What is the best investment in your youth?

What is the best investment in your youth?

Because I was early on influenced by the ideas of “start financial management early” and “financial management is important,” I have been paying attention to financial management since I started working. I read many beginner courses, was recommended various financial products. Daily bookkeeping, charts of necessary and unnecessary expenses, and so on, I spent a lot of time and effort to understand those tedious details.

Eventually, I realized that for young people just entering society with not high income, spending a lot of time (and more effort) on financial management only yields a small amount of extra money each year, money that can’t even buy a decent set of clothes.

Financial experts around me would comfort me by saying, “Every little bit helps,” starting with small amounts, managing money is always better than not managing. Cutting down on “unnecessary expenses,” being frugal, is always good.

Just after starting work, some young people try to save money by thinking rent is an unnecessary expense, renting a place far from the company, with daily commutes exceeding 3 hours. Working overtime, changing cars, and the hassle of commuting leave them exhausted by the time they get home, with no entertainment or self-improvement time. Due to the remote location, the cost of socializing is high, and social interactions are rare. Years pass, and while rent might be saved, there is little improvement in ability, and it seems they are still doing routine work without seeing a clear future.

But have you ever thought about what would happen if you rented a place closer to the company, spent money to buy time, and invested that time into work and learning that can bring you value? You might not save much money, but you are actually using the cheapest price to buy the most valuable thing — your personal growth. Human fluid intelligence peaks around age 25, when reading speed, comprehension, and other learning abilities are at their best in life. And if you’re still single at that time, even better — no household chores to distract you, so you can focus entirely on self-enhancement.

Besides rent, many people try to earn more by taking on part-time jobs unrelated to self-improvement. It seems like earning money, but in reality, they are just exchanging their precious time for cheap money.

For example, when I changed jobs for the second time, I could go to a company with serious overtime, earning about 1,000 yuan more per month than a more relaxed company.

I chose that small company because saving that 1,000 yuan meant a lot to me. I used my evenings to learn other things, go to the gym, read, and practice English.

Thanks to having extra time in the evenings and on weekends to recharge myself, I laid a solid foundation for my future career development. In just four years, my salary kept doubling, and now that I started my own business, the management and product books I read back then are starting to show their benefits.

If you know your abilities still have great potential for growth, and your expectations for yourself are not limited to your current level, then in a situation where you can save a lot of room for growth while earning roughly the same salary, do you really think that extra 1,000 yuan is a gain?

Recently, I was chatting with a friend about women’s post-marriage childbirth and the effort involved in raising children, and balancing career. She told me her grandmother’s story, which left a deep impression.

Her grandmother had five children, a family with a regular salary, not very wealthy. Many women like her chose to stay at home full-time to raise children. Her grandfather said, “My salary can support a few of you, so you should stay home and look after the kids.” But she used most of her salary to hire a nanny to look after the children while she continued working normally.

People around her said she was foolish: “You’re basically working for the nanny for a month, all your hard-earned money is spent on the nanny, why bother?” She just said, “It’s better to have a job, no matter how much I earn.”

So, she paid the nanny, worked, and every evening, she would go home to self-study English. From an ordinary worker, she became a factory manager, plant director, and bureau chief. Her five children also developed very well.

Many of her older sisters now say when they talk about her, “Wow, she’s so smart. She only paid for a nanny back then, and now she’s a bureau chief.”

Although not everyone has the ability to achieve such results, and not everyone wants to succeed in their career, it’s undeniable that unless you feel you have no more room for effort and your time isn’t valuable, spending money to buy time in youth might be the most worthwhile investment. Because when you get older, your time will be more valuable than others’, and when you pay back that time, it will be ten, a hundred, or even thousands of times more.

As for how to balance time and money, that depends on your own judgment.

Earlier this year, I visited a company that was not very large but had already achieved some success. I saw many coins scattered on an empty desk and said, “This kid has a lot of money, pick some up.”

The founder glanced and said, “Forget it, the cleaning lady will come and take them away.” I joked, “Every penny counts, every little bit helps.”

The founder replied, “Time is too.” **$OM **$MAS **$MEW **