Who's The Daddy: Life lessons my daughters ignore – but shouldn’t
Our daughters stopped listening to yours truly a looooooong time ago, but I know for a fact they read this column every week.
Now in the absolute prime of life in their mid-20s, they roll their eyes when I tell them how fast the years fly by and you’ll wake up one morning aged 55 (God willing) wondering where the hell the last 30 years went.
Because I was an actual idiot back then, here’s 10 things I wish someone had told me when I was their age, and I’d had the brains to actually listen.
Save 15% of your take home pay - on payday - and invest it in something like a Stocks and Shares ISA or a low-cost Exchange-Traded Fund. Compound interest is indeed the Eighth Wonder of the World, and even earning the average wage, you’ll put your feet up and retire with around a million quid. Do it.
Lift weights. Three times a week. Muscle is like a suit of armour when you hit middle-age. It keeps you on your feet for longer and reduces your risk of falls. Which leads me on to…
Do Pilates and deep stretching a couple of times a week. Your 55-year-old lower back will thank you for it.
Ration the sauce. And whatever you do, don’t smoke. It’s a very expensive way of getting cancer. Oh, and eat plenty of protein and fibre but ditch the sugar.
Work, it’s a four-letter word alright, but for the vast majority of us there’s no other option. To be successful, pick a job in an expanding industry. If you’re good at what you do and you enjoy it, chances are you’ll have a long and successful career. But remember this. A job is just a job, it’s not your life. If you dropped down dead tomorrow they’d advertise your role by the end of next week. Work hard, make it your business to get along with your colleagues and your boss - but the only people who notice all the extra hours you put in are the ones waiting for you at home.
Friends are very important, but nowhere near as important as your family. Friends will come and go. When things go wrong, which they will, your family will be the people you can always count on.
Enjoy it. Especially your youth. Like Liam Gallagher says, you only get to do it once.
Don’t spend more than you earn. Debt is the road to ruin and the borrower is slave to the lender. If you can’t pay for it in cash twice over, you can’t afford it. Always ask “how much?”, never “how much a month?”
Dogs are ace. We don’t deserve them. If you can give them the time, attention and exercise they need, then get one. Or even better, two.
If you get married, make sure it’s to the right person. I did. And it’s the best decision I ever made. Marry the wrong one and it’ll make your life a misery. Caitlin Moran nailed it when she wrote, “Do not marry a ****.” Couldn’t have put it better myself.
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