The 10 Best Purchases I've Made in My 20's

Auto-captioned from the film, lightly cleaned. Elena's words, not edited prose.

hi hello how's it going it's helena welcome back to my channel i feel like our relationship with money in our 20s is quite odd and i feel like i've seen so many videos on the internet of people talking about their worst purchases in their 20s so i figured i'd talk about some of my favorite and most valuable purchases thus far i am only 24 so it's not like i'm like made my way through my whole 20s yet and i just turned 24 like last week but i do feel like so far at least in my early 20s there's been some things that i have found to be very valuable your 20s it's interesting because it's often the first time you have like a real job like you're making an actual salary but you're also in this very strange in-between season of trying to figure out who you want to be what you want to do who you want to become it's just it's a weird time so i figured i'd talk about the best purchases i've made so far in my 20s first is my camera which is on my tripod right now what i'm currently using this bad boy was not cheap i use the sony a 6600 and i have a sony 18 105 lens on i feel like an investment in your career and something you're passionate about is never wasted but camera might not be necessarily applicable to you i feel like any investment in a career or something that you're passionate about or you want to get better at is gonna be worth it for me obviously to purchase a nicer camera and a higher quality camera is gonna further what i do here on youtube it's gonna improve the videos i make and allow me to keep growing and hopefully keep getting better at what i love to do next up is education and bear with me here i'm sure you expected that to come up at some point in this video but i don't necessarily mean a college degree and that piece of paper while i am grateful for my college degree and for all the hard work and time it took me to finally get to the end and get that degree and the gpa and the whole deal i think just education in general in your 20s is so so crucial that could look like taking online courses through something like skillshare or teachable in an area you're interested in it could be watching youtube videos or following courses through khan academy there's endless ways to learn every single day through books and modern technology that gained knowledge and experience is going to pay off and i feel like continuously pushing yourself to learn and educate yourself not just through your 20s but your whole life is one of the most important things you can do for yourself well i did go down the traditional education path doing my undergrad and i'd love to go to grad school at some point in my 20s again education doesn't have to equate to that college degree there's so many different ways to keep learning okay next up is my kindle this is a newer purchase in my life but i feel like i've really fallen back in love with reading in the last year or two i love to read throughout childhood and throughout a good chunk of high school but i feel like high school and college where there was so much forced reading i kind of fell out of love of reading for pleasure i think i'd put a lot of pressure on myself to like only read books that are gonna have like an exact end goal but i think the whole purpose of reading is to enjoy it even if it's just picking up a cheesy fictional book reading in general has brought me so much joy and so my kindle has made that so much easier i feel like any e-reader you just tend to read more often there's some statistic that i'm probably gonna butcher but it says that people with e-readers so something like a kindle read 40 more than people without e-readers so if you want to get yourself to read more get that kindle what's great too about the kindle is you can hook it up to a app called libby where you're able to rent digital copies of books through your local public library so that's what i do i oftentimes don't even need to pay for the book i'm just renting it through my local library onto my kindle i feel like for me too having a kindle transforms the reading experience because it's so small and light and it looks like paper but i can stick it in any purse any backpack it's not going to add a bunch of weight open it just pull it out when i'm like on the subway or waiting in a long line definitely shifted the way i read how frequently i read highly recommend next is travel and i'm not going to dive into all the cheesy reasons fully of why you should travel in your 20s but let me just give you a few to be super cheesy here's a mark twain quote i'm going to read off my computer travel is fatal to prejudice bigotry and narrow-mindedness and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts broad wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime i feel like some of the most valuable experiences of my life to date revolve around trips i've taken or different times i've traveled and pushed myself outside my comfort zone i feel like it gives you a greater appreciation for all for people different from yourselves of different ways of living and the way that you live your own life specifically one of the purchases that was super valuable to me was the solo trip i did to switzerland back in 2018 this was the first ever solo trip i ever took i don't know why i just kind of had this diy i'm gonna do a solo trip and i was like stubborn as hell about it and just planned it out stayed in hostels backpacked around throughout switzerland and it was one of the most incredible experiences i think it really opened up my eyes to what i was capable of and how truly being independent can allow me to really like take my life by the reins it's easy to feel like oh i could never travel without like a partner best friends but there's all these places i want to go but i don't have anybody to do it with you can do it on your own it allowed me to meet so many people i would have never met i saw a whole new culture a whole new beautiful country i did that trip pretty much right before i moved to new york city on my own which was another valuable plane ticket booked because i had just taken this trip but i'd explore this whole country completely on my own i felt prepared to move to new york city on my own and figure it out and make it work no matter what because i knew i was capable of doing so any type of travel i highly recommend i have a whole video on how to do it for cheap and for free obviously we're in a pandemic it's not the best time but whenever it's available and possible again please get out there and travel and if possible try out a solo trip all right my next one is putting money into your retirement if you've seen any other finance related videos you're probably not surprised because i'm always like please start your roth ira today actually like yesterday i am an advocate of investing towards your future so if you're not familiar with the roth iras it's a retirement account that you open up through something like vanguard which is where i have my roth ira opened up it allows you to contribute post-tax money into an account that grows over time through the power of compounding interest until you retire i am able to put in money now as a 24 year old and then i can take it out once i'm 59 and a half or older the money is taxed now when i'm 24.

most likely if you are in your 20s you're in a lower tax bracket now in your 20s then you're going to be later in life when you're able to take that money out so i'm paying lower taxes for this money that's going to grow exponentially and then once i take it out i don't pay any taxes which is incredible so you open a roth ira account and then you can contribute a target date index fund so i think mine's like let's say 2060 so i'm putting in this money now i'm letting it sit and i'm letting it grow until that target date is met you can hold a bunch of different investments within a roth area like stocks and bonds and index funds and even mutual funds and the value of it is that you put in this money and it just grows if you want to understand a little bit more about it again there's another video you can check out about how to invest start your retirement it is one of the best things you can do for yourself is to invest your money wisely obviously make sure you're paying off your debt make sure you have a savings account and then max out that roth ira okay next up is my dr martin's they're a little looking a little rough i saved up to get those i think i was like 20 for my 20th birthday i really wanted a pair of doc martens for one i thought they were really cool i knew they were high quality and i just always wanted a pair i like loved punk music and rock music so for one i was like sick they're so edgy they've had so much greater value than i expected i have literally worn those all over the world i think they've come on every trip with me because they're so sturdy and durable and comfortable once you break them in i think part of the value of them is i've bought them years ago and i've used them for years so they've gotten more than their money's worth the fashion industry especially the fast fashion industry makes so much money from constantly flipping styles and trends and getting people to buy new pieces you know multiple times a year or even monthly and so i think there's a lot of value of slowly learning and buying nice quality pieces that you're going to keep in your wardrobe for years and you're going to be able to use in many different ways in many different occasions which the doc martens have definitely been that piece for me they're so sturdy i think i will always have a pair of dr martin's in my closet because i absolutely love them maybe dr martin's not your style but i think investing in something like a really high quality jacket or a really nice suitcase or travel bag things like that that you're going to have for years and years and years it's worth paying a little bit more and getting that higher quality hopefully sustainable piece because it will last in your wardrobe for quite some time it's better for the environment and it's better for your wallet okay next up is my macbook which might sound like a bit of an obvious purchase but i think it's easy to try to want to cut corners with things like technology because it is so expensive but in my case i was using a really old like 2015 macbook that was super slow for way too long to try to edit for my job it would constantly like crash adobe premiere or like my emails would like be really slow to send it was just not good but i was like i don't want to spend the money let me keep just like struggling along with this i finally invested a new macbook with like more space and quicker speed and it has been so worth every penny because i like live off my macbook i use it every single day i use it for my work my whole job and career is essentially on it a lot of times a computer too is oftentimes a tool that you can use to build out different skill sets learn to make money off your computer there's so many different things and avenues that it can be used for the tools you use day-to-day are going to affect your levels of productivity so i feel like it makes more sense to get the nice tools that are gonna work effectively every single time so another one of my best purchases in my 20s is a quality mattress i love my bed so much and the mattress was not cheap i got it off casper it's like a queen i got a little mattress topper i got nice sheets i got nice pillows i have not regretted a dollar i've spent when it comes to my bed i feel like it's easy especially in your 20s to get a bunch of cheap furniture budget pieces which makes sense especially if you're gonna be moving around a lot i think so much of us spend such a large chunk of our day sleeping in our bed so it makes sense to invest in a really nice bed you're gonna get incredible sleep experience you're gonna be comfortable and your health is just better when you get better sleep and a good mattress can last like a decade or longer too okay so the next purchase is a bit cheesy i know everyone's always like invest in yourself but people say it for reasons one of the best purchases i made is my journal and i actually have a ton of journals i've been journaling since i was like 15.

and i by no means i'm someone that journals every day a lot of times i'll like put down my journal for a month and then i'll finally pick it up again but every time i do i'm so grateful that i journaled again journaling has been so helpful across the board for one it's a great place to vent it's an incredible way to organize your feelings to kind of achieve perspective by seeing how you've been thinking it's a way to capture really important and special memories and i think it's just overall really great for your mental health and to kind of capture different things that you don't want to forget it's just such a helpful and useful exercise they're super cheap too it's like one of the best inexpensive things you can do for yourself one of the next best purchases for me has been a gym membership slash like boutique fitness glasses i know some people are gonna think this is a dumb purchase yes you can exercise for free but for myself personally especially living in new york city i either try to do like a little workout in the like three by six feet of space between my bed and my closet or i try to go for a run but it's like a dirty smelly city like shout out new york for me investing in a gym membership or workout classes like f45 has been so important it really helps me structure out my day it massively helps not just my physical health but my mental health to have something like that to go to and get out this physical stress and just kind of like clear my head and i also just feel so much more comfortable and confident and happy in my body and my skin when i know i'm exercising and i'm becoming stronger over time i think a personal investment into my mental and physical well-being is certainly worth it okay so those were some of my best purchases of my 20s i hope you enjoyed i found that i never regret any purchases that have to do with my own personal educational journey i think learning and growing will always be one of the most important things to me i think certain purchases that are going to advance the skill set are always going to be worth it and then i've never regretted anything that's an investment in my health and wellness and just makes me feel happier and more confident if you enjoyed this video make sure to like it and subscribe and hit that notification bell i really appreciate it it helped me a lot and until next time thanks so much for watching