I’m Turning 30 this month.

On August 26 I’ll be 30 years old. Turning 30 is a milestone birthday. Its at the age where you seriously reflect on your life and determine if you’re satisfied with where you been and where you’re going. I can say that I’m happy with both.

Of course there are things that I would do differently if I could but no need to reflect on that because at the end of every year there is going to be something that you would do differently, that’s just life.

I don’t have any major regrets which is a good thing. And I’m proud to know that I had fun in my 20s but I didn’t waste my whole 20s partying. I accomplished things that many people can’t say they have at 30 like earning my Masters Degree in Human Resources Management, publishing my first fiction novel on Amazon.com, getting married, getting a promotion in my career.

I thank God for everything I have and have done in my life so far and since I’m turing 30 there are things that I want to get more serious about because before you know it’ll be 20 years later and I’m turning 50. At 50 I want to be even more happy with where I’m at in life than I am now and to get there there are certain things that I have to stay on top of to ensure that I’m doing all I can to have a happy and successful future.

1. Save More Spend Less – I’ve been contributing to my 401k since 2014 when I joined the Army and I will continue to contribute to my new career 401k when I leave the Army in 2021. I also want to focus on raising my emergency fund. Financial advisors suggest to have at least 10% of your annual income stored in emergency fund. I make $70,000 a year so I should have $7,000 stored away in emergency fund and I don’t. I want to have a years worth of bills stored away in my emergency savings. God forbid I will ever be out of an income for a year, but just knowing that I have that emergency fund brings peace to whatever problems may come.
2. Be more deliberate with my goals. I’m a writer. But its really hard for me to make myself write. I wish fiction writing could be a 9 to 5 job. Its easy to distract myself with other things while writing at home. Even while writing this article I distracted myself a few times by researching something that popped in my head. I was thinking that if I write two books a year for the next ten years then I can have twenty books published in my name by time I’m 40. Even if I don’t become a NYTimes best-selling writer it will still be a huge accomplishment.  

As of now that’s about it. I believe the biggest goals to achieve at 30 are financial goals and career/hobby goals. I want to ensure that my wife and I are in a comfortable financial status by time we’re 50 and I want to publish as many books as I think of by time I’m 50.

What were some of your goals when you turned 30? And were you satisfied with your life at 30 or were there some major opportunities that you missed out on? For those 40 and older what is some advice that you would give your 30 year old self?