Kelly Simpson* says that when she asked the Spaceship community about their financial regrets, there were some common themes.
Regrets. It’s human nature to look back and think, “What if?”
The stock we didn’t buy. The credit card we signed up for. The car that cost more to fix than to buy in the first place.
Regrets can be helpful.
They can help us better understand what’s really important to us.
Other people’s regrets can help stop us from experiencing the same things.
In our Spaceship Real Money Talks series, we ask our community, “If you could start again, what would you do differently? What advice would you give your younger self?”
We’ve received lots of different answers – but here are some common themes.
(Spaceship doesn’t necessarily agree or disagree with what each person has said.
Everyone’s financial situation is different, and as always, it’s important to take your own situation into account before deciding to make any changes.)
- Maximise your super, earlier
Super’s compulsory for many Australians – and there are different ways to maximise it, depending on your age.
Once people see their money working for them, they can regret not getting started earlier.
“I would have liked to start adding 10 per cent salary sacrificing to my super on first arriving in Australia and adding say 1 per cent more a year since,” said one person.
Salary sacrificing is a way you can send money to your super fund before it even hits your account.
It’s like sending it straight to your future self.
“Set my superannuation to high growth at an early age instead of learning about it when I was in my 30’s,” said someone else.
When it comes to super, the option you choose matters.
Younger people have more time to weather market fluctuations.
High growth funds – which can be riskier – can be a smart financial choice in the right circumstances.
- Invest in property, sooner
In the year 2000, if you had $312,000 lying round, you could afford the average house in Sydney.
It makes sense that many people regret not buying in sooner.
“I would’ve put the money I had saved when I was 21 down as a deposit for an investment property.
“It hurts to think how much that property could’ve been worth now with the way the market jumped up,” said one person.
“Invest in property so much sooner!” said another.
- Adopt good habits and begin automation
Automation is a way you can put your finances on autopilot.
Some people use a bucket system and automatically funnel their money into lots of different accounts to achieve their financial goals.
Automation can be game changing.
“Automate your finances! Set up seperate accounts for Savings, Bills, Expenses and Fun, and transfer money into each of these as soon as you get paid.
“It’s far too easy to overspend when everything is in the same account,” one person would tell their former self.
In a similar way, habits can be tricky to form and tricky to break – so adopting good money habits is crucial, and a regret for many people.
“I also wish I started building better money habits earlier and developing skills like coding a lot earlier,” said one person.
- Make different investment choices
There’s not a lot you can do about a stock regret.
When it comes to investing, nobody has a crystal ball, but it’s fun to think “What if?”
“Stop day trading, you’re not good at it. Chuck regular money in a blue chip stock,” one person would tell their younger self.
Another regrets not trusting their gut and missing the Afterpay rocket:
“I should have bought Afterpay when it was only $3 (per share). Back then I had $10,000.
“I didn’t want to risk it by buying Afterpay even though my gut told me to buy it because of its potential.
“I spent it on a car instead.”
Afterpay and Square have recently come to terms in what’s been called ‘the biggest M&A deal in Aussie history.’
- Trust yourself, not your influences
Meme stock FOMO. Friends buying houses.
It can be hard to stay the course when so many different people are making so many different money decisions.
Some people regret not trusting their gut more.
“I would say stick to what you’re doing. Do not get influenced by others,” said one person.
“Don’t listen to super broad advice. Trust your gut, particularly on shares,” said another.
“I would also tell myself to listen to less speculation and be more informed about my investment decisions,” said a third person.
“There is nothing wrong with mates with a different opinion/lifestyle/circumstances, but when it comes to finance, get your example from the people with the financial situation that you want for yourself,” said somebody else.
- But listen to others, and get help sooner
Nobody’s born knowing which stocks to pick, or how a market works, or how to tackle their debt.
Asking for help is an option that some of our community regret not taking.
“I probably would look for some help with finances sooner,” said one person.
“I would get help for my mental health earlier! Don’t be ashamed to as often one can have a weird complex about getting help,” said somebody else.
“Listen to other people’s advice, and go slowly with investments,” a third person advised their younger self.
- Read more – a lot more
We’ve never had so much information available to us, and it’s never been so easy to start investing.
Spaceship believes in empowering young people to make good financial decisions.
Education makes a difference.
“Gosh, arm yourself with knowledge, read everything no matter what the subject matter, right or wrong you can learn something from everything,” one person would tell their former self.
“I’d read money and investing books when I was younger to educate myself and start investing sooner,” said another.
You can start amping up your financial knowledge right now by visiting our Spaceship Learn blog.
Out and about? Consider adding a financial podcast or two to your rotation.
- Earn an income earlier
As soon as you get a source of income, you have an opportunity to save and, invest Some people regret not taking the opportunity sooner.
“I would definitely get a job earlier like in year 10,” said one person.
“I would start working way before I actually did.
I would start investing early as well,” said another.
“I would train into a career earlier in order to take advantage of the earlier income earning potential,” said a third person.
- Have a plan (and use the plan)
A plan helps you know where you’re going.
If you have a plan, you know what you’re aiming for, and how you’re intending to get there.
Learning how to plan can be tricky. Learning how important it is can come later in life.
“Start investing in Spaceship from week one of earning money and put an investment plan in place rather than random one-off investments.
“Take use of dollar-cost averaging,” one person would tell their younger self.
“Have a plan and get advice. No silly debt. Take care of your money,” said a second.
For a third, it was about acting on that plan: “Plan, plan, plan but then make sure that you act on those plans.
“As they say ‘actions speak louder than words,” they said.
- Save and invest earlier, and more regularly
Overwhelmingly, people most regret not acting sooner.
“100 per cent start investing earlier and put away a portion of my pay, even just $5 to save for when I need to start ‘adulting’,” one person would tell their former self.
Another would’ve started in their early twenties.
“I would have liked to start saving and investing earlier. Some people start in their early twenties but I suspect that it is with parental support.
“That wasn’t possible for me. I was on my own financially, and had next to no discretionary income at that stage,” they said.
“I would have started earlier… Start now. Yesterday would have been better, but today is the next best time.
Educate yourself on financial literacy, it will change your life, literally,” said a third person.
Over to you
Ultimately there are two types of regrets: the things that we didn’t do, and the things that we did.
Is there anything you’ve been meaning to add, or remove, from your financial life?
*Kelly Simpson is a contributor at Spaceship.
This article first appeared at spaceship.com.au.
