7 Things A Millennial Must Do In Order To be Really Happy With Life

Yours truly is a millennial, and therefore is able to provide true insights as to what millennials want and need in order to thrive and enjoy their life all round. We're not a demanding bunch. We know what we want, and we're able to question authority as quickly as soap removes dirt. We're not lazy. We really do work hard.

These happiness hacks are presented in order of preference, in order to be a free and happy (most of the time) millennial.

1. Self Care

Millennials love to take time off work in order to ensure their needs are met, without compromising on their employers flexibility too much. Needless to say, we millennials love to freelance/be our own boss. We are in life for the long haul; and are accustomed to the latest tech gadgets and apps out there. We embrace technology, yet we know that prolonged use of technology isn't too great for our health. Although ambition can get the better of us sometimes; we know when we need to rest. Expensive lessons from burn out etch the ethos of rest and recreation into our brains. We cannot be good to anyone else, if we cannot tend to our own gardens first. We must take care of the basics such as eating and sleeping well, as well as drinking plenty of H2O.

2. Save Money

David Bach is well known for this comment: "When you fix your finances, you fix your life." Every penny you save gives you more and more options/choices in life. It is a switched on millennials lifeline. Be financially selfish. We millennials are getting good at paying ourselves first. Remember that. At least 10% (ten is known as the ancient magic number of increase) of your income is yours to keep. Having a buffer of cash set aside in an emergency ensures that us millennials keep away from credit cards. We prefer to keep our debit cards, thank you very much. And our crypto too.

3. Invest

Thank you to movements such as Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE); millennials are catching onto the importance of saving and then investing a portion of their income - particularly on index funds/trackers via the stock market for dividends and capital growth. Paying down debt and saving more money gives you more options to be free, and so does passive income. Investing is one of the surefire ways to amplify your passive income; being income that you work hard for once, and you then get paid over and over again. For many millennials (I was one of the lucky ones) buying an investment property is out of reach; yet equities are quite attractive; provided you set and forget, and not get sucked up in emotional and psychological noise in the marketplace. Then again, micro-investing apps like Spaceship and Raiz allow you to rub shoulders with the big boys for only a cup of joe, in order to get started.

4.Treats

Yes, we can have our smashed avocado as often as we want, when we have taken care of, and have harvested the first three points above. It makes me angry when people say that 'millennials' are not able to buy a house due to eating out for smashed avocado all the time. I only started to treat myself in this fashion after I purchased my own positively geared investment property in Sydney, for the record. Deprivation sucks, and only leads to a financial meltdown further down the line. 10% of your income is to splurge on too. We millennials know that we cannot take our net worth with us when we hit the grave.

5. Travel

We are an adventurous bunch, even when we're content with flying from Sydney to Melbourne for a weekend. We do not care. Every opportunity we can get to venture out of our home city, once we have earned the luxury of doing so is so worth it. You meet new people, and you explore the world around you outside of your 5km radius. The odd frustrations of travelling (think lost luggage and delayed flights to name...you get the drift) help us millennials become as resilient as nerves of steel, of which serves us well in the interesting times during our primal years.

6. Work...Play

Yes, we millennials think that the word to explain our jobs beginning with w is so old school. We only want to focus on work that brings us joy/is playful. Work that we're passionate about. We millennials would prefer to earn $40,000 per year doing something we love so much, as opposed to earning $100,000 per year doing something that bores us to tears and/or stresses us out. Freelancing and owning our own businesses (even taking on a side hustle or two) is what we want. We value our free spirit, and we hate having a boss telling us what to do. There are a few different ways to be a kick ass freelance photographer for example (yours truly knows, having been one since 2017). Being told one way of performing a task may not be the most efficient way of doing so. Again, we're not lazy. We work hard, yet only at work that is inspiring and freeing where possible.

7. Be organised...full stop.

#makegreatdecisions

Life flows when things are in order. Decisions on whether to buy a new mobile phone are usually easy...especially (say) if you're an iPhone user wanting to upgrade to a new iPhone - yet if you want to move to Android...the decision gets a bit harder. Other tough things millennials need to think about...should I have private health insurance? Depends on where in the world you live, and your personal circumstances. In Australia, I have been grateful for the Medicare system that has given me five star medical treatment; and the bill has been palmed onto the taxpayer. Another thoughtful one...should I pay my HECS early? Usually it takes care of itself. If you die, your debt is wiped clean. Then again, I paid my HECS upfront to attract a 25% discount, and to keep my karma clean for the future, and for future lifetimes. Do not underestimate millennials when it comes to designing and organising their life. They're pretty up there in the time management department. We hustle, and we rest.

Hopefully you agree. Thank you for supporting my work, and go out there and take those risks. Just be the amazing millennial you're meant to be.