3 Things 18-Year-Olds Should Do To Help Their Finances, According to Steve Chen
Written by
Terence Loose
Edited by
Jenna Klaverweiden
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Eighteen-year-olds aren’t exactly known for making smart money choices. But personal finance coach Steve Chen wants to change that. Chen, who has 1.8 million followers on Instagram, founded his personal wealth coaching site Call to Leap to help guide others, especially young adults, to financial success.
Recently, he posted a video on Instagram with advice for 18-year-olds, covering the top three things they should do today to become wealthy tomorrow. He also included the No. 1 mistake he sees holding them back from success.
Get a Credit Card and Use It Responsibly
Getting your first credit card can be exciting and liberating. And it can be a great credit-building tool. It can also be a slippery slope that leads to financial debt or, worse, exactly the opposite of building wealth.
For new credit card holders, CNBC suggests a good rule to follow is to use it like a debit card, never charging more than you can pay off at the end of the billing cycle. This takes discipline, but it also means you won’t be charged expensive interest — which makes everything you buy that much more expensive — and will still benefit from any rewards.
“With consistent and mindful use, you’ll build credit, which will help you make larger purchases in the future, like a house or car,” Chen wrote.
Develop a Few High-Demand Skills People Will Pay You For
Following your passion is nice, but if no one wants to pay you for it, then it’s officially just a hobby, not a wealth-building career. Chen listed his picks for current high-demand skills: sales, marketing, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and tutoring. Interestingly, three of those — sales, analysis and AI — also made Indeed’s recent list of 20 in-demand skills.
You might think tutoring is an odd choice, but it happens to be where Chen began — first in-person and then online. In fact, you could call his current coaching of investing, money management and wealth-building tutoring.
His main point is if your goal is to become independently wealthy, you’ll need a practical, marketable, in-demand skill to base your business model on.
Read Books and Study Successful People
If your goal is to play in the NBA, you’d watch tape of LeBron James or Kobe Bryant. If it’s to become an actor, you’d watch Denzel Washington or Robert DeNiro and read Konstantin Stanislavski and Sanford Meisner. So if your goal is to get rich, it’s only natural that you’d “read books and study successful people to learn their experiences and strategies,” Chen said.
And fortunately, in another Instagram video, he suggested a few to start with.
- “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth” by T. Harv Eker
- “Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones” by James Clear
- “Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook” by Tony Robbins
- “The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life” by JL Collins
- “The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy” by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
The No. 1 Financial Mistake Young People Make
And finally, in his Instagram post, Chen revealed the biggest blunder young people make when it comes to getting rich: believing everything they see online. Specifically, being blind to the fact that many people go into debt just to look rich. All show, no dough, if you will.
“Trust me,” Chen said, “people are rarely as wealthy as they appear online.” That can make you feel defeated in your own career.
In fact, according to UC Davis Health, use of social media often leads to FOMO (fear of missing out) in teens and young adults, increasing anxiety and dissatisfaction with their own day-to-day lives. Basically, they are watching a “highlight reel” of other’s lives, which makes their own life seem dull. This can kill the energy and drive you’ll need to succeed.
So instead of watching someone else’s past, focus on moving forward with your own future.
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