Money in my opinion is not the most important thing in life, but it is nice to know that you have a certain amount of money, saved or invested, which you can use if needed. I actually think that health and happiness are the two most important things in life. Having this pool of money helps to keep me healthy and happy, as it means that I do not have to stress as much about the future.
I only really realised the importance of investing and saving money, when I was twenty-three years of age. Up until this age, I would always spend all of my wages and did not care if I was overdrawn in the bank. I used to think that I could die tomorrow, so why bother about saving money which I might not ever use. This is a bit stupid, I know.
At the age of twenty-three, on one particular day, I was having a conversation with a friend called Tim. He basically earned the same amount of money as I did and lived a similar lifestyle. Tim told me that he was thinking of buying a flat and that he was going to cash in his investment bond to help fund the move. I was very shocked that he even had a bond and asked him how long he had had the bond, and how he had managed to get the money to...