First of all you are not behind. I need you to hear that before anything else because the feeling you are describing, that weird limbo between doing fine and feeling like you are going nowhere, is one of the most common and least talked about experiences in your 20s and it deserves a real answer not just a pat on the back!
Here is the thing about the Europe trips. Some of those people have credit card debt they are not telling you about. Some have parents quietly subsidizing the whole thing while pretending otherwise. Some genuinely saved for it and good for them honestly. But we are living in the era of main character finance where everyone's highlight reel looks like a Zara campaign shot in Positano and nobody is posting their credit card statement. Do not compare your balance sheet to someone else's Instagram. It is not a fair fight and you will lose every time.
Now let's get down to the nitty gritty!
Low six figures, no kids, manageable debt and paying your bills on time is a genuinely strong foundation. But a foundation is not a house. The reason you feel like you are treading water is probably because your money does not have a job yet. It is coming in, covering everything and the rest is just kind of sitting there or quietly disappearing on things you cannot fully account for. You are not broke. You are just unintentional. And that is a very fixable problem.
These are not sexy questions. They are also the entire answer to your letter.
The people who look back at their 20s and feel genuinely good about their money are almost never the ones who made the most or spent the least. They are the ones who got a system in place early and then stayed boring while everyone else was busy being interesting on the internet. You are already doing the hard part which is caring enough to ask. Now you just need to stop letting your money wander and start telling it exactly where to go.
You are not lost. You are just in the part of the movie before the montage. The montage is coming.
First of all you are not behind. I need you to hear that before anything else because the feeling you are describing, that weird limbo between doing fine and feeling like you are going nowhere, is one of the most common and least talked about experiences in your 20s and it deserves a real answer not just a pat on the back!
Here is the thing about the Europe trips. Some of those people have credit card debt they are not telling you about. Some have parents quietly subsidizing the whole thing while pretending otherwise. Some genuinely saved for it and good for them honestly. But we are living in the era of main character finance where everyone's highlight reel looks like a Zara campaign shot in Positano and nobody is posting their credit card statement. Do not compare your balance sheet to someone else's Instagram. It is not a fair fight and you will lose every time.
Now let's get down to the nitty gritty!
Low six figures, no kids, manageable debt and paying your bills on time is a genuinely strong foundation. But a foundation is not a house. The reason you feel like you are treading water is probably because your money does not have a job yet. It is coming in, covering everything and the rest is just kind of sitting there or quietly disappearing on things you cannot fully account for. You are not broke. You are just unintentional. And that is a very fixable problem.
These are not sexy questions. They are also the entire answer to your letter.
The people who look back at their 20s and feel genuinely good about their money are almost never the ones who made the most or spent the least. They are the ones who got a system in place early and then stayed boring while everyone else was busy being interesting on the internet. You are already doing the hard part which is caring enough to ask. Now you just need to stop letting your money wander and start telling it exactly where to go.
You are not lost. You are just in the part of the movie before the montage. The montage is coming.