10 Worst Money Mistakes of My 20s (so far…)

🎥 More about this video:
Let's talk about my worst money mistakes from the past few years of my life! I just turned 28, and it has me reflecting on what mistakes I've made around money - from bad investments, to not negotiating salaries, to not realizing that I was abandoning thousands of dollars at one point. With all this in mind, I thought it'd be helpful to walk through what those mistakes were with the hope that they can be useful as you navigate your own financial journey. Whether you're in your 20s, younger, or older, I hope you can learn lots from my mistakes!

Want more videos on money, media, society, and intentional living? Be sure to subscribe for more video essays!

🔍 Resources mentioned:

💌 Want to support the channel? Here are a few ways!:

🎥 Check out some of my other videos! 🎥

Time Stamps:

0:00 let's talk money mistakes
02:56 money mistake #1: salaries
05:08 money mistake #2: 401k
07:18 money mistake #3: abandoning money
10:30 money mistake #4: stockpiling cash
12:24 money mistake #5: underestimating compound interest
13:50 money mistake #6: being too frugal
15:57 money mistake #7: impulse shopping!
17:55 money mistake #8: dumb investments
19:51 money mistake #9: company RSUs
21:18 money mistake #10: automating!

Keywords for some sweet, sweet metadata:
Personal finance, money management, deinfluence, deinfluencing, budgeting, budget, credit card, debt, culture, hauls, video essay, video analysis, social media, tiktok, instagram, Pinterest, materialism, overconsumption, consumerism, climate change, shopping, spending money, viral, influencers, cara nicole, money mistakes, investing, investments, retirement, savings

[thefinancialfreedomgirl]

(This video is sponsored by Capitalize! #CapitalizePartner )

[StrawbrryDath]

I'm afraid to negotiate my salary whenever i get an offer for a job because I feel like the employer can always take it back and hire someone else who is willing to take the lower base pay.

[jhpt]

Cara (and anybody else in their 20s or 30s reading this): even with mistakes, you are still so far ahead of the game. It's not like "oh, I'm 30 and I'm behind, it's over." I was in my early 40s before I got smart about money, and it's worked out for me (and no, I didn't start a successful company or get an inheritance or anything like that - just got a lot more serious about reigning in expenses and investing).

The goal isn't to make no mistakes - the goal is to learn from the mistakes that you do make (and we all make some), so that you don't keep making the same ones over and over.

[GotKimchi]

Haha, I feel like lot of us Asians fall in to this trap. We save save save, often not in the most efficient ways (in a savings account), and then when we get all this money, we can't spend it as we feel guilty or stressed spending it, lmao

[TheAcesShow]

I had two job offers this year that i applied for and later decided i didnt want. I interviewed and they gave me the job but i said i didnt want it. When they asked why, i said the pay was too low as i figured they would just stop there. One of them offered an extra $5 an hour and the other almost $7. It was crazy, sometimes i think you gotta price yourself high to show youre worth it.

[ehussain]

I started watching your videos because I had a bad habit of 'shopping sprees, ' especially with clothes. Because of you, I've been able to spend less time working and more time enjoying my life, as I now am able to fully understand what I want to value. Instead of working crazy hours to fund my shopping, I work as much as I need so I can pay for essentials and save, and I am so, so much happier. Thank you so much for creating this content, the lessons from your videos have genuinely improved my life so much. I am so much happier now that I have less things, something I wouldn't have imagined could be true.

[AlexHider]

Oh my twenties were wild. The biggest L I ever took was coming into 9 grand, which is a lot of money to a college student, and spending it all in a few months on nonsense. I don’t even have any large fun purchases, I just spent them on food and transport and movies. I would have loved to have 9 thousand dollars when I was buying a house a few years back……the funniest L is me selling my bitcoins in 2011. I got over it :D

[avengermkii]

I feel the same exact way when it comes to spending money. I'm cheap as hell. I bought something for myself on my birthday and spent 2 hours procrastinating the purchase. I had more than enough money to buy it but I still sat there staring at the purchase button thinking if I should do it. I don't think it will ever go away because you need money to survive in general and I hate wasting it on silly things.

[delennjadzia]

I love that Einstein quote about compound interest being the eighth wonder. He’s so real.

[Enitoni]

Can't believe not even a minute in and we're already talking about poo

[ssssss-pjvn]

The last one is the most crucial to me : if you automate saving and full credit card payments from the age of 18, once you get to 40, you'll be a millionnaire without even noticing it.

[batgal]

Just turned twenty, I'm super excited for the investing video. I know I should “invest”, but everything seems really complex, especially since I don’t have too much money and I'm still in school. But I want to try to be responsible with the little bit I have now〜

[TheJttv]

Hot take. But I think the first job on the resume is more important then a hard negotiation for the perfect salary on the first job. If its a decent offer take it and job hop after 2 years for a promotion and pay bump where you do negotiate

[ZOBuccaneer]

Even if the offered pay is great, people forget that sometimes benefits can be negotiated as well.

[GeneralLeia]

You’re wise beyond your years; great insights and well presented! Shared with my 20 year old daughter 😊

[midnightgalaxy]

My biggest money mistake was going to a college I could afford for a year and taking private loans. I’m transferring to a cheaper school but the loan amount still haunts me

[Limbomber]

Negotiations are pretty important. After my first on-site interview the hiring manager asked how much I want. I was just thinking expenses and blurted out 60k a year not realizing people in US talk pretax salary. He laughed and offered 85k which was nice.

[the_emigrant]

The "not selling your company stock" is the mistake that's tormenting me the most right now.

[Idkudk]

I was in a mentally draining relationship where I believed I was only being a good partner by spending money I was earning in five months I spent somewhere around 10k in my currency, today I’m 3 months out and found your channel and motivated me to save and understand investing ect..3k savings. Thank you

[itsinthemorning]

i didn't negotiate when I entered my job because I had 0 experience in that field (fresh from university). With the experience I gathered I would definitely try to negotiate a higher salary if I were to change the company.