I find that this is great question. It made me to rethink some things. I would definitely say to my 18YO self not to spend money on stupid things but learn all about financial markets and invest, invest, invest.. and put something into gold and hold
The H1 HumVee was a dumb purchase. Same with Martha's Hinckley that you bought with tax money and had to sell even before you took possession. The co-op that you bought high and sold low (2008). Telling dad to sell the Rancho Santa Fe property to buy three properties in Maine. Yes, Maine. This is depressing.
In addition to maxing out on your 401K invest regularly. Or if you want to be a little more clever then when market goes down a lot buy even more index funds. The long term trend is up. Individual stocks/futures/options are hard to time though there are a few edges here and there. I wished I had taken that advice myself.
I agree. I would say my 18 year old self to not waste time in unnecessary things and start gaining knowledge on forex trading. Forex is a great way to make money and starting off as soon as you feel grown up is the best thing one can do . Since it takes a lot of time to get a hold of forex trading , starting off at 18 years would be a great thing .
And by the way, aside from not giving a shit about my 18YO self, because he was not prescient, and could not see the future and so could not give my older self any advice, my current self would tell him "Psst, hey kid, there's no such thing as time travel. You made the right choice in not trying to tell my future self what to do."