“Youth is wasted on the young.”
When I was younger, I thought that saying was just something old people said because old people apparently enjoyed reminding everybody that they used to be young too.
Now I'm almost 55 and I get it. I really, really get it.
Because there is something about getting older that changes the way you look at your younger years. You start realizing that the things you thought were unlimited actually had expiration dates.
Energy, time, physical ability, and, perhaps most importantly, opportunity. When you're young, you don't realize how valuable that is because you have so much of it.
You Think Your Body Will Always Work Like That
One of the biggest things you don't appreciate when you're young is your physical body. When you're 20, you can stay up all night and go to work the next morning. You can eat a super-sized combo at 2 AM and somehow wake up fine. You can play basketball, football, or run around with your friends and your biggest concern is if you can get in enough games before the sun goes down.
Then you get older and suddenly your body starts sending you customer-service emails.
You sleep wrong and your neck hurts. You sit too long and your back hurts. You bend over to pick something up and have to negotiate with your knees before standing back up. You can injure yourself simply by existing.
Nobody really tells young people that your body is an asset. At least they didn't when I was growing up. And you don't appreciate an asset until it starts depreciating.
That's why taking care of yourself when you're young matters. Exercise. Eat better. Get enough sleep (can't stress that enough).
Don't treat your body like it's a rental car.
Then There's Money
The financial part might be even more important. When you're young, retirement sounds like something that happens to people who are 138 years old. You get your first real paycheck and your brain immediately starts calculating what you can buy.
New car. New clothes. New gadgets. Trips. Restaurants. Entertainment. Whatever makes life more enjoyable right now.
And there's nothing wrong with enjoying your money.
The problem is failing to understand that your money could be working while you're living your life. That's the part I wish more young people understood. That's the part that I wish that I understood sooner than 30 years old.
If you're 25, you don't necessarily need to make a fortune. You just need to understand time.
Because $10,000 invested at 25 and left alone for decades has an entirely different opportunity to grow than $10,000 invested at 50.
That's the magic of compound growth. You aren't just making money on your original money. Eventually, you're making money on the money your money already made.
Young People Think They Have Time
That's a whole trap.
- I'll do it later.
- I'll start saving later.
- I'll invest later.
- I'll exercise later.
- I'll travel later.
- I'll spend more time with my family later.
- I'll start that business later.
- I'll pursue that dream later.
"Later" is one of the most expensive words in the English language. Because eventually, later becomes now.
And then you look around and realize that 20 years disappeared. Not 20 days. Not 20 months. Twenty years.
Where did they go? That's the part nobody can adequately explain when you're young. You think you're moving through life one day at a time when you're actually moving through it one year at a time.
And those years don't ask permission before leaving.
The Advantage Young People Have Isn't Money
This is what I want people in their 20s to know: Your biggest advantage isn't your salary. It's time.
You may not have much money yet. That's understandable because you're starting out. But you have something incredibly valuable that somebody approaching 55 can't buy. You have decades!
- You can make mistakes and recover.
- You can change careers.
- You can start investing.
- You can start exercising.
- You can learn another skill.
- You can start a business.
- You can travel.
- You can build relationships.
- You can fail.
And then try again.
Older people don't necessarily have more wisdom because we're just smarter. Sometimes we have wisdom because we've had more opportunities to screw things up and learn from them.
Youth Is Wasted Because Young People Don't Know What They Have.
That's really what the saying means. Young people aren't stupid. They simply don't have the perspective that comes with time.
When you're 20, 55 seems ancient.
When you're 55, 20 doesn't seem that long ago.
That's the strange trick life plays on you.
You spend the first half of your life trying desperately to become an adult. Then you spend the second half wondering where your youth went.
Nobody wins.
Well, Father Time does. He's undefeated.
If I Could Give My Younger Self One Piece of Advice
I wouldn't tell my younger self to stop having fun. I'd actually tell him to have more fun.
But I'd tell him to understand the value of the future while enjoying the present.
Put money away. Invest. Take care of your body. Don't waste years trying to impress people who won't matter 20 years later. Spend time with people you love. Learn something. Take some risks.
Don't assume you have forever. Because you don't. None of us do.
And that's not meant to be depressing. It's meant to be liberating.
The Real Problem Isn't Being Young
The real problem is being young and believing you'll always be young. That's the mistake.
At 25, you think 55 is far away.
At 35, you think you've still got plenty of time.
At 45, you suddenly start doing math you probably should have started doing 20 years earlier.
Then one day you're standing there thinking: “How did I get here so fast?”
That's when the saying finally makes sense.
Youth really is wasted on the young.
Not because young people don't deserve it. It's because young people haven't lived long enough to understand just how valuable youth actually is.
