Things you wish you did when you were 18

ancapailldorcha · 06-05-2015 8:04am

metrosity wrote: »

Get skilled up. Help close down these parasites and claim what's rightfully yours - paid for with your and your parents taxes over generations so that corporation taxes could be low. Did you or your parents pay for for the grand usurp? I don't think so.

Turn down the derogatory language please.

Sleepy · 06-05-2015 11:57am

metrosity wrote: »

Since we're on the topic of materialistic things to do when you're 18, this is bad advice imo.

One of the things I said the savings could be used for was to pay for education and at no point did I mention spending the savings on material things...

My point is simple - 10% of what??

10% of EVERYTHING you earn. Whether it's the part-time job you have to fund your drinking in college or the entry level job you get upon graduating.

Yes, education is worth investing in. You have to be pretty damn lucky to make a good living without one but even those of us with postgraduate qualifications struggle if we haven't built up some savings before having kids.

I gave the advice based on my own experience. I availed of the fact our country offers a very cheap third level education, I worked multiple jobs throughout my time in college, I got an entry level job and turned it into a decent one and because I never saved when I was free and single, I've struggled financially since having a family. Had I followed my own advice as a younger man, that wouldn't have happened to anything near the same extent.

I couldn't make any sense out of the rest of your bilious dribbling.

metrosity · 06-05-2015 9:09pm

Sleepy wrote: »

One of the things I said the savings could be used for was to pay for education and at no point did I mention spending the savings on material things.....

I though it was implied. Fair enough

Sleepy wrote: »

10% of EVERYTHING you earn. Whether it's the part-time job you have to fund your drinking in college or the entry level job you get upon graduating.

Fair enough, but 10% of not much is more or less nothing.

carpe diem

Latin. seize the day; enjoy the present, as opposed to placing all hope in the future.

& by extension, don't let the day seize you as happens to many of us all too often as we get older.

"When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity." John Fitzgerald Kennedy

eviltwin · 06-05-2015 9:12pm

Studied more

Put more thought into my CAO choices

Kept in touch with old friends

Appreciated my dad more

Didn't worry so much about what people thought of me

sweetie · 06-05-2015 10:09pm

eviltwin wrote:

Put more thought into my CAO choices

This. Back in my day the career guidance teacher was useless. All guys were told to go for engineering, girls to teaching. I was 15/16 making my career choice for rest if my life! My Daughter won't be making same mistake!

ancapailldorcha · 07-05-2015 8:25am

sweetie wrote: »

This. Back in my day the career guidance teacher was useless. All guys were told to go for engineering, girls to teaching. I was 15/16 making my career choice for rest if my life! My Daughter won't be making same mistake!

Ours was obsessed with sending as many of us as possible off to Liverpool.

kaloshma · 08-05-2015 10:44am

*Learn a french or german
*Fitness
*Definately work on your "ladies" skills

Sleepy · 08-05-2015 12:05pm

metrosity wrote: »

Fair enough, but 10% of not much is more or less nothing.

10% of not much, builds up over time. Take the below example of a 16 year old who starts saving €50 a month out of his part-time job, increases that to €100 as he turns 18 and can work more hours/get better pay and ups that to €200 on landing his first job after graduation at 22.

I've estimated the interest here at 3% per annum and only included it on the previous year's savings:

Age | Monthly Savings |Capital at EOY| Interest | Total

16 | 50 | 600 | | 600
17 | 50 | 1,200 | 18 | 1,218
18 | 100 | 2,418 | 37 | 2,455
19 | 100 | 3,655 | 74 | 3,728
20 | 100 | 4,928 | 112 | 5,040
21 | 100 | 6,240 | 151 | 6,391
22 | 200 | 8,791 | 192 | 8,983
23 | 200 | 11,383 | 269 | 11,652
24 | 200 | 14,052 | 350 | 14,402
25 | 200 | 16,802 | 432 | 17,234
26 | 200 | 19,634 | 517 | 20,151
27 | 200 | 22,551 | 605 | 23,156
28 | 200 | 25,556 | 695 | 26,250
29 | 200 | 28,650 | 788 | 29,438
30 | 200 | 31,838 | 883 | 32,721

That's over €32k saved off a low savings base. A fine deposit for a house, the cost of returning to college for a couple of years, or quite a few years worth of backpacker travel if that's your thing.

What counts most in savings is the length of time you save for. The person who only starts saving at 22 when they get their first "career" job, is six and a half grand behind the person who starts at 16. If, like me, you leave it until your mid thirties, you're unlikely to ever catch up.

Even if the person in the above example never increases their savings beyond 50 a month, they'd have 11k or so at the age of 30, not an insignificant sum.

Blacktie. · 08-05-2015 2:56pm

Sleepy wrote: »

I've estimated the interest here at 3% per annum and only included it on the previous year's savings:

3% interest!? Where do you net 3% interest!?

Sleepy · 08-05-2015 3:09pm

Well, fair enough, interest rates are at an all time low at the moment but I could have easily enough gotten 5% in a long notice / regular savings account when I was younger. RaboBank are currently offering about 1.7% and imo, interest rates are going to climb over the next decade. Obviously, once your savings reached a certain level you could start investing it etc. I just took 3% as a reasonably achievable annual rate of return over a 15 year timeline. TBH, my post wasn't intended to be a demonstration of the power of compound interest, more as to how small amounts accumulate over time.

Take out the interest component and my argument still stands: 27,600 isn't a small sum of money either.

bb1234567 · 08-05-2015 6:27pm

kaloshma wrote: »

*Learn a french or german
*Fitness
*Definately work on your "ladies" skills

In 2015 learning Spanish, Chinese , Arabic or even Portuguese would be a lot more useful due to europes projected population decline and reduced world influence and the increased power and influence of countries like China, And middle eastern nd south american countries

Roquentin · 08-05-2015 6:37pm

travel and find yourself and then decide to what to do in college. really sort of introspect your soul and determine what job you really want.

enjoy the journey as well. the journey is the destination

read kerouacs on the road

strobe · 08-05-2015 6:56pm

You're 18, so I'm presuming have no real responsibilities or dependants. Don't take this for granted. You are as free right now as you ever will be. It won't last forever. More than likely you also have the most disposable time now then you ever will again. Do not take that for granted either. Go out and try things. Even things that you think may very well end in spectacular and catastrophic failure. Right now, and for a very finite period, you have the absolute luxury of repeatedly failing spectacularly and catastrophically, and the time to keep doing so while mounting up the odd occasional and memorable and extraordinarily important successes. Do not take it for granted. It doesn't last forever. Use it.

Roquentin · 08-05-2015 9:13pm

You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success - or are they holding you back?

W. Clement Stone

Streak101 · 09-05-2015 7:18am

Don't be afraid to fail, it's a great way to learn.
Stick your hand up for new opportunities, if you don't know how to do something figure it out along the way.
Have confidence and courage, more importantly have the confidence and courage to say 'no' and stick to your beliefs and integrity.

cson · 09-05-2015 5:17pm

Simple phrase for me that I wish I'd stuck religiously to from 18; You win or you learn.

bb1234567 · 09-05-2015 5:24pm

strobe wrote: »

You're 18, so I'm presuming have no real responsibilities or dependants. Don't take this for granted. You are as free right now as you ever will be. It won't last forever. More than likely you also have the most disposable time now then you ever will again. Do not take that for granted either. Go out and try things. Even things that you think may very well end I'm spectacular and catastrophic failure. Right now, and for a very finite period, yoy have the absolute luxury of failing spectacularly and catastrophically, and the time to keep doing so while mounting up the odd occasional and memorable and extraordinarily important successes. Do not take it for granted. It doesn't last forever. Use it.

Most 18 year olds have no free time due to studying
Well for me when I was in 6th year anyway my mum and dad certainly had more free time than me

j80ezgvc3p92xu · 10-05-2015 11:55pm

Lucky Leprechaun wrote: »

Hello, I’m a fairly new poster I’m quite foreign to the forum so forgive my ignorance. I wasn't entirely sure where to post this. I’m eighteen years old…male. I’m in my final year of secondary school, the leaving cert is a little over a month away and I’m in the phases of entering into adulthood.

I very much so have a lack of direction in life…I’m not really sure where I’m heading or what exactly what I want to do. I was wondering if you were 18 again, what things did you do/ wish you did that would benefit you now?

For example: Study, Learn an instrument, or learn a language. What advice would you give someone starting off in life?

What lessons and morals have you learned?

Thank you,
A.

You are already showing you are ahead of your peers by acknowledging you do not know everything and asking your elders for advise. Such a trait is commendable.

The first thing you ought to realise is that at your age, everybody is immature, impressionable and naive. This is not a criticism of you, it is just something that comes with the age. This applied to me more so than to anyone else.

I see that a lot of people have told you to "live life to the full" by drinking it away with the lads and bedding girls. I would highly advise against that. A girl your age is just as young, just as immature and probably more insecure (again, not a criticism of you just an inevitability) than you. You have to remember that she is a fellow human being, to be loved and respected. She is not there (to borrow a Peter Griffin phrase) for you "to douse with your adolescent seed". Fornication rots the soul. Courtship is a phrase that is just not used enough nowadays.

I would also advise you to read widely, on all subjects, only non-fiction. Think of your mind as a castle you are building. If you fill your mind with crap, well then your castle will also be crap. If you read on topics such as history and philosophy your castle will have strong foundations. Find topics that genuinely grab your interest. It will all be worth it in a few years when you open your gob and without realising it leave your audience in awe of the depth and breadth of your knowledge.

Take care of your soul above other things. Your body will wither away (that does not give you a license to be a couch potato though), your memory may fail you but your soul is immortal. Be kind to people. Treat them well. Put others' interests above your own. Respect your parents and do not annoy them on purpose. Love your country and do not forget where you came from. If your a prayin' man, do not forget your faith.

On a side note one of the biggest regrets I have from that period is not joining the army. It was full swing recession and there was a freeze in recruitment so I just left it. I just feel that the experience would have somehow made me a better man. Who knows.

Good Luck I wish you well!:)

11-05-2015 12:12am

Pedro Handsome Metronome wrote: »

I would also advise you to read widely, on all subjects, only non-fiction.

Do read widely.

But also read wisely, which means including fiction. There's a huge amount of knowledge and wisdom in literature.

HalloweenJack · 11-05-2015 11:53am

Didn't worry so much about the future and had more fun.

metrosity · 15-05-2015 7:05pm

bb1234567 wrote: »

In 2015 learning Spanish, Chinese , Arabic or even Portuguese would be a lot more useful due to europes projected population decline and reduced world influence and the increased power and influence of countries like China, And middle eastern nd south american countries

Yep, I'd go so far as to say that whatever you're learning in a public school in Ireland is almost certain to be the exact opposite of what will actually benefit you in any way.

Did you learn Excel in school? In the real business word it's the equivalent to being able to use a calculator these days?

Get some money and pay for a leg-up in academia. Get ahead of the people that are coming here in droves (coming with a belief that the locals are tenants to be evicted..again). They actually think that, and they'd be right to as far as I can see.

Get ahead or prepare to queue behind these people. That's how it is here now unfortunately. I know the looks I get from people who come here, especially from the far east - that look of sympathy that seems to say

"This is not your country tenant. I'm here for the win - to race to the bottom lower than you can go and emerge at the top ahead of you, every time!"

grey_area · 16-05-2015 1:43am

My advice would be not to get too hung up about the advice in this thread. Its too easy to hung up on trying to 'get ahead' and missing out on whats really important.

There is a speech by Tim Minchin that I think is really really great. Its at the following link.

youtube.com/watch?v=NyBvbot3emM

Justin1982 · 16-05-2015 1:03pm

When I was 18 I was studying for my leaving cert. I discovered at the start of 6th year that I needed more than 500 points in my leaving cert to get the course I wanted to do. So I absolutely studied my ass off as the few years before that since I started in secondary school I had basically just had a laugh and did the minimum amount of work. Sitting in that back room studying was definitely the best year of my life. I just learned so many amazing things. I had a bit of Craic in school as well but that year studying in that room with the nice view out onto the country side was special. Anyway I got the course I wanted and graduated at 24. Then I let loose on all the finer things in life. That's basically just women and drinking and having the Craic. Doesn't matter how you live your life or enjoy it. But take your opportunities when you get them. Don't be shy and pussy out. You want that car and you can afford it then buy it. If some bird offers you a ride and you really wantit then do it (but wear a condom). You want a holiday then do it if you can afford it. Just do it and regret it but don't pussy out on doing it and regret it. Soon enough you will be dead or dying or thirty and you'll regret all the times you pussied out a lot more than the mistakes you made when you choose to do something that want such a good idea at the time or even more. And don't take morals to seriously or you'll pussy out on everything.

fiachr_a · 16-05-2015 3:31pm

Lucky Leprechaun wrote: »

Learn an instrument

If you mean a musical instrument then 18 is too late. Really need to start ten years younger to get any good.

Schwiiing · 17-05-2015 12:42am

fiachr_a wrote: »

If you mean a musical instrument then 18 is too late. Really need to start ten years younger to get any good.

Nonsense.

Ol' Donie · 17-05-2015 12:54am

fiachr_a wrote: »

If you mean a musical instrument then 18 is too late. Really need to start ten years younger to get any good.

Ha! This is absurd.

17-05-2015 12:58am

I think 18 year old me would love today me. I probably would not change much about him. He was just pathetic and useless enough to motivate me to be the me today. As much as I hate him - and how - I owe him a lot.

Ol' Donie · 17-05-2015 1:03am

If I had to advise my 18 year old self on anything, it would be simply back yourself. If you put enough effort into something, you will quite likely succeed. If it's a huge task, start small. If you don't succeed, you will learn from it, and be better next time.

But don't refuse to do things in case you fail. If it's important to you, you'll have to do it again anyway, and learn those lessons later.

Things you wish you did when you were 18

Comments