For some reason I have friends of all ages. Between my younger brothers, my gym, my work, and my family, I keep in touch with a range of people from 8 years old up until 65. The beauty of hanging out with generations of friends is that you have a lot to learn. Over the years, I’ve managed to learn plenty from my older friends when it comes to financial success.

Many of us are completely lost sometimes when it comes to personal finance, yet we have all the information about money management available to us within a few clicks. We have a lot to learn from older friends when it comes to saving money.

What are financial success tips that I picked up from older friends?

Follow the “pay yourself first” mentality.

This is by far the most common piece of financial advice. You can’t have your fun and then worry about saving money. You first need to build the habit of saving money. Once you save your money and reach your goals, you can then squeeze fun into your life.

I’m a huge supporter of having fun and traveling the world. The reason that I’m able to have so much fun is that I pay myself first. I ensure that my savings goals are met before I spend my money. If you don’t pay yourself first, you’ll never save money according to those that are much wiser than I am.

Live below your means.

There’s nothing more powerful than living below your means. This advice is as simple as saying that you can lose weight by burning more calories than you put in. The problem is that there are people in their 20s that just spend more than they have coming in. This caused major problems. This is what leads to credit card debt and financial disaster.

If you don’t want to be broke by your 30s, I suggest that you learn about living below your means.

Avoid external influences.

There will always be a reason for why you should spend money. Every time you go online, walk into a mall, or pretty much leave your home, an opportunity will come your way to spend money. While it’s impossible to avoid all influences, you’re bound to be affected by some of the advertising around you. The key is to reduce these influences. If you can’t hold your urge to splurge, then don’t walk into the mall when you’re bored. If you’re hungry don’t go shopping for food because you’re going to spend much more money.

The point here is that you need to be conscious of external influences that are causing you to spend money. You don’t want to be stuck worrying about where your pay check went.

You have to make advertisers work for your money.

This ties into the previous point. You shouldn’t be so quick to hand your money over. Is your bank screwing you over? Ditch them if they are. Is your cell phone bill too high? Switch providers. Advertisers and big companies should have to work hard for your money. You work hard for your money. Nobody should have easy access to your wallet. Especially not the bar down the street.

At the end of the day we have a lot to learn from our older friends. Do you have a friend or relative that you respect when it comes to managing money? If you do then I highly recommend that you shoot them over an email to ask them a few quick questions. We have a lot to learn when it comes to money. Like the say, if you’re not learning you’re dying.

What have you learned from older friends about saving money?

Martin Dasko

Martin Dasko