If I were 20

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

You know, one of the things I'm always saying is that if this country is gonna get better, if this country is gonna go on the right path, we have to step up as a community. Veterans are the sleeping giant in this country, and it is time for us to step up. That's why I wanna talk to you about The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Now you might have thought about The Citadel in the past as this corps of cadets, this military institution, but they have programs for veterans that don't involve you joining the corps of cadets, don't involve you wearing a uniform every day, and don't involve you living a military lifestyle. If you wanna do that, great.

But if that's not what you're up for right now after your military career, then you don't have to do that, and you can access some of the best programs in the world. The Citadel has some hot degrees in intelligence, tactical strength and conditioning, engineering, and project management. And there's five student type options for veterans. There's graduate college, there's evening undergraduate, there's active duty students, non cadet day program, returning cadet veterans, and online programs. The academic offerings include undergraduate, graduate, college transfer, graduate certificates, and online degrees.

Veterans have access to every single academic degree the college offers, and they have the most flexibility when it comes to their schedule. They can major in anything offered to the cadets and would take those classes during the day with the cadets. But then there's other programs offered in the evening or online and graduate programs to choose from too to make things so flexible for you. The US World and News report has named the Citadel the number one college for veterans in the South. And for veterans who choose to take classes on campus, they get to be a civilian student in a military environment.

They don't have to wear uniforms, like I said before. They don't have to join the military culture of the corps of cadets. The atmosphere is a really good transition environment from military to civilian life. There's an organic mentorship that comes from taking classes with the cadets. The cadets wanna talk to you guys.

They wanna hear your stories. They wanna know what it was actually like to be in the military. A lot of the a lot of these men and women are gonna go on to serve as officers in the military, and they're gonna exact change. And they need to hear from you guys. They you also get access to The Citadel's alumni network.

Like I said, this is one of the most illustrious institutions in the world. And when you join the Citadel and you graduate, you're part of their alumni network. That includes so many leaders. It includes so many business leaders, so many leaders from the military, and so many leaders from the government. The college's core values of honor, duty, and respect align with veteran culture.

They align with who you are, and it's something that you're not gonna get anywhere else in this country. There is tons of special assistance for veterans at The Citadel. And whether you're a veteran or active duty military personnel, you can take advantage of these programs. You also get access to the veteran student success center, the career center, the academic success center, the student veteran association, and all campus clubs. If you wanna play rugby, you could do that.

If you wanna you wanna lift weights, you could do that. You get access to everything that the students get. There's fellowship opportunities. There's tons and tons of financial assistance. So if you're interested in getting a degree from The Citadel and building your life, head over to citadel.edu/veterans.

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And we need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul podcast.

What is going on, ladies and gents? Welcome to another edition of the Warrior Soul podcast. My name is Chris Albert, and this podcast is where I deliver tools, tactics, strategies, and ideas to help US military veteran community and anybody else willing to listen to live their absolute best lives. And today, I'm gonna do something that I wish somebody had done for me back when I was in my twenties. I am gonna tell you everything that I would do if I could go back to my 20 year old self and give them a life plan or a guide for how to move forward.

And the thing is, you know, back when I was that age, you know, I was in the Marine Corps, there were no, like, podcasts. There wasn't, like, there wasn't, like, what there is today. Right? There were books, but at that point, I was like, screw reading. Blah blah blah.

You know, I read books, but, like, not, like, for pleasure, any personal development or anything like that. Definitely wasn't somebody who was gonna just pick one up. You know, my my free time was spent drinking. My free time was spent partying. My free time was spent doing a lot of shit that didn't add up to anything good for myself.

Right? And so what I wanna do is I wanna talk to you guys about things that you could do to begin your life and get get to a really good place by the time you're my age. I'm 41 right now. I've done this on the show before. I've talked about this on the show before, but I haven't in a while.

And I think with time, there comes perspective. Right? With time, there comes perspective. And at this point, I'm finally at a place where I think I've dug myself out of a hole, and I can get a good lay of the land and see some of the mistakes I made and and really think about what I would have done had I had a better head on my shoulders at the time. So the first one is this.

I most certainly would not be in a serious relationship when I was 20. And, you know, this should apply whether you're a guy or whether you're a girl. Alright? Whether you're male or female, do not think that we should be in serious relationships when we're 20. Of course, everybody's different.

Maybe you found true love. Maybe you found this. Maybe you found that. But here's what I'll say. When you're 20 years old, you still don't know yourself.

You still do not know yourself. You don't know who you are, you don't know what you want out of life, you don't know what kind of person you're gonna be in five years, let alone ten years. So to be with somebody and to say you're gonna be with them forever, you are not only lying to to to yourself, you're lying to them. Right? You are putting that person in a position where they gotta commit to you for a long time.

They're they're giving up their youth. You're giving up yours. And what you're essentially doing is you're locking yourself into this thing that says, hey, I can't you're basically closing off possibility. I can't travel. I can't go take this really important job after I get out because it's gonna be too far away from this person I'm involved with.

I can't go do this. I can't go do that. You're basically locking yourself into something. And I know there's plenty of people out there who meet their high school sweetheart, and they get married, and they they stay together for fifty, sixty, seventy years. But I'm telling you right now, for most people, it's a one way street one way street to a really bad future.

Right? Locking yourself into a future you don't wanna be in. So the first and most basic thing I'd say is don't get into a serious relationship. The the next thing I would tell you is this. Don't do the opposite of the spectrum.

The opposite of the spectrum is to go out all the time and party and and try to sleep with as many people as you can and and, you know, spend all your money at the club or or whatever people do these days to to have a good time socially. Right? Don't don't spend all your money at the bar. Don't, you know, spend most of your paycheck on booze. Do you wanna stack your money?

Right? And and here's the deal. I I truly believe that when you're in your twenties, you should do some of that. Right? There should be times when you're going out.

There should be times when you're going to the club. There should be times when you're you're you're, you know, going and doing crazy things. Right? That's an important part of being young. But one of the mistakes I made and one of the mistakes I see a lot of people make is that they're spending a good portion of their paychecks each weekend at the bar.

And I'll tell you right now, the more you do that in your twenties, the less happy you're gonna be when you get to your thirties and forties. The less happy you're gonna be when you get to your thirties and forties because you're you're really blocking yourself off. You're really keeping yourself from any future financial possibilities. If you're going, you're maxing out your credit card at the bar, you're you're you're, you know, just going out there and spending everything you earn on booze. Alright?

I will say this, you know, go out there and and and, you know, have a nice dinner once a month. Go out and have a good night out once a month, but don't do it every weekend. I'd also say, you know, get out there and travel as much as possible. Right? A lot of you serve served in the military.

You get to travel with the military. I would say maybe try to take an opportunity to go out there and travel on your own without being under the military's wing, so to speak. Go out there and experience freedom. Right? When COVID lifts and you're not, you know, under lockdown, hopefully, you'll get that chance.

Hopefully, you'll get out there and and take some opportunities to to head over to Europe or head over to Asia, Africa, or or any of the other amazing places that are out there on this planet. I truly hope that happens for you guys, and I hope truly hope you take the chance when you do get it. But the next thing I'll say is this, and this comes off of everything I just said as far as not going out to the bars. I'd be stacking money, but stacking money for a purpose. I would absolutely start investing when I was in my twenties.

I'd start an IRA. I would start a Roth IRA. Alright? You guys can look up what those are. I'm not gonna go into the differences between retirement accounts here on this episode.

I would start saving money to try to buy a house. Right? I would try to buy as much real estate as possible no matter what. Right? No matter what financial position you're in, no matter what you're doing, I would try to buy as much real estate as possible, and I would rent that real estate out.

If you're out there, you're renting the house with a bunch of buddies, what I'd say is go out, try to get a house, try to buy a house, and then get your buddies to live with you, have them pay you some rent so that you can pay off that mortgage and and own that house and eventually, you know, buy another one and rent that house out. I would try to keep doing that, and and that's because of a couple of things. One, you wanna invest in an IRA or a Roth IRA because classically, the the stock market is going up to the right. Right? It's it's increasing.

It increases over time. Right? Two, real estate, such a good holder of value. You know, if you're paying off a mortgage, you're actually putting money into a savings account that's building equity into a house. Alright?

And then you could use that equity for other things. Alright? You could use it to buy more houses. You could use it to expand your empire. And then by the time you're my age, maybe you own ten, fifteen houses, you're getting rent off of each of them.

And at that point, you have a nice little cushion of side income coming in while you're doing your job. Right? And that leads to a lot more security than just having your job and losing it at any point in time and losing your main source of income. Right? So think about that.

Think of ways that you can go out there and you could buy houses. You can you can invest your money, save your money. Right? And then, of course, like I said before, have a few good times while you can. The final thing is this, and again, this is one of those basic things that that I almost don't think about, but it's become such a part of my life that I, you know, give thanks for the fact that it I made it part of my life long ago, and that's fitness.

Never stop training. Never stop exercising. Never stop being active. Never stop building your body. The second you do, I'm telling you right now, is the second you lose it all.

The second you lose your mind, the second you lose your self worth, the second you lose your self confidence, the second you lose the things that make you you as a young person. Never stop training. Constantly take care of body. Put good food in your body. That is the investment that you will carry with you for the rest of your life.

I see as far too many people who are my age, I'm only 41, who look like they're in their fifties and sixties. It's unbelievable. Take care of your body. Don't put crap into it. Don't sit there on the couch, Cheetos all day long.

Take care of yourself. Take care of your body. Get out there. Move. You know, be healthy.

Right? Investments into your health are the most significant thing you can do. Right? The the two things you're carrying with you for the rest of your life, your mind and your body, and if you lose either of them, you're screwed. Alright?

So that's what I got for you guys today. And and, you know, I'm not trying to put any potion on this. I'm not trying to make this into anything super complicated. I'm I'm trying to give you things that I would focus on if I was a young man today. And I'm still a young man.

I fully plan on living to a 100. But, you know, for you 20 year olds, if I had twenty years, that would be amazing. Right? I would give anything to be 20 years old again. And you will too probably when you're my age.

So I'll talk to you guys soon. This is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul podcast, and I am out.