Being poor sucks....sometimes.

The biggest mistake young people make is underestimating how competitive the world is out there.

Everyone will have had a group of friends who went hitchhiking around Europe or travelling in Asia when they were nineteen, living off ten dollars a day. And they were so happy! And they had so much fun! And money wasn't an issue!

Yes, that was youth, that was not reality. Reality is much bigger than youth - and not as nice.

That's not to say cash is the be-all and end-all. But to deny the importance of the material world around you (and its hard currencies) is to detach yourself from reality. And the world will likely punish you hard, eventually, for denying reality.

I've often been asked by younger kids, which do I think is a better career choice: "Creativity" or "Money"? I say both are the wrong answer! The best thing to be in this world is an effective human being. Sometimes that requires money, sometimes it doesn't. You just have to be ready for either when it happens.