I turned 30 in April. After years of planning all the ways I want to spend my 30th, COVID-19 decided that I would do nothing but go to work and come back home. Nevertheless, I’m not making the year marking my third decade on earth go away without something memorable. So inspired by filmmaker Selasie Djameh, who wrote 30 life lessons she had learnt in 30 years, I’m sharing 30 random thoughts and tips about money that I have learnt.

1. Few things can destroy years of wealth building like health problems can. Invest in annual medical check ups. Buy blood pressure and blood sugar monitors and check regularly.
2. Learn how to cook so that eating out can be more of a treat than a necessity. 
3. Share streaming service passwords or purchase family packages with your friends.
4. Old model phones are fine and there’s good value in the market if you look hard enough.
5. Meet up with friends for sports or other physical activities. It’s more cost effective and you get the exercise you wouldn’t have been doing because of your busy schedule.
6. If there’s a skill you need to learn, YouTube is your friend. Before you pay for courses be sure you’ve exhausted the free options.
7. Free and open source software is available for pretty much everything you want to do. 
8. Make sure you’re not paying for luxury when what you really want is durability. They’re not the same thing. 
9. Maintenance is a necessity. Don’t try to make it an option. You’ll lose that battle.
10. Unless you’re very fortunate you’ll go through stages in life where you will withdraw every single penny from all your savings accounts, even the long-term ones you had planned for retirement. It’s okay. Don’t consider it a failure. Do what you need to to survive those days and you’ll give yourself a chance to recover.
11. Ask for help when you need it. If you don’t have anyone you can ask from then work on building those relationships now. We’re not meant to be able to face every challenge alone.
12. As long as someone else is paying and better options are unavailable, get all the education you can. If you’ve graduated and your parents are willing to pay for a masters degree, don’t forgo it for a job with underwhelming pay.
13. If you’ve got an unbelievable deal on a house/car/phone/laptop that requires you to cough up the money immediately or you’ll lose the chance, you should probably wait or only take it after thorough examination by a professional. 
14. There are hire purchase opportunities for household appliances. Take advantage of them instead of emptying your savings or using a whole month’s paycheck.
15. Side hustles are great. But if it’s stressing you out so much that you’re starting to be poor at your primary income earner then drop it.
16. Few things drain the joy, energy and youth out of a person like long traffic-jammed commutes. Your long-term financial plan should include a way to reduce this.
17. Not every passion can be monetized. If you can’t enjoy doing something if you’re making no money from it then you need another passion.
18. The day on which you will become the primary source of income for your family will come faster than you think. Try not to be caught off guard.
19. Fruits and vegetables are essential. However don’t be in the situation where you’re always having to throw them out of your fridge because you only buy but don’t eat.
20. Drink more water than you think you need because you probably do.
21. If you’re bragging about how little sleep you’re getting then you’re bragging about how much damage you’re doing to your brain. 
22. People care much less about your financial status than you think they do. Those who care are often trying to get money from you. 
23. If you think you won’t need as much money after retirement you need to rethink.
24. Set up that standing order to your investment account today. Stop lying to yourself that you’ll go make a deposit.
25. Your rate of savings will most likely have a bigger impact on your final sum than the investment returns. So do not save less than you actually can.
26. If you don’t have any coherent plan, don’t buy land. You lock up too much capital in an illiquid asset with huge risks of litigation.
27. Pack lunch to work.
28. Don’t be the friend always paying for everyone else when you go out.
29. Buy a used inexpensive monitor and attach it to your laptop. With dual screens your productivity will shoot up.
30. Make good use of podcasts. Listening to your favourite podcast during an evening walk is one way of relaxing while getting some exercise in.