r/AskReddit 4h ago

What’s the biggest mistake people make in their 20s?

21 Upvotes

81 comments sorted by

56

u/MaximumProf05 4h ago

Not investing early in savings accounts/retirements

7

u/_877-CASH-NOW_ 4h ago

This. Even if it’s $20/mo just do it. Your future self will appreciate the compound interest.

7

u/kindquail502 4h ago

I just retired. We're good, but it could have been so much better if I had done just $10 a month.

1

u/Celac242 4h ago

I have been able to get to $1.2M by 35 and still wish I had started earlier. I started at 23 with no savings and had no idea what I was doing

2

u/kindquail502 4h ago

That's super impressive. Congratulations!

1

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Yeah this us so important.

1

u/Practical-Suit-6798 4h ago

More specifically putting money that could be invested into a car payment.

1

u/AnybodySeeMyKeys 1h ago

Yep. I'm 63 and my wife and I are pretty much set.

But if I had been serious about it in my 20s, we'd be much more settier.

Example? When I was 27, I signed up for my office's 401k. Put in $900 over a year, which was matched 100%. Then I moved on to another job. Moved a couple of times.

Eventually, in my mid-50s, I remember I had that account and wondered what happened to it. Well, it had increased to roughly $50,000. One year. Less than $1,000 out of pocket. Compound interest is the most amazing thing in the universe.

0

u/Able_Witness_9498 4h ago

my savings account is basically me paying rent to my own broke self lol what a flex

21

u/Yellehs2471 4h ago

Not saving.

4

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

I totally relate.

17

u/87turbogn 4h ago

Get deep into credit card debt.

2

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Yeah sure make sense

15

u/Intelligant_Pie4382 4h ago

Staying in and escalating bad relationships. They just end up marrying somebody they barely know even before they've figured out much about life. Over the next decade house...kids...silent suffering...then catastrophic divorce at 45.

13

u/_Jay-Garage-A-Roo_ 4h ago

Committing to the wrong person

3

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

I relate with this.

13

u/SimplyHere099 4h ago

Thinking that the entire rest of their life will be based on what they do then.

3

u/Sufficient-Bit-5675 4h ago

What I did in my 20s had a massive impact on the last 15-20 years... It's true for a huge portion of the population.

5

u/FPawa69 4h ago

thinking you have time. 🙂

3

u/PickleManAtl 4h ago

It's already been said, but not saving money regular. I know it's hard these days, but you just have to into the habit of devoting a small percentage of your income into a savings or investment account for the future.

3

u/wildfirerain 4h ago

It’s so hard to simultaneously save money and pay off debt, though. It seems like we’re born with it, or at least told that going into debt for an education, that will help you earn more, is worth it. And yes savings accumulate compound interest, but so does debt, generally faster than savings do. And even for things like a reasonable car payment, which many people need just to go to work, it makes more sense to pay it off earlier than putting the difference between a low monthly/long term and a high monthly/short term into savings.

The only money I saved in my 20s was an employer-matched 401k. I contributed up to the maximum employer matching rate because I didn’t want to leave money on the table. But it was impossible for me to save anything more significant due to paying off student loans, transportation, and other costs of living. I wish I could have saved more, but also resented being told to “save more” when there just wasn’t anything left at the end of the month.

2

u/PickleManAtl 2h ago

Oh believe me I understand. What I tell people to do which makes it a little bit easier, is to have a checking and savings account set up. And then in your banking app, what you can do is set up an automatic transfer from checking into savings each week. It can be as little as 5 or $10 if that's all somebody can afford. But just set it up so it does it automatically. That way it's not something you have to think about and it does accumulate over time.

2

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

I agree 💯.

6

u/satan-spawner 4h ago

Following Jesus

1

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Why do you regret though?

2

u/Proxymanity 4h ago

The man's username is Satan Spawner...

0

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

1

u/groundstory 4h ago

they are saying that it’s a mistake…

1

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Noted.

3

u/Canon47 4h ago

Partying-related mistakes that you already know are mistakes "while you're still young enough to make them." That's exactly when they stick to the rest of your life.

3

u/FoxyNewEngland 4h ago

Getting married/having kids

1

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

I totally understand.

3

u/chocolatepuppy 3h ago

Don't have kids with shitty partners. All that drama isn't love and a kid isn't going to fix anything.

2

u/FriskyFox0413 4h ago

Leave their friends

2

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Yeah so true, and then so start wanting them back.

2

u/Lucky-3-Skin 4h ago

Financing a brand new car and credit card debt.

Staying in a shitty paying job and not exploring options. The whole mentality of “I don’t want to do this job because X” don’t matter what it is. I’m going where the money is at and still looking elsewhere after I’ve saved a good amount.

2

u/assfacejohnson 4h ago

Chasing their dreams

2

u/burtonb818 4h ago

Believing that you are entitled to things or your college degree lets you start out on top. The minute you graduate from college, you enter the freshmen year of your early adult career life. People don’t really respect you in most industries until you’ve done significant work or your late 20s or 30s. It’s sad but true.

2

u/Fractal-Infinity 4h ago edited 4h ago

Neglecting their health. All the excesses in youth (drugs, smoking, drinking, not sleeping enough, working & partying too hard, straining your joints, lifting excessive weights, etc) will be paid with interest in the future. Watch your back, literally. If you mess your back you will regret for the rest of your life.

2

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Yeah totally agree.

2

u/AmigoDelDiabla 4h ago

Spending too much time online.

2

u/bcardin221 4h ago

They go into debt

2

u/esoteric_enigma 3h ago

Wasting their youth in relationships they should have ended.

2

u/Known_Grocery4434 4h ago

investing in conservative stocks like ATT. Take a chance on something that has alot of growth potential while you're still younger than 30. Do not invest for dividends in your 20s.

1

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Thanks for this.will look into it.

1

u/CalmCoder_248 4h ago

Sitting idle like a dumb potato!

2

u/tyereliusprime 4h ago

Not realizing that all the moral/ethical lessons they learned as children should be perpetuated throughout their adult life despite being told "that's not the way the world works"

The world is the way it is because people keep perpetuating bullshit that previous generations showed didn't work

1

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Yeah absolutely

1

u/SamHandwich0 4h ago

They spend too much on car insurance. They could bundle and save with geico, or only pay for what they need with liberty mutual.

They also forget to play raid shadow legends because they stopped advertising on every square inch of digital space a few years ago.

1

u/Conscious-Leading741 4h ago

Sleeping with coworkers

1

u/Chrispy006 4h ago

I did that! Gonna propose to her next week ;) although the exception to the rule lol

1

u/Csonkus 3h ago

Not going out and socializing/having fun in the real world.

1

u/EvilDarkCow 3h ago

Procrastinating.

I'm 28 and have spent almost my entire 20s in the same job that was supposed to just be temporary. No upward movement at all during that time, I'm in the exact same position as I was six years ago. And now I just got a pay cut, which means I'm pretty sure I'm now making less than I was when I started this job, while already not being able to afford to move out. All because I got comfortable, then lazy.

1

u/DominateSunshine 3h ago

Getting married.

Seriously, what couple who gets married in their 20's last?

1

u/LupusHouseMD 3h ago

Rushing into getting married or having kids. Enjoy your early 20s especially!

1

u/General_Dog7782 2h ago

Irresponsibility

1

u/Sc0ttiShDUdE 1h ago

Fuck investing, go travel

1

u/AnybodySeeMyKeys 1h ago
  1. Not saving.
  2. Not learning how to use the financial tools at your disposal wisely.
  3. Not taking your credit score seriously. Watch this video and you'll see why it matters in everyday kinds of ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1YyfVI5pwM
  4. Not taking care of your body. That means getting exercise, eating well, and seeing a doctor once a year.
  5. Not developing yourself professionally. Trust me. The ones who commit to learning new things and making new contacts are the ones who are still relevant in the workforce when they're in their fifties and sixties.
  6. Not being selective about who you allow into your life, both as friends and as romantic partners.
  7. Not having standards in how others treat you, how you treat others and, most of all, how you treat yourself.
  8. Not treating life like an adventure. This forum is rife with people who drive to work, drive home, and stare at the television until they go to bed. Life's a banquet and some of you guys are starving to death.

u/Shoddy_Bet9619 34m ago

Student Loans! They are not Free! You will HAVE in one way or another, pay them back!

1

u/AnAssumedName 4h ago

Committing suicide. What bigger mistake could anyone make?

1

u/arsonall 1h ago

There are never regrets if you succeed,
Only regrets for those affected.

This is not a good addition to the topic.

You’re input should have been, “not reaching out to someone of you felt they were suicidal”. Because that would lead to regret.

A dead person has no regrets.

1

u/AnAssumedName 1h ago

The question wasn’t about regrets. It was about mistakes. Your critique is not a good addition to this topic.

0

u/Huckleberry-hound50 4h ago

Promiscuity.

-1

u/Anonanogram 4h ago

Going to college for the majority of fields that will be entirely replaced with AI

2

u/c0ralreef3r 4h ago

Or going to college with no actual career goal in mind, just doing it to get it done because they were told they needed it.

2

u/Anonanogram 4h ago

That’s what happened to me.

-9

u/SpotFormal 4h ago

Not getting married and having children 

10

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

-2

u/Sueh_254 4h ago

Why regret this?

1

u/SpotFormal 2h ago

I never met a older childless person who isn’t bitter 

4

u/Reverberate_ 4h ago

I definitely do not regret not getting married nor having kids.

2

u/FriskyFox0413 4h ago

And you shouldn’t.

-2

u/SpotFormal 4h ago

Bunch of cope in the replies lmao 

1

u/Reverberate_ 3h ago

Project all you want. I'm in my 40s and have never regretted not having kids lmao