6 things your future self wants you to do with your paycheck starting now

OK, you can’t actually talk to future you. But we have a pretty good idea of what that older self would say to you about money. That’s because a few common themes show up again and again when researchers ask things like: “What do you wish you had known sooner about money?” Or have respondents fill in the blank of this statement: “I wish I had known…” Here are a few key requests your older self has for current you that will help set you up for financial success. Someday, your future self will thank you.

1. Pay yourself first

If you don’t really have any bills, it can be tempting to see earnings as “free money” and spend every last dime. Your future self wants you to know you won’t be young forever, and at some point you’ll wish you had some savings. This is not a penalty or a punishment, because future you is the winner. To help get you in the right mindset, you can think of saving as “paying yourself first.” The actual amount doesn’t matter; it’s the habit that counts.

If you want to get more formal about it, you can use the 50/30/20 rule. Half of your money goes toward needs (phone bill, gas, rent), one-third you spend on wants like coffee drinks, snacks and gaming. And 20% reliably gets tucked away in your savings account.

You might make it into a game to see how much you could save each month. This up-front goal may help you think twice before you give in to tap-to-pay temptation. Do I really want that $7 boba? Or would I rather smash my savings goal? And no shame if the answer is different from one day to the next.

2. Learn about investing right now – don’t wait

You don’t have to be Warren Buffett. But you can be like him. He was reading books about investing and learning about the stock market as a little boy, and bought his first stocks at 9 or 10 (well, his dad was a trader and bought them in his name). Today you don’t have to have a trader-parent. You can ask a parent or other responsible adult to open what’s called a custodial brokerage account which lets you start investing as a minor. It automatically becomes yours when you reach the “age of majority,” which can differ by state. To really understand the impact of investing now versus later, see number 6: Understand the insane power of compounding interest.

3. Ask Mom & Dad about money (and actually listen)

No, they might not have all the answers, but parents do know more than you think. Plus you can learn from their mistakes. Believe it or not, this is one of the key regrets adults have: not openly communicating about money and financial matters more broadly. Opening up a dialogue about any and all financially-related topics is a great way to realize your biggest unknowns. You’ll undoubtedly uncover subjects you didn’t even know existed. You may even teach your parents something along the way. Open conversation is a powerful learning tool, and it’s available at no extra charge as a side at dinner.

Extra conversation credit: Have grandparents or great-grandparents? Their money insights could be worth millions. Literally. Baby boomers own over half of all U.S. household wealth. That’s a wealth of information. And could result in actual dollars and cents for you down the line, if they pass any of their assets on to you someday.

4. Be serious about security

Cash apps come naturally to digital natives, but just remember that safety isn’t guaranteed. When you spend so much of your time (and money) in a virtual world, you can be exposed to more opportunities for scams and fraud.

First, don’t leave big balances in your Venmo, Zelle or other cash apps. It can be tempting to let money build up there for easy spending, but it pays to remember that it’s treated like physical cash. If someone takes it, the money is gone forever. Never hand your phone to a stranger to input their number; they may leave you with an empty wallet instead of plans for a first date.

Secondly, make sure you protect your passwords, and use two-factor authentification. Experts advise against repeating passwords across different logins. Also, if there’s an option to add facial recognition or your fingerprint, do it.

5. Start a Roth for me, please!

Your future self wants you to know that it’s never too early to start saving for retirement. A Roth is a particularly attractive investment vehicle because you don’t have to pay taxes on it when it’s time to take the money out. You may think a Roth is something you don’t need to consider until you have that first full-time “real job.” But nope. You can ask a parent or other responsible adult to open a custodial Roth IRA on your behalf before you hit the official age of adulthood (this can vary by state). All you need is a W-2 job, which means one that has taxes taken out. Fast food, yes. Babysitting for cash, no. When you hit the “age of majority,” the Roth IRA automatically becomes all yours.

The earlier you start a Roth IRA, the more time your money has to grow in the market. This means you’ll tap into the amazing power of compounding interest earlier than those who start in their 30s, which is the average. Look at you, way ahead of the curve.

6. Understand the insane power of compounding interest

Many adults deeply regret not truly understanding how compounding interest works earlier in life. This is the key to getting wealthy while you’re still relatively young. It’s how money grows exponentially.

You can think about it this way. If you put a penny a day in a jar for a year, you’ll have 365 pennies. The savings certainly accumulate, in a steady and very predictable way (also, slowly). You’ll never have more pennies than days that you saved them. Now think about a snowball rolling down a hill. It’s small at first, and slow. Then, suddenly, it seems to double in size and speed. The farther it rolls, the faster it goes and the bigger it grows. You never personally added any more snow to it, and yet it grew anyways. That’s exponential. That’s what happens to money invested in the stock market.

If you want to really dive in here, you can learn the Rule of 72, a mathematical expression that predicts how long it will take your money to double. Here’s how it works: You divide the number 72 by the average annual return in the stock market, which is around 10% over the past 100 years. One point of clarity here. You don’t divide by the percentage, but rather by the whole number.

For example:
72 divided by 10 = 7.2

This means that hypothetically if you have $10,000 invested in the market, it would take a little over seven years for it to double to $20,000 without you adding one single additional cent.

In that equation, time matters far more than starting amount. Getting started now, whether via a custodial Roth IRA or custodial brokerage account (or both!), gives your money much longer to grow than someone who doesn’t enter the market until their 30s or 40s¹.

Conclusion

Are you ready to make your future self so happy? Pick one of these categories to get started with now. Even if your first step is a quick search or AI chat, it all counts. The point is to get started as early as possible. Your future self will love you for it.