On the heels of the JMMB Group’s Elevate 4.0, a virtual event series that kicked off last Friday (January 21), financial experts who acted as panellists at the ‘A Millenial’s + Gen X Guide To Building Wealth’ session, shared timely advice to their younger selves with regard to building wealth.

After learning from their own mistakes, the panellists, including Jamaican wealth coach and author Anna Palomino and American trader and Tik Tok influencer Errol Coleman, with discussions moderated by founder of the Learn Grow Invest Group, Jermaine McDonald, all agreed that building wealth requires taking action.

According to Palomino, two pieces of advice she would give to her younger self in relation to building wealth is to start investing early and not to try to keep up with the Jones’.

“What I wish I knew earlier is, first of all, for every single dollar that you earn or get, put some of that into investments. You are never too young to start learning about investments, you are never too young to start learning about personal finance,” said Palomino.

She added: “Something else I would want to tell my younger self is, don’t try to keep up with the Jones’. Don’t watch anybody else, you are running your own race.

“You have your own challenges, you have your own difficulties, don’t get down on yourself, don’t get depressed when you are not here or you are not there because Bob is there and Mary is there. Just make sure you focus on yourself, lockdown on your goals, ascertain what your goals are… and then you start working… .”

For his part, Coleman shared that he would advise his younger self to take risks.

“Take risks and don’t be shy,” began Coleman. “Be curious, research and take advantage of YouTube. That has gotten me pretty far, so the technology we have, don’t take it for granted.”

One piece of advice that McDonald felt his younger self would relate with is to think long term.

“I would say to my younger self, ‘think long term’. That was the thing that I never… when I was in my 20s I just focused on tomorrow, or next week, or next month. I wasn’t really thinking about building wealth, I wasn’t interested. I thought it was impossible, based on where I started,” said McDonald.

He continued: “But now, I mean in the last five years that I have been investing, it’s so possible for me and it is right within my grasp to get to my goals that I don’t necessarily wish that I started sooner. I just wish that I started as soon as I heard about it.”

READ: A Millenial’s Guide To Building Wealth: Key takeaways from JMMB’s Elevate 4.0 Day 1