Never lend money to friends, family, or significant others. If someone asks, just say you’re broke blame a credit card bill or another excuse.
On Relationships and Risks
If you’re debating whether to "wrap it," think carefully. Even if she claims to be on the pill, mistakes happen—and 18 years of child support is no joke. That money won’t just go to the kid; it’ll fund her nails, hair, vacations, and car payments while you’re left with no say.
On College
>Get In, Get Out: Pick a practical, high-paying major early and stick with it. No indecision research careers, choose one you can tolerate (or like), and graduate in 3–4 years max. Dragging it out wastes time and money.
>Speed Matters: Graduating at 21–23 with a master’s puts you years ahead in salary, seniority, and benefits (401k, health insurance, etc.). The longer you take, the more debt you’ll rack up and the higher the chances of bad decisions (like accidental pregnancies or failing classes).
>Live at Home: Stay with your parents during college if possible. Avoid working; focus on studying, lifting, and having fun. You’ll graduate with far less debt.
If You Skip College
No degree? Get a job and work hard. Plenty of non-grads (e.g., construction workers) outearn art history majors working at Starbucks. But stats show grads usually earn more over time—so if you go, do it smartly.
>Final Thought: Time is your most valuable asset. Waste it, and you’ll pay the price—whether in debt, missed opportunities, or bad relationships. Move fast, think ahead, and protect yourself.
>Never lend money to friends, family, or significant others. If someone asks, just say you’re broke blame a credit card bill or another excuse.
Or you could just say "No, I don't feel comfortable with that." You don't have to lie to your friends and family and significant others, you can just tell them honestly that you don't feel comfortable loaning them money. Sometimes I have chosen to give money to people I care about when they needed help and I was in a position to help them, but I didn't lend it - I didn't expect to get it back or get anything in return, I just gave it to them. In some cases it helped them and in other cases they squandered it, but either way I don't regret anything.
>If you’re debating whether to "wrap it," think carefully. Even if she claims to be on the pill, mistakes happen—and 18 years of child support is no joke. That money won’t just go to the kid; it’ll fund her nails, hair, vacations, and car payments while you’re left with no say.
Why would it be an internal dilemma whether or not to wear a condom? If you don't feel comfortable consenting to some sexual act, you are not obligated to do it. You realize that, right? You should never, ever let yourself feel pressured into having sex, especially unsafe sex, and it doesn't matter if the pressure is external or external, whether it is your own fear of missing out or her feelings of entitlement or insecurity that are pressuring you into having unsafe sex, either way it is coercion and you should never let yourself be coerced into sex by anyone.
>No degree? Get a job and work hard. Plenty of non-grads (e.g., construction workers) outearn art history majors working at Starbucks. But stats show grads usually earn more over time—so if you go, do it smartly.
Or you could also go to college and get a degree - there is no age limit at colleges, you can go there and get an education at any time, you could take a couple of online courses part-time while holding down some job and earn money and get an education at the same time, it doesn't have to be a binary choice whether you want to be a "college guy" or a "blue collar guy" - you don't have to live your live according to these rigid simplistic social identities, you can just do whatever you want, it's entirely up to you and it's your life after all. And you do know that money and career success is not necessarily the metric by which you determine your life's value, right?
>Time is your most valuable asset. Waste it, and you’ll pay the price—whether in debt, missed opportunities, or bad relationships. Move fast, think ahead, and protect yourself.
I think I will decide for myself what is most valuable to me, thank you very much. And time isn't as simple as that. When you are a free agent and you are in control of your life, time feels like an asset that you must spend wisely. But in situations where you are not free, like being stuck at a job you hate or locked up in a jail cell or trapped in a toxic abusive situation, time isn't a resource anymore - it's a heavy substance that is constantly falling on you and smothering you and crushing you and all you can think about is how to survive, how to get rid of all this excess time before it drives you insane.
Your advice is all correct on the surface, but when you read between the lines it betrays a rather superficial and self-centered mentality and it smacks of American conservative thought, pull yourself up by your boot straps and fake it til you make it and look after yourself and repress your innermost fears and insecurities rather than actually talk about them and think about them and figure out what kind of person you are and what you really want out of your life. You sound like a conformist.