Things you wish you did when you were 18

mufcboy1999 · 02-05-2015 12:17am

My biggest regret, not joining the army when I had the chance as a teen.

In truth just basically just doing the opposite of the advice I was given on a lot of occasions, but then again mistakes are a great teacher all the same.

smurgen · 02-05-2015 6:26pm

Travel and exercise.women are just more vain when they're younger so there's a bigger emphasis on looks.i'm only 27 and already feel like I'm too busy for travelling right now plus trying to save funds for deposits etc so can't afford it.try inter-railing or a j1 if the funds will stretch.

Sleepy · 02-05-2015 6:45pm

Learn to save. Put 10% or more of every cheque you earn in a savings account and don't touch it. You can still have plenty of fun with the rest.

Honestly, if I had the chance again, I'd set up two accounts, one getting 20% of all earnings for holidays / travel / first car etc. The other getting 10% that I wouldn't touch.

That money represents your freedom. It's your "**** you" money. It means that if life isn't going your way, you don't have to keep sucking it up. It lets you quit a job/relationship where you're being treated like **** and **** off to the other side of the world, go back to college to try a different career path, etc.

Knowing that you have that freedom will make you more willing to take the risks that need to be taken to truly succeed in life and perversely in my experience, less likely to end up stuck in bad situations in the first place.

All going well, that money will make a hefty deposit if/when you want to buy a home or the start up capital should you want to start your own business.

Pawwed Rig · 02-05-2015 6:47pm

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Have you been? I'm seriously considering doing TEFL in Japan depending on my employment situation next year.

Yeah I spent 3 weeks there a few years ago. Amazing place. Massive though, spent 23 hours on a train at one point which was great actually.

syklops · 02-05-2015 6:57pm

Sleepy wrote: »

Learn to save. Put 10% or more of every cheque you earn in a savings account and don't touch it. You can still have plenty of fun with the rest.

Honestly, if I had the chance again, I'd set up two accounts, one getting 20% of all earnings for holidays / travel / first car etc. The other getting 10% that I wouldn't touch.

That money represents your freedom. It's your "**** you" money. It means that if life isn't going your way, you don't have to keep sucking it up. It lets you quit a job/relationship where you're being treated like **** and **** off to the other side of the world, go back to college to try a different career path, etc.

Knowing that you have that freedom will make you more willing to take the risks that need to be taken to truly succeed in life and perversely in my experience, less likely to end up stuck in bad situations in the first place.

All going well, that money will make a hefty deposit if/when you want to buy a home or the start up capital should you want to start your own business.

This is very good advice. Any saving for a rainy day I ever did, lasted me a rainy couple of days, but weren't substantial enough when winter arrived six weeks early, to stretch the analogy a bit.

bb1234567 · 03-05-2015 12:58am

Just do what makes you happy. If you don't like travelling or parties then don't do it, having a fun or enjoyable youth/life shouldn't be based on what others perceptions of an enjoyable or worth while few years are. For instance most people tell me to go out and meet new people and keep old friendships alive, but I genuinely don't like people. Im extremely introverted, I see no benefit to those things nor do I enjoy them . I spenda lot of time on my own and I enjoy every minute of it, many would say thats lonely or Im wasting my youth but Im not. Because Im enjoying it. Constantly being around friends or going to parties and travelling lots would be my idea of wasting my youth , as I don't enjoy them.

J Mysterio · 03-05-2015 1:23am

Trust your gut instinct with people. Some 'friends' are shallow and worthless, some acquaintances are worth getting to know better. Make an effort with the right people as it will pay you back.

Work on your manners.

Brush your teeth twice a day.

As another lad said - don't be afraid to talk to pretty girls (or ask them out) - dont undervalue yourself.

Also as another person said - dont just take a college course cos you have to take a college course. Try and figure out what you would like to do, if possible. If you can't, travel is always a great option in the interim.

Don't be afraid to do things on your own.

Love your family.

Respect your body.

Try to say yes to as many opportunities as possible (within reason).

Everything in moderation.

Learn to drive as soon as you can.

Travel.

Read.

Learn to cook properly.

Smile as much as possible.

Enjoy school/ college etc - live in the moment.

Try not to worry about the future.

Try to help others where possible.

Mister Vain · 03-05-2015 7:40am

bb1234567 wrote: »

Just do what makes you happy. If you don't like travelling or parties then don't do it, having a fun or enjoyable youth/life shouldn't be based on what others perceptions of an enjoyable or worth while few years are. For instance most people tell me to go out and meet new people and keep old friendships alive, but I genuinely don't like people. Im extremely introverted, I see no benefit to those things nor do I enjoy them . I spenda lot of time on my own and I enjoy every minute of it, many would say thats lonely or Im wasting my youth but Im not. Because Im enjoying it. Constantly being around friends or going to parties and travelling lots would be my idea of wasting my youth , as I don't enjoy them.

That's actually very good advice. When you're in your late teens/early 20's, there is a lot of peer pressure to go out and get pissed. It's not for everyone though and if you're not a part of it you may be considered boring, or as you say, wasting your youth. It's the main reason why I emigrated as I felt I just didn't fit in here.

Skullface McGubbin · 03-05-2015 5:03pm

A lot of things I suppose. For example, growing my hair longer. Of course, back then I didn't think I would start going bald in my early 20's.

astonaidan · 04-05-2015 12:40am

Honestly things I wish I did when I was 18
.Wish I had taken my education a lot more serious, would be a way for me to travel easier, right now doing casual jobs with crazy hours just to make it a reality
.Wish I hadnt been such a pansy with girls, no harm getting turned down took me probably 8 years to realise this and have never been doing better

.Wish I had started working out, everyone should try take care of their body
.Wish I had started playing rugby earlier, just because your good at something doesnt mean its what you will enjoy the most

aaaaaaaahhhhhh · 04-05-2015 5:27pm

Don't grow older with regrets, never have that "I wish I tried that" thought in a few years when its too late.
If you get an impulsive idea(that's legal of course), go out and do it.

I had a job when I was 18(after finishing leaving cert),
Decided to do acting when I was 25, went to the US and done courses, extras in movies etc,
Went back to college at 29 cos I wanted a qualification,
Changed careers at 33,

Am 37 now and have no regrets coz I tried it all.

Knex* · 05-05-2015 4:03pm

Sleepy wrote: »

Learn to save. Put 10% or more of every cheque you earn in a savings account and don't touch it. You can still have plenty of fun with the rest.

Honestly, if I had the chance again, I'd set up two accounts, one getting 20% of all earnings for holidays / travel / first car etc. The other getting 10% that I wouldn't touch.

That money represents your freedom. It's your "**** you" money. It means that if life isn't going your way, you don't have to keep sucking it up. It lets you quit a job/relationship where you're being treated like **** and **** off to the other side of the world, go back to college to try a different career path, etc.

Knowing that you have that freedom will make you more willing to take the risks that need to be taken to truly succeed in life and perversely in my experience, less likely to end up stuck in bad situations in the first place.

All going well, that money will make a hefty deposit if/when you want to buy a home or the start up capital should you want to start your own business.

Gonna get on this right away. I'm 24 and have put off doing it for far too long now.

Sleepy · 05-05-2015 4:05pm

Knex. wrote: »

Gonna get on this right away. I'm 24 and have put off doing it for far too long now.

I only wish I did when I was your age. Good luck with it!

_Whimsical_ · 05-05-2015 4:08pm

I would say do what you want and what feels right for you, don't turn anything down on the basis of what other people might think. Life rolls on, you forget who the hell those people even were after a short few years.

metrosity · 05-05-2015 7:41pm

Knex. wrote: »

Gonna get on this right away. I'm 24 and have put off doing it for far too long now.

Since we're on the topic of materialistic things to do when you're 18, this is bad advice imo. You don't see boatloads of Chinese graduates arrive in Dublin every week so they can save 10% of their money made in Starbucks.

They spend their money on education, well not education as such more spending on usurping you out of yours.

You buy jobs in this country. You don't even have to have a relevant degree, just do a postgraduate in an industry that has jobs - accounting, comp sci. Work hard for a year and get a job. It could be a 10,000 euro splash out but it's the industrial usurper connection you're buying. I've met Asians that have done this and have not 1 but 2 jobs in big IT companies in Ireland and are milking it!

These companies have no loyalty to anyone based on nationality.

My point is simple - 10% of what??

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.

If we're on the subject of materialism, spend your money on education so you don't have be concerned about working in a crap job that you certainly don't deserve..

You and your parents taxes - should be your reward.

ancapailldorcha · 05-05-2015 7:44pm

Sleepy wrote: »

I only wish I did when I was your age. Good luck with it!

I was coasting by on a minimum wage job a year and a bit ago. I had a conversation with a friend who'd saved about £5,000 in 18 months. Needless to say I immediately set up a direct debit. It'll be a long time before I can even think about getting a car or a house but it's nice to have some sort of savings account.

I'm from rural Donegal and left for good when I was 22. I think I was the only man my age who couldn't drive. Not looking forward to that at all.

bb1234567 · 05-05-2015 10:06pm

metrosity wrote: »

Since we're on the topic of materialistic things to do when you're 18, this is bad advice imo. You don't see boatloads of Chinese graduates arrive in Dublin every week so they can save 10% of their money made in Starbucks.

They spend their money on education, well not education as such more spending on usurping you out of yours.

You buy jobs in this country. You don't even have to have a relevant degree, just do a postgraduate in an industry that has jobs - accounting, comp sci. Work hard for a year and get a job. It could be a 10,000 euro splash out but it's the industrial usurper connection you're buying. I've met Asians that have done this and have not 1 but 2 jobs in big IT companies in Ireland and are milking it!

These companies have no loyalty to anyone based on nationality.

My point is simple - 10% of what??

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.

If we're on the subject of materialism, spend your money on education so you don't have be concerned about working in a crap job that you certainly don't deserve..

You and your parents taxes - should be your reward.

This is really good advice.

jetsonx · 05-05-2015 10:32pm

A lot of people saying take a year out after college.

I disagree...take a year out before college. (The CAO system allows you to defer your place in college for a year and get a loan
for the year if you have to)

Going form the stress pot years of the LC to relative freedom of college life can be a big jump.

A year traveling is the perfect anti-dote.

What is more; after your year's travels, you'll return being the most interesting and sensible fresher in college.

bb1234567 · 05-05-2015 10:43pm

jetsonx wrote: »

A lot of people saying take a year out after college.

I disagree...take a year out before college. (The CAO system allows you to defer your place in college for a year and get a loan
for the year if you have to)

Going form the stress pot years of the LC to relative freedom of college life can be a big jump.

A year traveling is the perfect anti-dote.

What is more; after your year's travels, you'll return being the most interesting and sensible fresher in college.

I said this to my parents but they didn't listen. I pretty much listed all the advantages of taking a pre year out before college but they were having none of it. Their only reason was 'nobody does that'. So yeh in college now. My course is awful its more work than the leaving cert. Freedom me hoop

jetsonx · 05-05-2015 11:03pm

bb1234567 wrote: »

I said this to my parents but they didn't listen. I pretty much listed all the advantages of taking a pre year out before college but they were having none of it. Their only reason was 'nobody does that'. So yeh in college now. My course is awful its more work than the leaving cert. Freedom me hoop

Well the workplace today is a very different place to the workplace which your parents entered it.

The best innovators, the best thinkers, the best entrepreneurs have all gone against convention. When people zig they zag.

For most professions today, where computers can do almost everything independence of thought is becoming a prized commodity.

Great organisations don't want sheep working for them. As the great philospher Hector once said "let yourself go"

(tell your parents that...and no zig and zag jokes btw)

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.

Things you wish you did when you were 18

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