What 20 and 30 year old versions of me wouldn't believe if I told them

[Brett S.]

Staring down turning 40 in about a year.  Got nostalgic over the weekend and thought about what I would love to tell my 20 / 30 year old selves, but realized they wouldn't listen anyway....

What 20 won't believe

-You're going to spend a lot of money on dating but not date your future wife until after 30.  Talk about a bad investment!

-You won't get a Ferrari at 27 like you told your family you would but you'll get a Dodge Viper at 25.  Neither are financial decisions you want to brag about.

-You're going to find women over 30 sexy someday

-Remember all that work you did over 5.5 years to get three engineering bachelor degrees and a master's degree? 24 months after you finally graduate you'll start business school and never use them again. Tell your son to study finance and law so he can get the same job as you but start 5 years earlier with a higher salary.

-Despite your stock market investing and real estate, you really won't start figuring out money and having any sort of positive net worth until 33. Blame the girls, tuition, and cars.

-The booze? Totally fine. Drink more wine and trying reading about it because you'll make it at home someday.  If you're going to be a wine snob, at least be an educated wine snob. Or better, stick with being a friendly car snob vs a wine snob.

-Those foreigner students that you didn't stop your "friends" from hassling in college?  They're going to welcome you to their countries with open arms someday.  You'll feel like crap.

What 30 won't believe

-Your wife's ring will be the most valuable thing you (and not really *you* at that) own (vs the bank) until you pay off your first rental at 38.

-You won't retire at 35 with a Ferrari in the driveway, but at 37 you'll be able to lose your job and still have enough money to scrape by until you die of old age. You'll hit the original goal, but will take you until about 45. You'll regret the Viper and dating spending around this time.

-You'll get that promotion you've been dreaming of for years in your 30s. You'll think it was too late coming and it will be years before you get the perspective that it's still ahead of many of the other people at your level

-You'll finally learn to dress well when you're 36. You'll be in better shape (body-fat wise) at 39 than you ever were in your life. You'll be embarrassed that you didn't do both earlier, particularly when dating. You could have saved a lot of money!

-You'll finally learn to not let your obsession with success and money get in the way of health and family and learn to balance (albeit slowly).

-You're going to start valuing slow days and relaxation vs go-go days and the busy cities. But you'll still prefer to live in a huge city except during your commute.

-Even though you love cars and driving, you're not going to own a car (or even drive one on a consistent basis) from the age of 34 until sometime in your 40s.

-Children will stop being an unholy annoyance a become a beautiful thing to be celebrated; about six months after your son is born

-After visiting 20+ countries and moving to and living in your 4th country outside the USA, you'll realize people are people are people everywhere in the world.  Politics and religion are the only things that screw it up.  Money and corporations deserve more praise for peace in the world than all politicians and religious leaders combined - you'll see Americans working next to Russians and Muslims working next to Buddhists and Christians every day.  I'd tell you to tell that to all the hippies you meet, but they won't believe you anyway.