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  • Just off the top of my head:

    • If It's at all possible, retire early! Look into FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)
    • Carry as little debt as possible
    • Max out your 401k (otherwise you're leaving money on the table!), build a savings account, and maintain at least 6 months' expenses worth of cash in an emergency account
    • Where you can, plan ahead for large purchases (e.g., vacations, new roof) and make them in cash instead of financing them
    • Minimize consumption of goods to maximize financial power (i.e., don't get sucked into lifestyle creep!)
    • Do spend money on things that are high-quality and will last
    • Lift heavy things often
    • Don't skip cardio
    • Hydrate!
    • Use sunblock (physical >>> chemical)
    • Get your routine medical stuff (e.g., mammograms start at 40), even the uncomfortable ones (colonoscopy!), and don't wait until minor things become major to get them checked out
    • Be calm, rational, and intentional in your interactions with others, and if you've behaved poorly, give a heartfelt apology. This is especially important with your significant other.
    • Pay closer attention to your parents' needs - they are aging and will start to need help they may not be willing to ask for
    • Don't be afraid to remove bullshit from your life. That one "friend" who you never want to hang out with because they just drain your energy? It's OK to let that friendship go.

    I don't have kids so no advice there.

  • Didn't see anyone suggest it, but I can't recommend it enough, spend time with your parents, and, if they're still alive, your grandparents!

    This really put it into perspective for me.

    If you were a late baby like me, your parents are likely getting into their 70s now. You may have 20 years with them. You may have 5. I'm lucky if get to see mine once a month because of work. That's around 60-240 times left to see them. If I spend an hour with them each time(which is a stretch), that's 10 days tops. Enjoy the time you have with them and pray you're lucky.

    Also, if you have any loved ones, tell them you love them every chance you get. My wife and I have traded "I love you"s nearly every day for the past 23 years. You never know when it'll be the last time, so say it as much as you can to anyone you care about! It doesn't cost anything, and tell me it's not great to hear when someone says it to you. Spread that shit around!

    Lastly, if you can afford it, travel. You don't have to travel the whole world, and it doesn't have to cost a fortune. I know people hate on them, but my wife and I book at least 1 AirBnB a year. We find a cheap place that's only a day's drive away and book it for a week. Just get outside of the safety net that is the streets and places you know.

    For that matter, take any opportunity you can to make new memories. We are creatures of habit, and our brains don't like to waste. It's believed that one of the reasons our days feel like they fly by is because we're following a routine that our brain meshes with the memory of similar experiences and routines to save energy. Being in new places, experiencing new things, and making new memories may help with breaking up those moments where the day, week, month, or year are gone in a flash.

  • Do whatever you can to get away. Even for just 3 day weekends. Even just camping should be inexpensive enough.

    If you can afford more ... Get as far away as possible. Stop making excuses.

  • Stretch every day, holy shit that makes all the difference for mobility. It takes about 5 minutes when you wake up in the morning.

  • Geez. This thread is making me feel like I should be in pain 24/7.

    I just turned 47. It was around 41 when I realized my body was changing, less testosterone, less muscle mass. The new routine in 2020 of working from home was a major physical hurdle for me to deal with. All sorts of pains I never had before. Stretching, walking, sleeping, hydrating, eating better all helped with weight gain and stiffness. Pretty much what everyone else is saying here. For me though, it was (slightly) more about the work life transition than the getting older part.

    What I would add to the conversation is to appreciate your memories.

    As we get older and the people around us start fading away, I've found I'm spending a lot of time gathering photos and videos and collecting things that have special memories associated with them. I've been frustrated recently that we (my friends and family) do the same things year over year or even week after week and all those memories start to blur together as we get older. The exception to this is if there's kids involved because you get to see them grow up so fast.

    Make fresh memories. Embrace the ones you've made. Preferably all 'good' ones.

    And I really want to promote the idea of printing photos, hanging them on your walls, and getting photobooks made. My uncle (who didn't have a partner or kids) recently passed and he had all these photos hidden on his phone. He also had a bunch of printed pictures from the '70s through the '90s that I'm in the process of scanning. We have this great technology to capture awesome images at any moment but they often get forgotten immediately after they're taken. Print your pics and have photobooks made that can be physically passed around and handed down. Sure, we can share digital stuff easily today but tech changes and people loose touch. As cool as image galleries are on our phones and how the AI curates them for us, there's still something very special about holding a few dozen printed photos to look through. Like, Spotify playlists are great for what they are but holding a few CDs or records in your hands is a great thing too.

  • 53m here.

    Get into a work out routine. Particularly one that keeps your core strong. Back issues are just a few years away.

    I am sitting here with a disk bulge between L4 and L5 and the bulge hits my sciatic nerve perfectly. My right leg has felt asleep for two years now and I've had to take gabapentin every day to keep the pain away. It's a very minor bulge and non-operable, it just in the exact wrong spot.

    Don't let that happen to you.

  • Enjoy it. I'm so much more comfortable with myself in my forties than it was in, say, my twenties. I'm much happier being me.

    Also - life isn't over. I've been surprised at the prevailing ageism that seems too suggest that there's no point taking up any new hobbies or learning anything because you're just too old now for there to be a point. This is nonsense. You've very likely got as many decades in front of you as behind you - maybe more.

    Also: use sunscreen.

  • 41 year old here, just keep working on making yourself a better person. Make the world better for the people living in it. Help the people you can especially those who need it the most.

  • If you've not really saved for your future do it NOOOOOW like yesterday level now. Like 2 checks from now something must be being sat back. Even if its just a tiny bit. The time to start was many years ago. Don't wait even longer.

173 comments