The Mindset Shift That Made Me Take Money Seriously at 19.

At 19, most people are out here spending their last £30 on Deliveroo or a night out. Meanwhile, I was sat in my room, staring at my bank balance and thinking, “Nah, this ain’t it.” Something clicked in me — like a mental slap. I realised if I wanted real freedom, not just money to survive but money to live, I had to stop treating cash like a joke. That was the moment I shifted. And it changed everything.

Where I was before the shift

Back when I was like, 12-16 years old, I never cared to much about money, money was just something I could use to buy things, nothing more to it, I was the kind of person to grow up being very good at saving money at a young age, but also the kind to blow it all on something I really do not need, so yeah long story short, I didn't spend my money wisely in my early teens, and that period of time gave me a lesson on why growing money is so important, I think back when i was that age, I think I spent money just cause, I could, and I had the money available, not because it was a great financial decision, my young brain saw £500 in my bank and immediately thought "Lets spend it!" that was me when I was younger, now when I see a couple hundred or thousand in my bank, I think "Hmm, how could i grow this money long term" and "what stock should I invest this in"

I grew up, kind of poor, not really poor but not exactly wealthy either, my family were the kind to rely on government benefits such as universal credit, and I seemed to have been the only one in the family, that saw government benefits for what they are, something that'll keep you poor, you can't build wealth of that kind of thing because of saving limits.

So I spoke a lot to my mom, about side hustles, something I quite enjoy, is building computers, its a somewhat easy thing that ive been doing for years and I thought to myself "Why not profit off this?" so I thought about PC flipping which is building computers and selling them for profit.

I noticed, for a while that my moms mindset, was in survival mode, she never understands building wealth and what it actually means, when someone says "I'm going to become a millionaire by investing into the stock market" she sees it as fantasy, because no one has ever aimed that high in her circle, I will say, it kind of hurt me sometimes, hearing my mom not see my vision, it was painful, but that told me, that I can't let her mindset stop me from achieving my goals, sometimes changing her mind isn't possible, cause she's to far gone with the benefits mindset, and the mindset that you need to claim things to just barely survive.

What made me wake up

When i was 17-18, I listened to podcasts, financial podcasts, often by people like Warren Buffett (who by the way, is someone I look up to) and that helped a lot, I was accumlating knowledge as I was growing up which helped my mindset change.

Warren Buffett is someone I look up to, mainly because the way he became a billionaire, is through stock market investing, something Ive been doing for a year or so now.

Investing is powerful, and its something I want do for decades, something that I find cool, is that overtime, money that is invested, compounds over time, so your moneys money, is making money, and it creates a snowball effect, that tells me that becoming a millionaire nowadays, really isnt as hard as it used to be, all you really need to do to achieve that kind of wealth, is take advantage of your skills, find a side hustle that suits you and invest into stocks, I also invest a bit into cryptocurrency, but its speculative, but it'll always be a part of my portfolio.

What I started doing differently

When I was younger, I spent my money, everytime I got the chance, the money went in, and out within a few hours or so, that was just me when I was younger and im sure the majority of young teens are like that, but now? Spending money, is rare for me, the only things I spend it on, are of course neccessities such as Bills and subscriptions, its important to live below your means when trying to build wealth, which is what Ive been doing for a while now, It inspires me, seeing really wealthy people, millionaires, billionaires still living life like there on a minimum wage job, in a cheap house, it shows that not every wealthy person is living in a mansion in Florida.

I started reading to, "The Intelligent Investor" is a book that ive been reading for a while, its still something I occasionally read at night times when its quiet, and me? ive never been the type to read, but ive noticed, if the content of the book is something im interested, such as finance, i'll read it, all of it, even if ive never been the type to even touch a book or go to a library, as ive grown up, i've noticed, that knowledge is everything, the more one knows about something, the more one can do with that knowledge.

So, as of now, I invest into the stock market, my stocks that I invest off consist of tech stocks such as NVIDIA, a long term stock I can see growing a lot in the 2030s, Intel and also the S&p500 which is a common long term stock as it is built around 500 companies in the US, and sees an average return of 8% per year.

Sometimes when bored, I'd just, flip computer parts, i'd order a £100 GPU, and sell it for £130, buy another one for £300, sell it for £380, the profit kept stacking and of course I gave the GPU a clean up and repaste so it was worth the extra.

So I made a rule to avoid spending money on things that doesn't multiply itself, unless of course its a neccessity such as bills.

How my life has changed

Im still only 19 years old, so im definitely at the start of my story, who knows where i'll be when im 25, 30, 35, 40? investing is a long term thing but with dedication and resillience as well as a mindset that doesn't change, I can see my wealth grow a lot by then, as long as I don't give up.

I definitely feel ahead of my age group, of course, being 19, the average 19 year old, they dont invest, they spend most of there money on clothes and takeaways and maybe things they simply dont need, me however, im thinking of the long term, im thinking how I can build wealth long term and create generational wealth.

My advice to anyone my age or younger

Invest, investing is something that can be so powerful if you know what your doing, long term? its the best way to grow money, no ones gonna get wealthy by saving £100 out of there paycheck per month, investing it however, maybe.

The cool thing that I like about investing into stocks, is you dont even need much money to do it, I remember, when I started when I was 18, I was putting in the odd £20 and £50 here and there, and when I saw growth, it kind of inspired me to carry on and motivated me more to invest, as of now my portfolio is worth around £6000, but thats without any major side hustle bringing in serious cash, with a side hustle, that'll grow to even more, the more capital one has, the better, investing is risky but to me, no one deserves to be rich if there scared of risk.

Anyone my age or younger should learn about compound interest and stock market investing, compound interest is a simple thing, its just the moneys money, making more money, so its kind of multiplying which can turn £1 into thousands in a few years, which makes investing long term so powerful.

TLDR: Don't let other peoples mindset takeover yours, do what you think is right, and never let your goals go.