<prompt> Human: Ill make this as brief as I can, but young folks, dont be me. More than 10 years ago, I came into a large sum from my late grandpa. I was depressed, sad, and mourning. I also never had money of my own, so getting 140k over a 2 year span at 18 was slightly mindblowing. I was cheap, thought nothing of it, and kept driving a beater car. It started slowly. A cool pair of sneakers? Well I do have money now, why not? A brand new iMac? Ive got it, why not. The car started to go through problems, and a couple costly repairs later, I started dreaming about nice, brand new, sporty cars. Well, as one would expect, being in college on my own, this was my chance to shine. Mom was the custodian so it was pretty easy to just bug her a little to get access. Boom, 17k spent on a new Civic. A year later, well, this car isnt very sporty. How about something thats actually sporty? Another large chunk gone after trading in the year old, nothing wrong with, reliable car. This snowballed. New clothes, new computers, new everything. A closet full of sneakers, expensive clothing, food at nice restaurants, gifts for girls, trips, not realizing the damage being done inch by inch. Dollar by dollar.Eventually I reached 20k in credit card debt. Had to sell all of that fancy stuff to pay off debt. Underwater on cars. No retirement savings, no more windfall, no more being on top of the mountain. With compounding and dividends, getting to a million wouldve been a fairly easy process. Today, Im closing in on 30, less than 20k in retirement savings, and still owing 10k on a car. My brokerage account has less than 500 in it, my savings has a meager 500. Living at home, dreams crushed, and trying to get back to what once was. Young folks, heed this warning! It is so hard to get back to solid footing once you dig yourself deep into a ditch. Put your money away, dont touch it, dont try to impress your friends or strangers, think about the consequences. I wish teenage me were a sub to this thread 10 years ago. You have the power to make your life much easier in your 20s and 30s, even if you simply avoid card debt.Edit: Wow I didnt expect this post to blow up like this, but Im glad its reaching my target audience. It is not a good feeling to mess yourself up but its a lesson learned and I am glad I have this sub now in my life. Thanks all.  <response>: Young folks, heed this warning! It is so hard to get back to solid footing once you dig yourself deep into a ditch. Put your money away, dont touch it, dont try to impress your friends or strangers, think about the consequences. I wish teenage me were a sub to this thread 10 years ago. You have the power to make your life much easier in your 20s and 30s, even if you simply avoid card debtMan, you have had fun, enjoyed sport cars, trips and so on for free. You have gained so much experience over these 10 years. You would not have written the same warning as you do now if you havent spent that money as you did.My answer is: you did have great life and you will have great life - with a lot of experiences, also bad. Bad experiences make you do not make the same mistake again! 