knowledge about money concepts was no match for what de Leon calls “a deep-rooted scarcity mindset” and a profound sense of inferiority. de Leon says she didn’t earn enough for years because she wasn’t convinced of her own worth and bought expensive things she couldn’t afford, hoping to get validation from others. She wishes her younger self had spent time in self-reflection and therapy to work through her psychological issues. “Do the work to heal your pain, so you aren’t creating more unnecessary problems for yourself,” de Leon says. DON’T MAKE WORK YOUR LIFE Tess Vigeland is host and senior producer of The Wall Street Journal’s “As We Work” podcast. She, too, has both practical and philosophical advice for her younger self. The practical: Never, ever carry a credit card balance if you can help it. “I got myself in deep credit debt throughout my early and mid-20s, because I lived life like I had my parents’ bank account, when in fact I had a tiny fraction of that,” Vigeland says. The philosophical: Develop interests outside of your job. Vigeland loved her work in public radio — until she didn’t. In 2012, she abruptly quit her job as host of American Public Media’s “Marketplace Money,” a personal finance show, with no clue about what she wanted to do next. Part of that journey became a book, “Leap: Leaving a Job with No Plan B to Find the Career and Life You Really Want.” But Vigeland says life after public radio might have been easier if her work hadn’t been such a big part of her identity. “Have something you love to do outside of what you do for a living,” Vigeland says. “It will help down the line if you decide to leap to another career or go back to school — you won’t be stuck in just one idea of who you are and what you can do.” AND MY TWO CENTS Most of us can look back at our younger selves and see how much we’ve matured over time. But somehow we think our evolution has stopped. Whether we’re just starting our careers or have long since retired, the so-called “end of history illusion” convinces us that we won’t change much from the person we are today. If I’d known about this psychological quirk, maybe I would have worried less about getting it all figured out and making exactly the right career and money moves. Who I am and what I want won’t stay the same. I’d tell my younger self that the important thing is to do the best I can
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