What I Wished I Started Doing in My 20s

Yesterday I went for a podcast interview by a brilliant young man, JJ Tham, where he asked me about my journey of amassing my first million as an investor and my advice about quitting our jobs to pursue our dreams. (Yes, I recently quit mine two months ago so I can live life on my own terms.)

During the interview, JJ asked an interesting question: "What's your advice to people in their 20s who are still studying at university?"

I replied: "On top of investing, they should start working and try out different career options as early as possible."

The reason I said this is because I regretted not doing them when I was in my early 20s.

I was just like most young adults, having fun and enjoying my life, traveling around different parts of the world during my university days. I had to thank my parents for taking such good care of me financially all along, so I didn't have to worry about money at all when I was studying.

But reflecting back, my university years were perhaps “pretty wasted”. 

I had no ambition, no desire to learn about other skills apart from just passing my exams, and no financial worries, which turned out to be a huge problem because I didn't need to work, not to mention needing to work hard at all, to take care of myself. 

I was sheltered, pampered, and that's why I had no growth.

Only as I grew older, and hopefully a little wiser, then I realized why certain people achieved success at a much younger age:

They started early. 

Did you know that Warren Buffett started working and selling chewing gum when he was only six years old? After his first chewing gum business, he then went on to sell Coca-Cola in his neighborhood with a 25% profit margin as a young kid. Then Warren Buffett bought his first stock at the age of 11. I guess I don't need to elaborate on the rest of his $130 billion dollar success story.

Because the reason why he is so successful is that while most kids were still having fun and probably fooling around, Warren Buffett was already working hard and willing to test out different career paths with his entrepreneurial spirit since young.

I know not everyone can be as wise as Warren Buffett to discern this from a young age. Although you might be way past your 20s already (I'm already in my 30s), I would still highly encourage you to start.

Because in life, there's no shortcut to success. We all need to start somewhere, just like I shared in my recent YouTube video about why I decided to quit my six-figure high-paying job.

I hope you find this sharing helpful and inspiring to start pursuing your own dream. And if you want to learn how to get started investing safely, even as a complete beginner, make sure to join my Free 2-hour Investing Masterclass happening tomorrow at 10am. I will be revealing my Arigato Investing system, endorsed by Buffett himself.

Have fun learning!

Chloe Lin
Arigato Investor