The Conversation About Money I Wish Someone Had With Me at 25

When I was 25, I had one very clear, very naive goal: I wanted to be a millionaire by the time I was 30. I had just finished my engineering degree, and despite the terrible job market at the time, I managed to land a great position within two weeks. I thought I was on the fast track. I thought my degree and my work ethic were the only tools I needed to build serious wealth.

I was completely wrong.

I didn’t hit that goal by 30. In fact, I spent the next decade running the exact same race as everyone else—climbing the corporate ladder, taking on a huge mortgage, buying the cars, and getting completely absorbed in the day-to-day grind. I was making more money, but I wasn’t getting any closer to true financial freedom. I was just upgrading my lifestyle and increasing my stress.

Looking back now, I realise that the problem wasn’t my salary or my job. The problem was my mindset. I had deeply ingrained beliefs about money that were quietly sabotaging every financial decision I made. If I could sit down with my 25-year-old self today, there is a very specific conversation I would have.

The Hidden Beliefs That Keep You Broke

At 25, I wanted to be rich, but I subconsciously believed that rich people were bad. I grew up with the idea that wealthy people were greedy, that they stepped on others to get ahead, and that having a lot of money somehow made you a worse person.

You cannot become something you secretly despise. As long as those beliefs were running in the background, I was always going to self-sabotage. I would earn more, but I would immediately find ways to spend it or lock it up in liabilities like a bigger house. My internal operating system was not programmed for wealth; it was programmed for survival and social approval.

I also believed that the only way to become a millionaire was to invent something revolutionary or build a massive company from scratch. Every time I had a business idea, I immediately saw all the obstacles—patents, funding, risk—and talked myself out of it. I didn’t understand that wealth is rarely built through sudden, massive breakthroughs. It is built through consistent, strategic asset accumulation.

The One Move I Wish I Had Made Sooner

If I had just asked a few wealthy people how they actually built their net worth, I would have heard the same answer over and over again: real estate. Most millionaires don’t invent the next iPhone. They buy assets that appreciate and produce cash flow over time.

Even back then, I had a gut feeling that I should buy a rental property. I calculated that if I could just get one property generating €500 a month, it would double my savings rate. But when the bank told me I needed a large deposit, I gave up. I didn’t look for creative financing. I didn’t partner with anyone. I just accepted the “no” and went back to my salary.

If I could tell my younger self one practical thing, it would be this: start acquiring cash-flowing assets immediately. Do whatever it takes to get your first one. The time in the market is far more important than timing the market.

The 4 Books That Change Everything

But the practical advice wouldn’t have worked without the mindset shift. I didn’t start doing the deep personal development work until much later, after I hit a wall of burnout and started questioning everything about my career and my life.

If I were talking to a 25-year-old today, I wouldn’t hand them a stock portfolio. I would hand them these four books and tell them not to make another major life decision until they had read them:

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
This is the book that breaks the illusion of the salary. It teaches you the fundamental difference between an asset (something that puts money in your pocket) and a liability (something that takes money out). It is the ultimate cure for the employee mindset.

2. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
The oldest and simplest rules of wealth. It teaches you to pay yourself first, live below your means, and make your gold work for you. It proves that wealth-building is not about complex math; it is about discipline.

3. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
This is where you fix the internal operating system. It forces you to define exactly what you want, why you want it, and how to align your subconscious mind with your conscious goals. It is the antidote to self-sabotage.

4. The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
A profound look at the abundance mindset. It teaches you that wealth is not a zero-sum game. You do not have to take from others to get rich; you create wealth by adding value to the world.

Define Your Own Freedom

The biggest mistake I made at 25 was wanting to be a millionaire without knowing why. I didn’t know what freedom actually looked like for me. I just wanted the number.

If you are young, ambitious, and working hard, stop for a moment. Ask yourself what you are actually building. Do you want a pile of money in the bank, or do you want control over your time? Do you want to look rich to your neighbours, or do you want the quiet peace of knowing you never have to work a job you hate again?

Start doing the internal work now. Challenge your beliefs about money. Find people who are living the life you want and ask them how they did it. And most importantly, start building assets instead of just building a career.

If you are ready to start making that shift, the Modern Wealthy programme is the perfect place to begin. It provides the exact framework for building income streams that don’t rely on trading your time for an hourly wage.