Hi, I'm Tasha with One Big Happy Life on behalf of the Financial Diet, and this is the Lifestyle Fix.

In today's video I'm going to be talking to you about seven things you should learn before you turn 30. Number one: how to budget.

So, in your 20s when you're first starting out in college, your budget is really simple especially if you're living on campus and you have room and board provided to you. But then, once you legit start adulting and head on out into the real world and have your own place with all the bills and all the things you want to do with your money it quickly becomes apparent just how important it is to have a budget. And yet, still a lot of people resist having a budget because they feel like budgets are too restrictive.

But in reality, budgets show you just what your money is capable of doing for you, and when you have a budget you can decide in advance where you want your money to go. So, if you've been following the Lifestyle Fix for any period of time, you know that not only do I wholeheartedly believe in budgeting, but I recommend budgeting for an entire year at a time, and you can snag a free downloadable one-year spending plan that you can use over at onebighappylife.com/budget. Now, a lot of people ask me, "well, how can I budget for a whole year at once when I have an irregular income."

And so the first thing that I want to point out about that is you may have an irregular income, but I guarantee you, your bills are not irregular. Your rent is due on the first of the month, your electricity bill is due, say on the 25th of the month, every single month no matter how much money you have in the bank. And that's why a one-year spending plan is even more important for people have-- who have unusual incomes because then you can plan for when you're going to get that money so that you can move them into sinking funds for future expenses on those lean months.

Figuring out to budget your money and how to create a budget that you can stick to will benefit you in your 30s and beyond when you're looking to not only build wealth by saving for retirement, but also when you wanna do things like perhaps have kids or move to a different state for new job opportunities––all those that you'll want to do in your 30s, the things that you have to balance and juggle will be that much easier to manage in your 30s if you learn how to create a budget that you can stick to in your 20s.

Number 2: how to invest. 

So most of us don't learn much about money growing up and we certainly don't learn how to invest our money. But, thankfully, that's what the internet and channels like The Financial Diet and One Big Happy Life are for. 

When it comes to building long-term wealth, we all want to build long-term wealth because, at some point, we all want to retire and stop working. Investing your money will help you money grow faster. It's a way of making your money  work harder for you.

And, yes, there are different ways to invest your money. You could invest it in yourself, which many of us do when we take out student loans to go get a college degree. You can invest it in real estate. 

But one of the most common is investing your money in the stock market. And you can use any number of accounts to invest your money, both tax advantage accounts like 401ks and SEP IRAs and also taxable accounts.

But the important thing is that you learn how to invest your money. And there are even robo-apps now that can do the investing for you where you can just set it and forget it and it will run in the background helping you invest and build long-term wealth.

But regardless of what type of account you decide to use or whether you decide to go with a robo-adviser, do it yourself or pay a broker to do it for you, the most important thing is that you get  started with investing, you get comfortable with it, and you take the time to educate yourself

and to learn more about how investing works so that you can use your money to invest for your financial future. 

Number Three: Learn how to cook. Now, this would not be a lifestyle fix video if I did not tell you that you need to learn how to cook. Food is our third largest expense, after housing and transportation. So it can get out of control really fast, if youäre constantly eating out. So learning how to cook at home, learning how to cook foods that you absolutely love, that you can make really easily, will help you save so much money in the long run.  Also, learning how to cook meals just by throwing things together in the house, so that you don't feel like you always need to go out, go to the grocery store and cook this full-blown, huge ,meal, right you can cook something simple from the staples that you have around the house, that can also make it less likely that you'll want to go out and eat.  So, do yourself a favour an in your 20's take some time to make yourself a Pinterest boar, pin some meals, try our some different recipes, and put together your own digital binder of your cook - at - home favourites, because your wallet will thank you. 

Number Four: How to be Critical of the information that you receive. We live in a wonderful time where just about anyone can have a platform to talk about the things that they're passionate about, and to share their opinions with the world. But, not all sources of information are equally valid.  And, in your 20's that's a perfect time to learn how to question the information that uou are receiving. and that goes for whether it's information that you already agree with, and information that uou disagree with, right?  Because of course there's always information bias, we're more likely to think that things are valid, when they align with the things that we already believe.bu we always need to be in a position where we're questioning everything, 

becuase you never know when some new bit of information can change our whole world around. Like, remember when Pluto was a planet?

So, great minds can differ on the rights and wrongs of things, and not to mention, not all sources are valid. So there, right now, it's really easy to go out and hold yourself out as an expert just becuase you have some amount of lived experience with that particular thing.

For example, personal finance. There are a lot of people that, you know, yes, have learned how to budget for themselves and have learned how to pay off debt and invest for themselves, and so then they turn around and they teach those things to other people, which is great. But, they can only teach their lived experience.

So make sure that, as you're taking in information from people, that you gather information from a wide variety of sources, so that you can use those to cross-reference and come up with the best solution for you. 

Number 5: How to be Kind. So, I have both a todler and a teenager. And, if you know anything about kids, or humans in general, they say that our brains are not fully developed until we're 25. So, we aren't great at controlling our impulses until we're 25 years old. That's deep into our twenties.

So, your twenties is a perfect time to learn how to be the best possible version of yourself when you're out and about, and to show caring and compassion and kindness to people - both in person and on the internet. So, before you type a comment out, think really hard about if you would say the exact same thing in the exact same way to a person who is sitting right in front of you. Right, becuase we are all people here. And this is especiaally important as we see and we read about the impact that

social media is having on mental health overall, and especially on younger people.

And so, instead of seeing social media as an opportunity to run rampant and maybe let loose and be something other than you would be in real life, see it as a place where it's just an extension of yourself, your humanity, and the humanity of other people, so that we can always create this environment of inclusivity, of welcome, of kindness, and of mutual respect. 

Number 6: How to Pivot Your Life. Here's the thing, when you first start out in life, you think you're going to head in one direction, and it seems like a great idea, right? But all of this is based on theory. When you actually start living your life, that's where you really learn what you like and what you don't like.

And, I've talked before here on the lifestyle fix about the importance of making a change and feeling when you need to make a change and actually making that change. So, you don't have to stay on a path just becuase it's the path that you thought was right five years ago, or ten years ago when you were 15 or 18 deciding when you were going to go to college. Now you're an adult, you're in your life, you know what it's like, and it's okay to decide that you don't want this anymore.

I know I've done it repeatedly in my life. From getting divorced in my late twenties, to quitting my job as a lawyer to run my own business. Those were both pivots that I knew were right for me in my life based on what I wanted and my vision for my future. 

Now, of course I've learned how to pivot in a way that doesn't, that isn't to my detriment, right. I can make sure that I prepare financially, that I think through what it is that I'm about to do, then I make sure that I've adjusted my budget if this thing is going to affect my finances, which obviously getting divorced and quitting my job definitely affected my finances, but once you learn how to pivot

then it becomes easier to do it whenever you feel the need to do it, which honestly, it will happen in your thirties, in your forties, in your fifties. Things in your life are going to change, right. What you want from your life is going to change. So, your twneties is a great time to learn the steps that you need to take in order to make your life pivot in the right direction. 

And lastly, Number 7: How to Run Your Own Race. They say that comparison is the thief of joy, and that is absolutely true. I like to tell people: "keep your eyes on your own paper", right. You're on your own journey. This is your life. It's never gong to look like anyone else's life, and honestly, you don't want it to, right. So, just focus on where you want to go in your life, what feels good to you, what you want to look back on when you're old and you look back on your life, what do you want your life to look like? Becuase when you get caught up in what other people are doing, it causes you to do the wrong things for the wrong reasons. 

You only get one life, and so you want to make sure that you are living your best life. And the only way that you can do that is to focus in on yourself and what feels good to you, and what your dreams and goals and aspirations are, especially as they change as you get older. Becuase, if you focus on what other people are doing, you end up following their path and not the path that's best for you. 

So I hope you guys enjoyed these tips and can apply them to your life as you go through your twenties, by the time you hit your thirties. Thank you so much for watching, and be sure to tune in here next Friday for the very last episode of The Lifestyle Fix. I'll see you guys next week. Bye.