8 Things Your 20s Are For

As a young adult, you’ll often hear about what your 20s are for. Yep, all the stuff you can and can’t do, should or shouldn’t do, you’ve likely heard it all. For me, I’ve listened to my older and often wiser loved ones and taken a few notes of tips for 20 somethings that completely make sense. I’ve collated them here in this post so you too can sift through the advice and find those that will help you live a better life now and in the future.

Remember, all advice isn’t bad advice.

As we take 2019 by the horns we’re building on our goal setting and taking action. To help you along your way, here are 8 things your 20s are for:

1. Investing

You’re never too young to invest your money in ways that will allow it to grow while you sleep. Earning money is typically hard work and keeping it is even harder sometimes. With countless marketing campaigns soliciting your hard earned funds away from you everyday. As inventive as companies are with means of attracting customers to buy the latest fad products young people should be equally vigilant about garnering and safeguarding money earned.

Investing doesn’t always mean trading stocks and bonds (although currently, it’s my favourite way of growing my money), you can also invest in your own business or idea. Whichever method suits you, start planning for the day you want to have enough money to take the vacation of your dreams.

2. Having Fun

Note to self: take your own advice. 

Do things that bring you joy. Take your friends a long. Do whatever floats your boat. I don’t have much to say here because I need to do more of this for myself. I’ll let you know when I start having more fun.

3. Learning and loving yourself

There’s no better time than the present to start learning and loving yourself. If you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ll notice that self care and self love are important to us over here on The Sunny Side. Many of us at some time in our lives feel insecure or inadequate and though that’s natural it’s important to know why that’s not true. At your core a strong sense of self and identity is crucial. Armed with it you’ll be able to handle peer pressure and make the right decisions for you. Likewise, when we learn and love ourselves we’ll be better able to maintain healthy relationships and in other cases identify unhealthy ones.

4. Learning new skills

Your 20s are a good time to learn period. Read for your degree but also explore your other interests. Do a course on a topic you’re interested in. It might lead to an opportunity you never thought you’d be a part of. Personally I wish I committed the time to my blog while I was still in college. I thought I was too busy back then and look at me now way busier with my day job and managing to find the time to learn about website design and building a community. Get started on your advancing your talents today.

5. Planning for your retirement

Like investing, it’s never too early to start planning for your future. Retirement may seem a distance away but it’ll be time before you know it. Start putting money away monthly towards it or even as much as you can. You can even set your retirement date now and work towards it like you would with any of your other goals. This way if you miss your target you won’t be too far off.

6. Managing your money

Personally I think a lesson or whole course should be taught to everyone on the fundamentals on money management. I think everyone has a right to at least know what possibilities are there for getting and keeping money. Let me know if you think I should write a short course on money management. Managing your money is going to make a lot of the other points on this list possible. To further your education you’ll need money, to book that trip you’ll need money and even to have fun you’ll need a little money. Essentially money comes in pretty handy in most situations and if you can manage it well, you’ll be on your way to knocking of one stress inducing factor off your list. For more money saving tips subscribe to my blog, I leave little gems in almost every post. You’re welcome!

7. Making regular doctor/dental appointments

Someone once said health is wealth and I couldn’t agree more. In our days of having fun and exploring the world it’s also extremely important that we love our body internally and externally. Get that yearly check up. Do all the age appropriate tests because as we say in Jamaica “prevention better than cure”. It simply means doing what you can to prevent an incident/issue is always better than trying to find a cure. I say get into the groove of taking care of yourself as a single adult and if/when you add children into the mix you’ll be a little more equipped to handle it all.

8. Travelling/ expanding your horizons

My mother always shared with me stories of her travels in her youth. She made it her mission to travel to a new island every time she got a chance. Though the ease of travel is not the same as it was in her time (Jamaicans need a visa to travel to most countries & ticket costs are beastly now) I still aspire to travel to as many Caribbean nations as possible.

Traveling is not only good for the relaxation it may provide but it’s an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in a culture besides your own. It’s new knowledge garnered that you wouldn’t have known unless you lived it and the memories are priceless! What places do you have on your travel bucket list?

Have a great week

Candi Nicole

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