Money advice for your 20-year-old self
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What financial advice would Canna give her 20‑year‑old self?
It's Sunday, the 20th of September. I'm Michael Thompson, and today we're sharing an episode of our sister podcast, How Do They Afford That. Now, if you haven't heard the podcast before, it comes out every Wednesday morning in its own feed, wherever you listen to podcasts. It is full of great info and tips wherever you you're up to with money, basically, uh covering everything from budgeting and investing to managing your super and everything in between. I host the show with financial planner Canna Campbell. And this week, it's a slightly light-hearted look at a serious topic. It's the advice that Canna, as a financial planner, would give her 20-year-old self if she could go back and have that conversation.
It is a great insight into the power of long-term investing and passive income. Enjoy. Welcome to How Do They Afford That, the podcast that peaks into the financial lives of everyday Australians. I'm Michael Thompson. I'm an author and the co-host of the business news podcast Fear and Greed. As always, I'm with Kanna Campbell, financial planner and founder of the financial literacy platform Sugar Mama TV, and my co-author on our new book, 12 Months to Financial Freedom, which is out in Shops everywhere at this very moment. Hello, Canna. Hello,
how
are you? I uh I'm actually quite looking forward to today's episode because it's about looking back. I know we look to the future a lot on this show, but this one's about looking back. If you could sit down with your 20-year-old self for Twenty minutes.
Yeah.
All right. What financial advice would you give them? And not the obvious stuff necessarily. I I wanna know the the the kind of the lessons that took years to learn and you're only just aware of it now, and you would go back in your time machine and tell twenty year old Canna Give them a bit of a advanced warning of what's to come. But first of all I need you to paint the picture for me. Mm-hmm. What was twenty year old Canner like? I I'm I don't know why I'm I'm picturing dreadlocks.
You know what, I was actually really motivated when I was in my twenties. So I struggled at school, I struggled at university. But I y I had my financial aha moment, I think when I was around sort of eighteen, nineteen. So I that's when I started investing. What was that? Do you not know the story of how I got started?
have a vague recollection of you telling me a story about working somewhere and really good tips.
Yes. Yes. So I made my first investment, I think eighteen or nineteen. The Ah moment was getting my first dividend, which came through back in the old days as a check. And I had no idea what it was. I just saw this piece of paper with a couple of digits on it. And I didn't understand even what to do with it. It wasn't until my father said, Well, you've got to take it to the bank and deposit it.
How did Canna’s first dividend shape her view on passive income?
You had to fill out a little paper slip and take it to the counter and deposit it. And didn't even understand what you would do with it. And I actually had this feeling of like worthlessness. Going, well, I didn't I that's not my money. I can't take that. I didn't do anything to earn it. But that was my first insight into passive income.
But already that's remarkably disciplined of you, the fact that you were eighteen and you had already started investing as well. And that that you were making money in a bar and and tips and that you were actually putting that towards investing in the first place. It's pretty impressive.
Well, I think for me that motivation is very much about reducing stress. Like I think our worlds are quite stressful and infiltrates into so many other parts of your life. So if you can just Nip that in the but BUD.
BUD. B U D Bud. This is a long term project working on you with this one.
You've got your you know, you've got one less stress on your shoulders to ever have to worry about.
Okay. So from this we can generally accept that twenty year old Canna was abnormally financially savvy by the sound of it, compared to most other twenty year olds. What would be the first thing then that you would tell?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What financial advice would Canna give her 20‑year‑old self?
0:01–2:55
2
How did Canna’s first dividend shape her view on passive income?
2:55–5:37
3
Why should young investors prioritize passive income over capital growth?
5:37–8:32
4
Should twenty‑year‑olds start contributing to superannuation, and how?
8:32–10:58
5
How can early investing reduce financial stress later in life?
10:58–14:08
6
What single piece of advice should people in their 30s follow?
14:08–16:12
7
How should investors in their 40s and 50s adjust their superannuation strategy?
16:12–18:35
8
What simple $100‑a‑month investment plan can build a seven‑figure portfolio?
18:35–20:52
Speakers
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