The 5 things I would tell my young and stupid self

I am now almost the same alarmingly old age as my father when he had me. And while I cannot, in all confidence, say that I am wiser with age, here's one thing I know for sure: I can look at my current situation squarely in the eye and, like a person about to die, see how my past decisions have given birth to most of the things that I worry about now. 

I want to quit smoking and wonder why I even started the habit after college. I look at friends who are earning passive income from real estate and ask myself why I never had the same foresight. I hear news about people who started their careers after I did and how they have launched a book or collaborated with a famous person, and I know for a fact – arrogantly, perhaps – that they never had and still don't have real talent, that their only skill is networking and sweet-talking people into doing things for them. 

I have no regrets – it is what it is. But if I could go back in time and change my decisions, these are the things I would be telling my younger and stupid self. 

1. Save money.

I wish someone had told me to always save 20% of my salary. It would have been impossible. I was earning so little and had to pay rent and eat out every day since I was living on my own. I only really, truly, started saving a few years ago once I could afford it (how funny is it to say, "I can't even afford to save money.") but if I had the same amount of money I now have in my bank 25 years ago, I could have used that to invest in something then and earn income from it now. The trick to saving, dear younger self, is to forget that you even have the money. Ask the bank to take the money away from you the moment you get paid for your salary and you won't even miss it.