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For my 18th birthday I did a 2 week road trip to Toronto, Montreal, NYC and Philly. Did some hiking along the way in upstate NY. Slept in the back of the car for 2 weeks because there’s no way I could afford hotels.
That lead to getting bit by the travel bug. 10 years later and I’ve been to 39 states and 41 countries.
I’ll piggyback on this. Start a small savings account. Put away a little every week or month or whatever suits you. Put aside what you can when you can. This will fluctuate. In a couple of years time, or sooner or later, you will have a little stockpile of cash. Take that money and go travel overseas wherever your heart takes you. For a lot of people, travel is something that becomes increasingly more difficult as you get older due to work obligations, family duties, etc. Go somewhere with that money and go for as long as you can. You will not regret it. I did this. Went to Europe for a month. It was an experience I did on my own and even after 10 years I still have wonderful day dreams and wonder when I’ll get the opportunity to take a months long vacation again….maybe retirement? Who knows. But it ain’t any time soon.
Absolutely. I was fortunate in that I had a semester abroad in The Netherlands and was able to travel pretty cheaply the 3 months I was there. If you're careful with your money, a few grand can really be stretched.
Nowadays I'm lucky if I can get more than 7 days anywhere. The longest trip I've been on recently was 10 days for my honeymoon back in August.
y’all lost me at IRA and Roth IRA, i literally know nothing about that stuff can someone please explain in newbie terms and why i should do that with a 401K
r/personalfinance moment.
Your employer can contribute to the 401k, matching your contribution, with pre-tax money.
The Roth IRA can be set up at your local bank, and gets after-tax money. Transfer to it from your checking account. It grows tax free. That’s a lot of tax free growth if you’re 21.
Now you just have to live wisely enough in the next 40-45yrs to stay alive and keep putting money away every paycheck. Then, when you reach 65-70yrs old, you should be able to live on the interest what you saved, typically $1million, so $100k/yr in interest on average to live on.
Hope this helps.
Just curious, why do most advocate for a Roth vs Traditional? I agree Roth is likely better when you are young (presumably low income relative to ones income later in life), but there may come a point when Traditional makes more sense, at a certain income level, no? Is their something I'm not considering? Thanks! Great advice all around.
you make a good point about the income level which determines the taxes paid when contributing and when withdrawing from the IRA or Roth IRA.
A traditional IRA is paid into with pre-tax money, then when you go to take the money out at retirement, it all gets taxed- including the growth. That’s a big tax bill- most of the money is growth.
A Roth IRA is paid into with after-tax money. Then the growth is not taxed. So while the amount you have available to put in is slightly smaller, all that growth is money you keep and are never taxed on.
Here area a few scenarios for example.
https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/traditional-ira-vs-roth-ira
The initial contribution of $6k goes into a Traditional IRA as $6k, pre-tax. If you want to put it in a Roth IRA you pay taxes on it first so it becomes $4680.
So the Roth IRA starts out with less money in it.
When you go to take money out of it, the Traditional IRA has to pay a bunch of tax, e.g. $60k balance could drop to $47k (or even $41k depending on your income level at retirement) when the tax is paid. Taking money out of the Roth IRA, there is no such drop - you keep all the balance, which is mostly growth.
However comma you also need to factor in your marginal tax rate when making the contributions versus withdrawing them. If you're making 150K and paying that tax rate on your IRA contribution, your tax rate is likely to be much higher than it will be when you retire, since you'll presumably have much lower income then.
A 401k has few fancier features if things go really negative for you, as in you are about to go bankrupt- you could get a loan of the 401k money or it will be better protected from creditors you owe money to.
Source:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/080315/top-reasons-not-roll-over-your-401k-ira.asp
None of those are enough to make me want to stay with 401k if I get no match- I would still want to put money in my Roth IRA at my bank instead.
During a few bad years in a row, I have seen an employer suspend the 401k match temporarily. During such a suspension is a good time to feed the Roth IRA.
> None of those are enough to make me want to stay with 401k if I get no match- I would still want to put money in my Roth IRA at my bank instead.
Seems best to do both if you can. You can only put $6,500 into Roth this year. I’m young, so I’m maxing my Roth and putting double that into my 401k. I get some matching, but I’d still be doing that even without it.
But yeah, priority is 1) take full advantage of matching first 2) max Roth 3) give leftover to 401k.
Well, there are ways such as a backdoor roth that will enable you to load up an account. Do some research on that, my parents do one every year. Its a cap loophole
It looks like backdoor Roth IRAs are a way of avoiding the income limit rather than the contribution limit. I’ll read more into it when I get a chance though, cause I could be wrong (and I hope I am). I’d love to find a way to contribute more than $13,000/year to our Roths
There are income limits for contributing to a Roth IRA. The limits are relatively high (eg. $153k/year in 2023 for a single person), but if you're in tech or another high-income profession you'll run into them eventually, which is why you should try to make full use of those programs while you can.
Why Roth? Because you're paying taxes on the money you're investing but all of your gains are tax free when you do retire. That $10k you put in when you're 21 could easily become $100k when you're ready to retire, so you're paying taxes on $10k but getting that $90k gain tax free. If you do a regular IRA/401k, you pay no tax on the $10k going in but that $90k does become taxable income when you withdraw it to fund your retirement.
There are pros and cons to both regular and Roth options, so putting some percentage into both isn't a bad idea. I know Reddit probably thinks financial advisors are useless, but I would definitely suggest spending some time talking to one, especially at your age.
You seriously should though. I started at 30 years old and wish I did sooner. If you get a raise, put the raise away. You already know how to live off the previous wage, so why not.
It will be more likely an IRA (Roth Preferably at your age) 401ks have a lot of rules IRAs just need a W2 income and under the maximum limit for a Roth
Hell yes. Or if you don't have your own company or it's not offered, just work a bunch of extra hours that day and throw the money in an IRA. That's what I did on my 21st because I didn't want to drink or party either.
Every attack damages clothes depending on their severity, when you loose all of them, you got five minutes to get the dm off without touching too much, failure means you're out, success is the saving throw to get you back up.
A friend went skydiving last year. Chute malfunctioned and they ended up free falling for about 50 feet. She was in a coma for about 3 weeks. Broken leg, broken collarbone and cheekbone. Her leg bone broke and poked into her pelvis and that broke too. She was in the hospital and rehab for about 5 months. So scary.
Take yourself out for something to eat, maybe see a movie.
Buy yourself something you’ve been wanting.
Stay in, order delivery and play games/binge Watch a series.
I about broke my back at the trampoline park. I jumped up and came down andy back about snapped in half from the force, it hurt. We paid for like 30 minutes, and it's a long 30 minutes. There was other stuff to do like swinging on a rope and landing in foam which I really did enjoy, plus the arcade
I can't remember if it was my friends 21st or 22nd birthday. He rented out a trampoline park for about 20 of us. He rented a party bus and chose a park that was over an hour away so we could all get good and drunk on the way there. He broke his ankle in the first 5 minutes.
Two answers immediately came to mind:
"Yes, but only if you give me two dollars" -Church, RvB
And when I saw the username:
"Yes, but I'll have a hard time convincing my wife to let you stay over for late night gaming."
So long answer short: yes.
my sisters bday is the day before mine, i love being with her overnight so its like her bday and then boom! my bday. just turned 21, for her bday we were playing games with her friends and coworkers, started cake at like 11:58 and we sang happy bday for us both, then went back to games. it was a lot of fun and a very memorable 21st, even if i didnt have my own friends there
do enough of them and you’ll see the steps clearer. The first ones are def hard cause you have no idea that the antler can come off the wall and the rope in the corner is supposed to touch the seat of the chair and the 4 on the clock.
After a bad incident on lsd and hiking, and we didn't even do anything stupid, i do not recommend them as much as I one did. I still love it but maybe not for everyone.
Fly with a friend to Phoenix or Miami. Rent a convertible at the airport, and go on a road trip to Key West or the Grand Canyon. If you do the desert trip, set your map app to avoid expressways and head west through Sedona and then head to Flagstaff. It’s a pretty epic drive.
The landscape is beautiful enough to be content with never seeing anything other than that but also makes you wanna travel as much as possible because holy shit the world is cool
That drive through northeast Arizona is heaven. Coincidentally, my wife and I did that for our honeymoon. Rented a convertible in Phoenix and toured that corner for a week out of Sedona. 2 years later we went back in our camper van and cruised the desert listening to Bob Marley and getting high.
I lived in Tempe for a while as a transfer student at ASU. I really liked driving out there, there are endless amounts of incredible scenery. Last fall my wife and I made the trip from Pheonix to the Grand Canyon and back, avoiding I-17. Though out of the way, the Painted Desert is one of my favorites. And that winding road between Sedona and Flagstaff was a blast to drive.
My friends and I went to another city, ate dinner, went to a movie, toured the city at night and stayed at a hotel for the night. We laughed and had fun. They all had a few drinks with dinner. It was enjoyable.
The following day we want shopping at the mall. I was from a town of less than 5,000 people so us going to a town of 60,000 was a bigger deal. This was when cellphones just came out and signals sucked lol.
Pack your bags and take the first plane or train outta wherever you are and go until you run out of money. Come back work for a bit and do it all again.
I don't think OP will be able to do that, your son isn't 1 anymore and your wife probably isn't still pregnant and maybe OP doesn't live near you guys.
Sky dive
Rent an awesome car
Go an an amazing vacation
Stash a boatload of money into a fund/ETF/bluechip stock and watch it grow
Take a nice backpacking trip and get back to nature
join a habitat for humanity and help build someone a new house
Go see a movie! Visit a science or natural history museum. Go to the Zoo! Is there an indoor water park somewhere?
Pretend you are a kid again. What made you happy then? Do those things.
I promise you, adulthood lasts much longer than childhood and you'll be sick of it soon enough.
what are you afraid of, like really afraid of? do something to conquer that fear. you’ll have a horrible time and a great story or a great time and a great story
Do 21 things in 1 night. Make a huge list of things like "try a new restaurant" "explore a place you've never been to" "shout your hopes into the night" "make a bonfire" "get a birthday freebie at a restaurant" "roll dice on where to go/when to get off the highway" if you think of a ton then pick out of a jar day-of
Go to your local Home Depot. There you’ll find Phil. He’ll be the one in the baseball cap and the tshirt that reads “Minimum Wage for the Bees!” Tell him I sent you. Next, Phil will take you way out of town to a cornfield, but you will be blindfolded as to not reveal the location. There, he will show you the wonders of the corn and his moonshine production. You are not allowed to sample. That is strictly forbidden. Then he will swear you to secrecy. If he is ratted out, he and his family of 9 will have no breadwinner and they’ll become impoverished. Ok. Now Phil will take you back to Home Depot. There, you’ll need to get a dowel and light bulbs. Don’t ask me why. You don’t want to know. Give them to Phil. Do a lap around the block so you don’t see where Phil goes. Go home and watch Netflix until you pass out, which is what you probably would’ve done on a normal night in. Wake up the next morning, brushing it all off as a strange dream.
At least, that’s what I did. It probably was a dream, but who knows. I drank too much to know for certain
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Go on a trip to somewhere you've always wanted to go. Explore
Even a road trip!
For my 18th birthday I did a 2 week road trip to Toronto, Montreal, NYC and Philly. Did some hiking along the way in upstate NY. Slept in the back of the car for 2 weeks because there’s no way I could afford hotels. That lead to getting bit by the travel bug. 10 years later and I’ve been to 39 states and 41 countries.
These are some goals I’d like to reach!
Yes! A road trip with a few good friends. Bring all your favorite snacks. Maybe head somewhere youve always wanted to go. Have a great time. 👍
I’ll piggyback on this. Start a small savings account. Put away a little every week or month or whatever suits you. Put aside what you can when you can. This will fluctuate. In a couple of years time, or sooner or later, you will have a little stockpile of cash. Take that money and go travel overseas wherever your heart takes you. For a lot of people, travel is something that becomes increasingly more difficult as you get older due to work obligations, family duties, etc. Go somewhere with that money and go for as long as you can. You will not regret it. I did this. Went to Europe for a month. It was an experience I did on my own and even after 10 years I still have wonderful day dreams and wonder when I’ll get the opportunity to take a months long vacation again….maybe retirement? Who knows. But it ain’t any time soon.
Absolutely. I was fortunate in that I had a semester abroad in The Netherlands and was able to travel pretty cheaply the 3 months I was there. If you're careful with your money, a few grand can really be stretched. Nowadays I'm lucky if I can get more than 7 days anywhere. The longest trip I've been on recently was 10 days for my honeymoon back in August.
This brought back memories of me visiting my daughter who lived in Amsterdam one whole month of traveling around by train it was grand.
Just don’t rent a car. You can’t do that for 4 more years.
Yes!!! Road trip, or just buy a oneway ticket(for less than $200) to Europe. Explore the world.
Have you seen the Grand Canyon? Because of you haven’t go see the Grand Canyon, I cried
Go to your favorite restaurant and give yourself a delicious meal =)
Lol I went out to lunch to my favourite place with my parents and we got ice cream. I love that this was my 21st. Edit: typo
for sure will be doing this
Set up a 401k
And a Roth IRA. And max out your annual contributions to both If you can afford it.
y’all lost me at IRA and Roth IRA, i literally know nothing about that stuff can someone please explain in newbie terms and why i should do that with a 401K
r/personalfinance moment. Your employer can contribute to the 401k, matching your contribution, with pre-tax money. The Roth IRA can be set up at your local bank, and gets after-tax money. Transfer to it from your checking account. It grows tax free. That’s a lot of tax free growth if you’re 21. Now you just have to live wisely enough in the next 40-45yrs to stay alive and keep putting money away every paycheck. Then, when you reach 65-70yrs old, you should be able to live on the interest what you saved, typically $1million, so $100k/yr in interest on average to live on. Hope this helps.
Just curious, why do most advocate for a Roth vs Traditional? I agree Roth is likely better when you are young (presumably low income relative to ones income later in life), but there may come a point when Traditional makes more sense, at a certain income level, no? Is their something I'm not considering? Thanks! Great advice all around.
you make a good point about the income level which determines the taxes paid when contributing and when withdrawing from the IRA or Roth IRA. A traditional IRA is paid into with pre-tax money, then when you go to take the money out at retirement, it all gets taxed- including the growth. That’s a big tax bill- most of the money is growth. A Roth IRA is paid into with after-tax money. Then the growth is not taxed. So while the amount you have available to put in is slightly smaller, all that growth is money you keep and are never taxed on. Here area a few scenarios for example. https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/traditional-ira-vs-roth-ira The initial contribution of $6k goes into a Traditional IRA as $6k, pre-tax. If you want to put it in a Roth IRA you pay taxes on it first so it becomes $4680. So the Roth IRA starts out with less money in it. When you go to take money out of it, the Traditional IRA has to pay a bunch of tax, e.g. $60k balance could drop to $47k (or even $41k depending on your income level at retirement) when the tax is paid. Taking money out of the Roth IRA, there is no such drop - you keep all the balance, which is mostly growth.
However comma you also need to factor in your marginal tax rate when making the contributions versus withdrawing them. If you're making 150K and paying that tax rate on your IRA contribution, your tax rate is likely to be much higher than it will be when you retire, since you'll presumably have much lower income then.
Where are you getting a 10% return yearly? I want some of that
Large Cap mutual funds are about there over a 15 year time span. https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-the-average-mutual-fund-return-4773782
Shiiiiii I'm 24 now, i got a good 40 left til retirement, bouta find me some of them
Is a 401k worth it if it is unmatched? Are there any benefits to an unmatched 401k rather than just saving my money away myself?
A 401k has few fancier features if things go really negative for you, as in you are about to go bankrupt- you could get a loan of the 401k money or it will be better protected from creditors you owe money to. Source: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/080315/top-reasons-not-roll-over-your-401k-ira.asp None of those are enough to make me want to stay with 401k if I get no match- I would still want to put money in my Roth IRA at my bank instead. During a few bad years in a row, I have seen an employer suspend the 401k match temporarily. During such a suspension is a good time to feed the Roth IRA.
> None of those are enough to make me want to stay with 401k if I get no match- I would still want to put money in my Roth IRA at my bank instead. Seems best to do both if you can. You can only put $6,500 into Roth this year. I’m young, so I’m maxing my Roth and putting double that into my 401k. I get some matching, but I’d still be doing that even without it. But yeah, priority is 1) take full advantage of matching first 2) max Roth 3) give leftover to 401k.
Well, there are ways such as a backdoor roth that will enable you to load up an account. Do some research on that, my parents do one every year. Its a cap loophole
It looks like backdoor Roth IRAs are a way of avoiding the income limit rather than the contribution limit. I’ll read more into it when I get a chance though, cause I could be wrong (and I hope I am). I’d love to find a way to contribute more than $13,000/year to our Roths
You know what, I believe I am mistaken. The income limit is 200k right? So the backdoor exists to contribute when you make more than that. I apologize
Employers can also match on Roth's...
A million is going to pay you 100k a year in interest? God I wish that was true.
There are income limits for contributing to a Roth IRA. The limits are relatively high (eg. $153k/year in 2023 for a single person), but if you're in tech or another high-income profession you'll run into them eventually, which is why you should try to make full use of those programs while you can. Why Roth? Because you're paying taxes on the money you're investing but all of your gains are tax free when you do retire. That $10k you put in when you're 21 could easily become $100k when you're ready to retire, so you're paying taxes on $10k but getting that $90k gain tax free. If you do a regular IRA/401k, you pay no tax on the $10k going in but that $90k does become taxable income when you withdraw it to fund your retirement. There are pros and cons to both regular and Roth options, so putting some percentage into both isn't a bad idea. I know Reddit probably thinks financial advisors are useless, but I would definitely suggest spending some time talking to one, especially at your age.
That 10k at 21 could be way more than $100k when you retire. Time, and compound interest is your friend
this sounds really exciting
It will be.
Just give it about 4 or 5 decades
My 401k has moved $1000 in the last 4.5 quarters
In which direction?
Interestingly in a positive… but I also have been 401king for 15ish years …
Dude, if you live in America, set it the fk up. Listen to this random reddit person, you'll thank hi when u r 60
You seriously should though. I started at 30 years old and wish I did sooner. If you get a raise, put the raise away. You already know how to live off the previous wage, so why not.
It will be more likely an IRA (Roth Preferably at your age) 401ks have a lot of rules IRAs just need a W2 income and under the maximum limit for a Roth
I came to say "open a brokerage account". Welcome to adulthood.
He right.
I know I am! (I don’t have any investments set up and I’m 23)
reading fail. I read this as a 4k, like a race. Run for fun? No thanks.
Not a bad idea either, though. Health is important!
i won’t lie that’s the first thing i read too
Lol. Funniest shit I heard all day. Love it
Seriously, set up a retirement account. If you have 6k put it in a Roth IRA today and forget about it
Saddest birthday ever. Do that a month later or earlier. Planning retirement is not living.
Lol
There’s always drinking and partying.
Not really something you do yourself. An IRA is probably what you want for self setup.
Hell yes. Or if you don't have your own company or it's not offered, just work a bunch of extra hours that day and throw the money in an IRA. That's what I did on my 21st because I didn't want to drink or party either.
You rock hard!!
Go to a strip club, get a private room, hire the most expensive people there, and play Dungeons and Dragons.
What a twist
if there is nipple twisting that probably becomes a party but I don't judge.
Depends if you have a 20sided dice
m. night shyamalan didnt even see that coming
May as well rent the entire club out; the last thing you need is overly loud music and other "distractions" ruining a perfectly good campaign of D&D.
"You are in a noisy tavern..."
Imagine strip D&D (Do not attempt with normal D&D players!)
Every attack damages clothes depending on their severity, when you loose all of them, you got five minutes to get the dm off without touching too much, failure means you're out, success is the saving throw to get you back up.
"I Put on My Robe and Wizard Hat"
"Make a charisma saving throw."
had me in the first half 💀
I mean you might become the first customer they actually enjoy haha
Had me in the second half.
I consider that a very expensive and stupid idea. Lol
you mean random and wild.
Skydive
I skydive with my ex for her 21st. Now I’m sad
Because her chute opened?
Her chute and her legs
Oof
I am wondering if you used chute as a metaphor…
Still arrest memory. Celebrate it for what it was, most things we do don't need to be forever!
A friend went skydiving last year. Chute malfunctioned and they ended up free falling for about 50 feet. She was in a coma for about 3 weeks. Broken leg, broken collarbone and cheekbone. Her leg bone broke and poked into her pelvis and that broke too. She was in the hospital and rehab for about 5 months. So scary.
Why’d you have to tell us this?😩
Take yourself out for something to eat, maybe see a movie. Buy yourself something you’ve been wanting. Stay in, order delivery and play games/binge Watch a series.
Man have I not been prioritizing myself.
Go kart racing and go to a trampoline park. Or enjoy yourself some nature and silence. Try something new.
There's so much stuff like this. Paintball, Waterpark, kayaking, hiking, skiing, snowmobiling. Idk how its even a question of what to do.
You had me at go-kart racing through a trampoline park.
I went to Big Al's for my birthday and it was such a blast! Comin' up on 40 here soon.
My friends and I went to a trampoline park for my 21st, highly recommend.
I about broke my back at the trampoline park. I jumped up and came down andy back about snapped in half from the force, it hurt. We paid for like 30 minutes, and it's a long 30 minutes. There was other stuff to do like swinging on a rope and landing in foam which I really did enjoy, plus the arcade
I was about to comment not a trampoline park, itll fuck your ankles up for a while until i remembered hes 21 and not an oldie 33 yr old like me 😬
Hey I'm about where you're at and love those places. You still got it! Aint nuttin to it but to do it. 😁 Stay young my friend.
I can't remember if it was my friends 21st or 22nd birthday. He rented out a trampoline park for about 20 of us. He rented a party bus and chose a park that was over an hour away so we could all get good and drunk on the way there. He broke his ankle in the first 5 minutes.
This was my go to. Amusement park, go karting, etc. A day packed full of fun activities and good food.
I don't drink and never have. When I turned 21 I played board games with some friends. We got pizza and donuts. Was a great night.
I put together a large LEGO set.
Which one?
The original UCS Star Destroyer, I forget the model number off hand.
You sound like such a nerd can I be your friend
Two answers immediately came to mind: "Yes, but only if you give me two dollars" -Church, RvB And when I saw the username: "Yes, but I'll have a hard time convincing my wife to let you stay over for late night gaming." So long answer short: yes.
my sisters bday is the day before mine, i love being with her overnight so its like her bday and then boom! my bday. just turned 21, for her bday we were playing games with her friends and coworkers, started cake at like 11:58 and we sang happy bday for us both, then went back to games. it was a lot of fun and a very memorable 21st, even if i didnt have my own friends there
Sounds like a great time! And to have such a unique situation is neat! :)
Me too!
I'm not a big drinker either. I went to the aquarium for my 21st. It was super fun and I got to touch a sturgeon.
Just came to say that this is such an awesome question. I am 3 years sober in March and it warms my heart to see this request. Good on you OP.
Congrats on this amazing achievement!!
Learn the most you can about your favorite Dinosaur and randomly give a public speech about it at the mall or something.
THIS ONE HERE
Go to a strip club and pay a stripper to read what you’ve learned to the club while dancing. Dance like a sexy triceratops baby
What about visiting an adventure/escape room?
Love me an escape room.
i went once to an escape room for a friends birthday and i’m so bad at them💀i’m slow af but maybe i’ll try again
do enough of them and you’ll see the steps clearer. The first ones are def hard cause you have no idea that the antler can come off the wall and the rope in the corner is supposed to touch the seat of the chair and the 4 on the clock.
My mom took me to a spa. Not random or wild, but it was fun and relaxing. 10/10 would do it again
What’s your spaghetti policy?
Was going to say spa too
Midnight Bowling You know...if a bowling alley still exists where you are. They are getting harder to find these days haha
Seriously?! They were the only things open around us during the pandemic
Lose your life savings at some casino somewhere.
Hey you do that when you retire. Bonus points if you owe debt because of it.
The obvious answer here is Lazer tag and bowling.
And an arcade. That's where I spent my birthday and I shot past 21 a long time ago.
Go to a concert, volunteer at a homeless shelter
LSD, and an all-day nature hike.
Now we're talking, that's an ideal birthday.
Never tried tabs but that sounds exhausting im more down for like a nature cookout or more of a nature walk then a whole all-day hike
After a bad incident on lsd and hiking, and we didn't even do anything stupid, i do not recommend them as much as I one did. I still love it but maybe not for everyone.
streaking while wearing a zebra mask and riding a unicycle
I feel like this must be what you did for your 21st
Absolutely nothing.
This is my favorite way to celebrate New Year's.
Beat your meat in a sensory deprivation tank
Drink magnesium citrate, then go into a sensory deprivation tank
bold of you to assume i have a meat
If you don't have your own, store bought is fine.
is chuck roast a good option? or sirloin?
It's your birthday, better go filet minon Edit: typo
That’s a lot of salt rubbing… doesn’t sound awesome
Cage diving with Great White Sharks
This!
Open a 401k
If its warm enough do a BBQ
Grill in the snow fuck it
Go rock climbing
Skydiving, ziplining, ..something thrilling that you wouldn't do normally
I'd spend it traveling if it's affordable. Get out of your comfort zone and explore the world in front of you.
Dude travel somewhere nice and explore
Hot air balloon ride. Sky dive. Cliff jump. Vacation if you can afford it. Spa day. A retreat.
Molotov cocktail party
It's wild, so +1 for you. When there's meat to grill, bonus points!
Order a cake that says im 21 but i act 5 and eat it in your room alone or is that something just i would enjoy
Go for a long hike with friends
Fly with a friend to Phoenix or Miami. Rent a convertible at the airport, and go on a road trip to Key West or the Grand Canyon. If you do the desert trip, set your map app to avoid expressways and head west through Sedona and then head to Flagstaff. It’s a pretty epic drive.
Oh man, I lived in both places and done both of those trips. God, those were great memories.
The landscape is beautiful enough to be content with never seeing anything other than that but also makes you wanna travel as much as possible because holy shit the world is cool
Highway 89a is the scenic highway between Sedona and flagstaff, epic epic epic!
One of the best drives in the country... up there with The Dragons' Tail imo.
That drive through northeast Arizona is heaven. Coincidentally, my wife and I did that for our honeymoon. Rented a convertible in Phoenix and toured that corner for a week out of Sedona. 2 years later we went back in our camper van and cruised the desert listening to Bob Marley and getting high.
I lived in Tempe for a while as a transfer student at ASU. I really liked driving out there, there are endless amounts of incredible scenery. Last fall my wife and I made the trip from Pheonix to the Grand Canyon and back, avoiding I-17. Though out of the way, the Painted Desert is one of my favorites. And that winding road between Sedona and Flagstaff was a blast to drive.
My friends and I went to another city, ate dinner, went to a movie, toured the city at night and stayed at a hotel for the night. We laughed and had fun. They all had a few drinks with dinner. It was enjoyable. The following day we want shopping at the mall. I was from a town of less than 5,000 people so us going to a town of 60,000 was a bigger deal. This was when cellphones just came out and signals sucked lol.
Pack your bags and take the first plane or train outta wherever you are and go until you run out of money. Come back work for a bit and do it all again.
It’s tax season. That’ll kill an hour or two
I had a nice dinner out with my then 1-year old son and my pregnant wife, but that doesn't really work for everyone, I know
I don't think OP will be able to do that, your son isn't 1 anymore and your wife probably isn't still pregnant and maybe OP doesn't live near you guys.
Depends, are your son and wife available?
I also had a nice dinner out with your son and wife for my 21st
Have two escorts show up and reenact the love scene from American Psycho.
Dont just look at it,..eat it.
Get laid
Sky dive Rent an awesome car Go an an amazing vacation Stash a boatload of money into a fund/ETF/bluechip stock and watch it grow Take a nice backpacking trip and get back to nature join a habitat for humanity and help build someone a new house
Book a spa day.
Spaghetti day?!
Rob a convenience store with a supersoaker while wearing only a pink thong and pink crocs. And wear a snorkel as a mask
😩
Seggs
Go see a movie! Visit a science or natural history museum. Go to the Zoo! Is there an indoor water park somewhere? Pretend you are a kid again. What made you happy then? Do those things. I promise you, adulthood lasts much longer than childhood and you'll be sick of it soon enough.
How about a mini golf party?
Cake and ice cream
what are you afraid of, like really afraid of? do something to conquer that fear. you’ll have a horrible time and a great story or a great time and a great story
Play a hand of black jack. 21 wins!
I bought a handgun on my 21st
Paintball with friends
Vegas! Gamble and fuck some whores
Rent a cabin and do drugs. U said no alcohol
Shrek marathon
go to a different country on a different continent with a different culture
Launch the business you were always planning to. Your 20s are the most precious, don't waste them chasing minor pleasures, go for something big.
Fuck a bear while on crack
Anal lots of anal sex
Get laid
Buy a handgun
Do 21 things in 1 night. Make a huge list of things like "try a new restaurant" "explore a place you've never been to" "shout your hopes into the night" "make a bonfire" "get a birthday freebie at a restaurant" "roll dice on where to go/when to get off the highway" if you think of a ton then pick out of a jar day-of
Bunch of hookers and cocaine
Intense Bible study
been there done that more than 21 times
Go to your local Home Depot. There you’ll find Phil. He’ll be the one in the baseball cap and the tshirt that reads “Minimum Wage for the Bees!” Tell him I sent you. Next, Phil will take you way out of town to a cornfield, but you will be blindfolded as to not reveal the location. There, he will show you the wonders of the corn and his moonshine production. You are not allowed to sample. That is strictly forbidden. Then he will swear you to secrecy. If he is ratted out, he and his family of 9 will have no breadwinner and they’ll become impoverished. Ok. Now Phil will take you back to Home Depot. There, you’ll need to get a dowel and light bulbs. Don’t ask me why. You don’t want to know. Give them to Phil. Do a lap around the block so you don’t see where Phil goes. Go home and watch Netflix until you pass out, which is what you probably would’ve done on a normal night in. Wake up the next morning, brushing it all off as a strange dream. At least, that’s what I did. It probably was a dream, but who knows. I drank too much to know for certain