long-term career plan and what you need to get there. Consider changes if there isn't a route forward from where you are right now. I tripled my salary in my 30s from some careful choices and a lot of hard work, and (combined with avoiding lifestyle inflation) that makes an immense difference to your financial well-being once you hit your 40s.

System

geeovana wrote: »

Not long until I turn 30 and recently got the fantastic news that we are expecting our first baby. Really excited.

What advice would you 'life experienced' people give your 30 year old self if you could do it all over again?

Google Financial Independence Retire Early, or FIRE UK. Learn about it, the lessons from it, apply to life even if you have no intention of wanting to achieve FIRE . Mr Money Mustache is a popular US blogger but the lessons contained within apply to the UK too. There are several UK blogs for FIRE too.

In short be debt free, , don't waste money buying crap you don't need, don't buy what you can't afford and therefore not giving the shaft to your future self, no - car payments are not OK, invest your spare money and put some of it in a pension so you're not retiring broke.

Mr_Costcutter

geeovana wrote: »

Not long until I turn 30 and recently got the fantastic news that we are expecting our first baby. Really excited.

What advice would you 'life experienced' people give your 30 year old self if you could do it all over again?

Congratulations - hope all goes well for you.

I would say to make the most of the 'spare time' you have available at present. When baby arrives it will be ''all systems go''
Additionally, make sure all your financial affairs are up to date by the time of arrival - this won't be a priority when baby arrives.

McKneff

Go to bed later....:rotfl:

geeovana

Thanks for all the advice. Cleary as this is MSE and I posted in the Savings & Investments section, the majority of the replies are how to ensure there is wealth later on in life.


Is there any advice you would give to yourself aside from financial advice?


Interesting that there are a few mentions of investing in your career (which as a result will require an increase in time spent working). How much time did you spend with your families when they where young and would you have spent more time with them if you could have?

MaxiRobriguez

Presumably the time spent working was directly proportional to the amount people liked their partner and child.