125. The 5 Money Lessons I Wish I Knew at 18

Graduation season has me reflecting—especially on the financial lessons I wish someone had handed me as a fresh-faced 18-year-old. This minisode is packed with the five money truths I’d go back and tell myself (and now, my graduating nephew!) if I could.

In this heartfelt episode, I share:

• The sneaky lie behind “emergency” credit cards
• Why budgeting is actually the path to freedom
• How generosity grows your soul and your wealth
• The one money move that could make any 18-year-old a millionaire
• A loving challenge for all of us to align with our future selves

Whether you're a new grad or guiding one, this episode will leave you inspired to skip the common mistakes and start strong.

🎓 Know someone graduating? Share this episode with them.
 💬 What do you wish you knew about money at 18? Let me know!

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Transcript

Laura: 0:00

Hey accelerators, I am rerecording this short-ish podcast because my audio quality originally was terrible. I was just in mom mode and completely forgot to plug in my microphone, which makes the audio sound a whole lot better and keeps me from fading in and out. So. My apologies. I really wish that I could have given you the very first iteration of this, because I did cry. So accelerators, somehow, and I'm not entirely sure how this happened exactly, but somehow enough time has gone by that my nephew is graduating from high school. Now he's the first little guy that I actually liked. You may be shocked to hear this, but growing up I never wanted to have children. And now look at me. I have five. But he's, he's the little dude that I hung out with when I was in college and enough time has gone by. Shockingly that he is now graduating from high school and not only graduating from high school, but this little dude is so smart that he used his time in high school to also get an associate's degree He did dual enrollment classes, and I could not be more proud on many different levels. So excited, cannot believe how well educated that he is and that he was smart enough to think, Hey, I'm going to take my time and make it serve a dual purpose. It's amazing. And now he's graduating from high school and he is already got his first two years of college under his belt, done away with. Now if at any point in time he chooses to go to a four year university in order to get whatever specialization he would like, it's gonna be two years of his time for that four year degree. Amazing. And kudos to my brother Jacob, who was smart enough to make sure that his son did something like this to help facilitate that for him and save them both a whole lot of money and a whole lot of time. I thought I'd go ahead and do this quick little podcast for the graduates out there and the parents of the graduate and share with you the biggest money mistake I. Or mistakes that I made after high school. And then I wanna give you a couple quick tips to share with the graduates in your life that hopefully will help them as well. So the biggest mistake I made after high school financially anyway, other than going to college in the first place, to get a degree that I didn't need and knew I would never use because I thought I was supposed to. One of the biggest money mistakes that I made was that I got talked into getting a credit card for emergencies. I already had way too many student loans. I was already out over my skis and way over my head in the financial loan department, and then there was this gentleman on campus just handing out credit cards. It was really easy to get. All I had to do was sign a piece of paper and he gave me a free pizza on top of it, and then it was on my way. It was the easiest transaction I think I've ever done, and a couple of days later, my emergency credit card showed up in the mail. Now it was only for emergencies. I would only use it for emergencies like flying home at Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving was completely unexpected. Who knew Thanksgiving was gonna happen in November?'cause I apparently had no idea. And then my emergency credit card started being used for things like buying dresses, for going out with my friends because there was a cute boy and I didn't want him to see me in the same old thing he'd seen me in before. So I had to get a new dress. It was an emergency. I. I very quickly maxed out that card and then had to get another one because, well, I needed it for emergencies. You see, the best thing I could have done in that instance was fund my emergencies. I could have had an emergency fund. I could have planned ahead. I could have thought about what I was going to do with that money before I did anything. Yes, I had a job and I wasted that money on, I don't even know what, probably more dresses, probably more going out. I was a very social butterfly at my time. Probably could have been better spent getting a different job, sticking with a job, doing more acting, staying in la, doing that kind of work as opposed to. Let's be honest. Going to college for a degree, I knew I was never going to use. I had fun though. I had a good time and I learned a lot about myself and and about other people. I didn't have to be in college to get the benefits that I got at that time in my life. It is okay though because I learned a lot and I hope that no matter what happens in your life that you learn from every mistake that you grow, from every heartache, from every setback becomes a step up for you. My prayer for you. My college graduate, is that you would go out into the world and that you start whatever it is you're going to do as a grownup. I want you to know that wisdom doesn't come from age, but it comes from experience, and you can borrow my experience so that you don't make these same mistakes. I wanna pass on a little bit of wisdom that I learned from the financial world, and I hope that you can use this to help you out on your journey. So here are five quick tips about money that I wish I knew at 18. The first one is that a budget equals freedom. As much as people like to say, no, that's restrictive. It's not. It gives you permission to spend your money freely, openly, and on whatever it is you choose because you tell your budget what to do before it tells you what you've already agreed to. The second debt equals delayed dreams. Your dreams deferred. It's just gonna make you heartsick. So don't go into debt. Don't pay for your past decisions, fund your future. Number three, spend less than you earn. This is something that should be common sense, but it's not at all common. If you make$20 an hour, don't spend more than 19. I love the idea of tip number four. Generosity will change you. If you're not a generous person, you're going to become miserly. It's an ugly trait, but if you can be generous and you can have an open hand around your money and around your time and around your treasure and around your talents, if you have an open hand, it changes you into a beautiful soul. The more you give away, the more you receive, your abundance will grow, and so will you. Tip number five, start now. Whoever you wanna be, decide to date and then become that person. Align yourself with your future self. Align your actions today with your future self and start saving now. If you would start saving a hundred dollars a month in a Roth IRA from now until age 35, and then you never save another dime until you retire, you will retire a millionaire. To Chase and to all the other graduates out there, the world is your oyster. You get to shuck it however you want. Hopefully there will be a pearl inside, but sometimes it's just a lot of snot. It's probably the ugliest analogy I've ever made, but I love it, so I'm gonna stick with it. I would love for you if you were listening in this and you're not a graduate, but you know a graduate that you would share this with someone that is graduating right now and maybe they're gonna learn something from this, or maybe they're gonna hear me and it's gonna go in one ear and out the other, but in 10 years and 20 years they'll think back on it and they'll be ready to hear these lessons. If you don't know a graduate and you're just listening because you wanted to hear what my life lessons were, I'd love for you to reflect on what you would've told your 18-year-old self, and then go ahead and decide who you want to be in the future and align yourselves and your actions with that person. Become in integrity with the person you want to become. Then do what you have to do to become that person every day. If this was helpful to you, please share this episode with somebody that you love. I'm thinking about you accelerators, and you graduates go out into the world and make a difference.