125. The 5 Money Lessons I Wish I Knew at 18

Graduation season has me reflecting—especially on the financial lessons I wish someone had handed me as a fresh-faced 18-year-old. This minisode is packed with the five money truths I’d go back and tell myself (and now, my graduating nephew!) if I could.

In this heartfelt episode, I share:

• The sneaky lie behind “emergency” credit cards
• Why budgeting is actually the path to freedom
• How generosity grows your soul and your wealth
• The one money move that could make any 18-year-old a millionaire
• A loving challenge for all of us to align with our future selves

Whether you're a new grad or guiding one, this episode will leave you inspired to skip the common mistakes and start strong.

🎓 Know someone graduating? Share this episode with them.
 💬 What do you wish you knew about money at 18? Let me know!

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Episode Transcript

Laura (00:00):
Hey accelerators, I am rerecording this short-ish
podcast because my audio qualityoriginally was terrible.
I was just in mom mode andcompletely forgot to plug in my
microphone, which makes theaudio sound a whole lot better
and keeps me from fading in andout.
So.

(00:20):
My apologies.
I really wish that I could havegiven you the very first
iteration of this, because I didcry.
So accelerators, somehow, andI'm not entirely sure how this
happened exactly, but somehowenough time has gone by that my
nephew is graduating from highschool.

(00:41):
Now he's the first little guythat I actually liked.
You may be shocked to hear this,but growing up I never wanted to
have children.
And now look at me.
I have five.
But he's, he's the little dudethat I hung out with when I was
in college and enough time hasgone by.
Shockingly that he is nowgraduating from high school and

(01:03):
not only graduating from highschool, but this little dude is
so smart that he used his timein high school to also get an
associate's degree He did dualenrollment classes, and I could
not be more proud on manydifferent levels.
So excited, cannot believe howwell educated that he is and
that he was smart enough tothink, Hey, I'm going to take my
time and make it serve a dualpurpose.

(01:25):
It's amazing.
And now he's graduating fromhigh school and he is already
got his first two years ofcollege under his belt, done
away with.
Now if at any point in time hechooses to go to a four year
university in order to getwhatever specialization he would
like, it's gonna be two years ofhis time for that four year
degree.
Amazing.
And kudos to my brother Jacob,who was smart enough to make

(01:49):
sure that his son did somethinglike this to help facilitate
that for him and save them botha whole lot of money and a whole
lot of time.
I thought I'd go ahead and dothis quick little podcast for
the graduates out there and theparents of the graduate and
share with you the biggest moneymistake I.
Or mistakes that I made afterhigh school.

(02:09):
And then I wanna give you acouple quick tips to share with
the graduates in your life thathopefully will help them as
well.
So the biggest mistake I madeafter high school financially
anyway, other than going tocollege in the first place, to
get a degree that I didn't needand knew I would never use
because I thought I was supposedto.
One of the biggest moneymistakes that I made was that I

(02:29):
got talked into getting a creditcard for emergencies.
I already had way too manystudent loans.
I was already out over my skisand way over my head in the
financial loan department, andthen there was this gentleman on
campus just handing out creditcards.
It was really easy to get.
All I had to do was sign a pieceof paper and he gave me a free

(02:51):
pizza on top of it, and then itwas on my way.
It was the easiest transaction Ithink I've ever done, and a
couple of days later, myemergency credit card showed up
in the mail.
Now it was only for emergencies.
I would only use it foremergencies like flying home at
Thanksgiving, becauseThanksgiving was completely
unexpected.
Who knew Thanksgiving was gonnahappen in November?

(03:13):
'cause I apparently had no idea.
And then my emergency creditcard started being used for
things like buying dresses, forgoing out with my friends
because there was a cute boy andI didn't want him to see me in
the same old thing he'd seen mein before.
So I had to get a new dress.
It was an emergency.
I.
I very quickly maxed out thatcard and then had to get another

(03:34):
one because, well, I needed itfor emergencies.
You see, the best thing I couldhave done in that instance was
fund my emergencies.
I could have had an emergencyfund.
I could have planned ahead.
I could have thought about whatI was going to do with that
money before I did anything.
Yes, I had a job and I wastedthat money on, I don't even know

(03:56):
what, probably more dresses,probably more going out.
I was a very social butterfly atmy time.
Probably could have been betterspent getting a different job,
sticking with a job, doing moreacting, staying in la, doing
that kind of work as opposed to.
Let's be honest.
Going to college for a degree, Iknew I was never going to use.
I had fun though.

(04:18):
I had a good time and I learneda lot about myself and and about
other people.
I didn't have to be in collegeto get the benefits that I got
at that time in my life.
It is okay though because Ilearned a lot and I hope that no
matter what happens in your lifethat you learn from every
mistake that you grow, fromevery heartache, from every

(04:38):
setback becomes a step up foryou.
My prayer for you.
My college graduate, is that youwould go out into the world and
that you start whatever it isyou're going to do as a grownup.
I want you to know that wisdomdoesn't come from age, but it
comes from experience, and youcan borrow my experience so that
you don't make these samemistakes.

(04:59):
I wanna pass on a little bit ofwisdom that I learned from the
financial world, and I hope thatyou can use this to help you out
on your journey.
So here are five quick tipsabout money that I wish I knew
at 18.
The first one is that a budgetequals freedom.
As much as people like to say,no, that's restrictive.
It's not.
It gives you permission to spendyour money freely, openly, and

(05:21):
on whatever it is you choosebecause you tell your budget
what to do before it tells youwhat you've already agreed to.
The second debt equals delayeddreams.
Your dreams deferred.
It's just gonna make youheartsick.
So don't go into debt.
Don't pay for your pastdecisions, fund your future.
Number three, spend less thanyou earn.

(05:43):
This is something that should becommon sense, but it's not at
all common.
If you make$20 an hour, don'tspend more than 19.
I love the idea of tip numberfour.
Generosity will change you.
If you're not a generous person,you're going to become miserly.
It's an ugly trait, but if youcan be generous and you can have
an open hand around your moneyand around your time and around

(06:05):
your treasure and around yourtalents, if you have an open
hand, it changes you into abeautiful soul.
The more you give away, the moreyou receive, your abundance will
grow, and so will you.
Tip number five, start now.
Whoever you wanna be, decide todate and then become that
person.
Align yourself with your futureself.
Align your actions today withyour future self and start

(06:28):
saving now.
If you would start saving ahundred dollars a month in a
Roth IRA from now until age 35,and then you never save another
dime until you retire, you willretire a millionaire.
To Chase and to all the othergraduates out there, the world
is your oyster.
You get to shuck it however youwant.

(06:50):
Hopefully there will be a pearlinside, but sometimes it's just
a lot of snot.
It's probably the ugliestanalogy I've ever made, but I
love it, so I'm gonna stick withit.
I would love for you if you werelistening in this and you're not
a graduate, but you know agraduate that you would share
this with someone that isgraduating right now and maybe

(07:10):
they're gonna learn somethingfrom this, or maybe they're
gonna hear me and it's gonna goin one ear and out the other,
but in 10 years and 20 yearsthey'll think back on it and
they'll be ready to hear theselessons.
If you don't know a graduate andyou're just listening because
you wanted to hear what my lifelessons were, I'd love for you
to reflect on what you would'vetold your 18-year-old self, and

(07:31):
then go ahead and decide who youwant to be in the future and
align yourselves and youractions with that person.
Become in integrity with theperson you want to become.
Then do what you have to do tobecome that person every day.
If this was helpful to you,please share this episode with
somebody that you love.
I'm thinking about youaccelerators, and you graduates

(07:54):
go out into the world and make adifference.