Financial Advice From 40something to 20something

Several writers have already called out the article “If You Have Savings In Your 20s, You’re Doing Something Wrong” from Elite Daily for offering really stupid financial advice to young people. Since I like to pile on, I’m going to add my own criticisms.

 

The writer’s main point seems to be that your 20s are a time for running around and having fun, not saving for the future. I’m not a total killjoy and I do agree that people should have fun while they can. But advising someone that they are wrong to save any money in their 20s is just asinine. True, I wasn’t able to save during most of my 20s. I didn’t make much money and lived in that tiny apartment and spent what little I had on going out. Many people are in the same boat but if people can save, they should be encouraged to do so.

 

Let me just quote some choice lines from her in italics with my responses following.

 

I don’t have any savings, but I also don’t have any wants. No? How about money if an emergency arises, like you sprain your wrist opening the door of the Uber car while carrying takeout from Seamless on your way to meet your friends for drinks and shopping?

I don’t know about you, but I like to enjoy my life. I like to go out to eat, buy clothes I don’t “need” and spend money with friends on memorable nights out. This goes back to a piece of advice a very successful friend gave me: “Don’t save money. Make more money,” he nonchalantly stated, pushing me into a taxi. Whoever your friend is, he is a wise man. Yes, living paycheck to paycheck and is the recipe for stability.

(Parents) want us to save because it provides us with a safety net, but that’s exactly why we shouldn’t. Their need for us to have a safety net is just a giant metaphor for the difference between our parent’s generation and ours. It sounds like she’s rebelling against not only her parents but also against common sense.

We’re taking our time growing up, refusing to be shackled by mortgages and diapers. When you do “grow up,” you’ll acquire the wisdom to know that mortgages and diapers are the necessary evils that lead to houses and kids, which many people actually regard as positives. Fiscal responsibility is freedom.

 

When you’re too worried about your bank statement, you’re not making your own. When you’re saving for yourself, you’re refusing to bet on yourself. VOMIT. Not only is this really, really dumb advice, but it’s phrased with as much substance as a Successories motivational poster.

 

People who are saving in their 20s are people who don’t set their sights high. They’ve already dropped out of the game and settled for the minor leagues. It’s actually the exact opposite. I can’t believe this writer doesn’t understand that those who are smart enough and lucky enough to have a savings in their 20s are actually planning ahead and have their sights set on something greater than running around “making a statement” or whatever (read: booze and drugs).

When you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain. This is probably what the homeless tell themselves.

When you live your life by numbers, you strip yourself of poetry. PROJECTILE VOMIT. I’m a poet and yet somehow, I still have to live in the world of numbers, of retirement savings and amortization and mortgage refinancing. And you know what? I finally got the big house with a pool and have a 401k and I still get to write poetry.

 

What memorable experience does money in the bank give you? This has to be satire. Is this woman so dimwitted she actually doesn’t understand that, as Homer Simpson learned, “Money can be exchanged for goods and services”? Since she asked, here’s a short list of the experiences money can buy: Vacations, having family and friends celebrate your wedding, hosting parties at your house, dinners out, seeing your favorite artist in concert, the experience of not going broke if your car needs repairs, having nice things, tickets to cultural events, etc.

When you die, you can’t take your money with you. Yes, we’re all aware. But while you’re alive, having a savings account with more than $0 may come in handy.

 

When you care about your 401k, your life is just “k.” Got it.

When you’re 40, you’re not going to look back on your 20s and be grateful for the few thousand you saved. You’re going to be full of regret. You’ll regret the experiences you didn’t take, the people you didn’t meet and the fun you didn’t have because you were too worried about a future that came and went. At 41, I’m grateful that I was able to save a little bit of money and always had a little in the bank for emergencies. I scraped by in my 20s and didn’t live in a palace but I never overdrafted and just laughed it off on my way to meet up with my friends. Please try to understand: Financial responsibility is not a regret; it’s a goal.

The problem with this article, and I hate to sound like an old person, is that she thinks at 20, she can see the future and she just can’t. How can someone in her 20s suppose to know how a 40-year-old would feel? Why not just ask an actual 40-year-old who has actually had some life experience?