Live, Learn, or Earn – Future Planning for Young People
Live, Learn or Earn – why this question is about more than “financial planning”
In your mid-20s, planning for the future often feels like a three-way fight: enjoy life, invest in education, or build wealth early. The truth is: these aren’t three separate paths, but three dials you keep readjusting over the years. Sometimes your life needs more freedom, sometimes more skill-building, sometimes more financial stability.
This article highlights three core theses that keep showing up in conversations, studies, and real biographies: (1) A euro “today” can feel subjectively more valuable than a euro “later” — because time, energy, and health aren’t constant. (2) Education is often among the highest-return investments, because it increases income, options, and self-efficacy. (3) Investing early has a disproportionately strong effect through compound interest — even with small amounts.
OECD analyses show that, on average, tertiary education is associated with significantly higher private net returns over the working life. (Context and details in the chapter “What are the earnings advantages to education?”)
OECD – Education at a Glance: Earnings advantages to education
Important: none of this is a moral judgment. It’s not about whether “enjoyment” is irresponsible or “saving” is virtuous. It’s about choosing the consequences of your priorities consciously — while taking your own biography, risks, and opportunities into account.
Thesis 1: A euro at 25 can be “worth more” than at 65 — not financially, but humanly
The point isn’t hedonism, but timing
The thesis “a euro is worth more at 25 than at 65” rarely refers to its mathematical value. It refers to experiential value: Some things may be payable later, but not experienced with the same quality. A road trip in an old bus, a work-and-travel year, a safari, an intense festival summer — many things are simply easier when you’re young, because you tend to have more flexibility, physical resilience, and fewer obligations.
That’s not a guarantee that life at 65 can’t be wonderful. It’s just that the price of the same experience is often higher later — not only in euros, but in planning effort, health, energy, caregiving responsibilities, or simply available time.
Health and mobility are an “invisible budget”
You don’t need fear-based rhetoric to accept what’s obvious: physical performance changes across the lifespan, and prevention becomes more important. Health institutions emphasize how meaningful movement and strength/balance training are, especially in older age. This is not “you won’t be able to do anything later,” but “later is different.” WHO – Physical activity (Fact sheet)
Experiences beat things — at least on average
If you’re already putting money “into life,” research often suggests that experiences tend to create more lasting satisfaction than pure status objects. A classic in happiness research is the work by Van Boven & Gilovich, which shows that people often derive more durable satisfaction from experiences than from possessions. PubMed – “To Do or to Have?” (2003)
The blind spot: “living for now” without a system
“Living” turns problematic when it happens without a framework: no emergency fund, consumption on credit, no qualification strategy. That doesn’t create freedom — it creates dependence. So the more useful question isn’t “enjoy or save?”, but: what kind of enjoyment fits your future?
- Good “living now”: experiences that strengthen you (travel, social relationships, health, perspective).
- Expensive “living now”: lifestyle fixed costs that bind you (overpriced rent standard, car financing, consumer debt).
- Strategic “living now”: experiences that also build competence and network (study abroad, conferences, projects).
Thesis 2: Education often has a high return — and becomes harder to catch up on later
Education isn’t a romantic idea — it’s a return driver
When people hear “return,” they think of ETFs. But education is often one of the strongest levers of all: on average it increases income, employment stability, and advancement opportunities — and it expands the range of careers and life models available to you. OECD data show high private net returns to tertiary education across the OECD on a lifetime basis. OECD – Earnings advantages (Education at a Glance 2025)
Why “catching up later” is often more expensive
Of course, you can learn at any age. But the cost structure shifts: at 25, “time” is often cheaper; at 45, it’s often scarcer. Those who learn later more frequently pay opportunity costs: fewer working hours, more coordination with family, higher mental load, and less “learning economy” from routine.
Formal degrees vs. skills — both matter
Education isn’t only university. It’s about marketable skills: data literacy, writing, presenting, programming, project management, language skills, sales, design, care work, craftsmanship — depending on the field. A degree can open doors; skills keep you in the room. Ideally, you have a plan that combines formal signals (certificates/degree) and practical capabilities (portfolio/projects).
Table 1: Education as an investment — examples, costs, and possible effects
| Education Path | Typical Costs (time/money) | Potential Benefit | Risk / Pitfall |
|---|---|---|---|
| University / Vocational training | Several years; possibly fees/living costs | Access to professions, signaling effect, network | Choosing a field without practice relevance; dropout risk |
| Bootcamp / Certificate | Weeks–months; course fees | Fast entry into a skill cluster | Quality differences; lack of project experience |
| Portfolio projects | Ongoing; more time than money | Proof of ability, visibility | Without feedback you can get stuck |
| Languages / International experience | Months; travel costs | Labor-market options, confidence | “Nice, but unfocused” without goals |
Education at a Glance brings together internationally comparable data on education systems, financing, outcomes, and labor-market effects — useful for placing personal education decisions in a broader context.
OECD – Education at a Glance 2025 (overview page)
Thesis 3: The compounding effect is brutal — and rewards early “earning” disproportionately
Compounding isn’t a trick — it’s time in numeric form
In investing, time is the multiplier. When returns are reinvested, wealth grows exponentially rather than linearly. That’s why starting early with small amounts can achieve more in the long run than starting later with bigger efforts. The principle is explained in many retirement introductions — including Vanguard: Vanguard – Retirement savings & compounding
Chart: Starting early vs. starting later (schematic example)
The following chart is deliberately simple: it shows two saving/investing paths with the same annual return, but different starting points. This is not a return guarantee — it illustrates the principle.
The misconception: “I’ll just invest more later”
In practice, it rarely works that neatly: income often rises later, but fixed costs often rise too (housing standard, family, insurance), and there’s the added risk of interruptions (job changes, illness, caregiving). That’s why “early and consistent” is often more robust than “late and heroic.”
A quick note on famous sayings
Online you’ll often read lines like “compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe,” frequently attributed to Albert Einstein. This attribution is considered questionable and not reliably documented. If you come across such a quote: take the idea seriously, but not necessarily the quote. Skeptics.SE – Discussion of the Einstein attribution
The real skill: translating the three goals into a strategy
Instead of “either/or”: a sequence and minimum standards
A useful model is: set minimum standards for all three areas — and allocate the remainder by priority. For example:
- Security: an emergency fund (e.g., a few months of expenses) + no toxic consumer debt.
- Competence: one clear learning goal per quarter (skill, certificate, project, language).
- Freedom: a deliberate experience budget (so “living” doesn’t secretly turn into a debt spiral).
- Investing: an automated saving plan (start small, scale up as income rises).
Table 2: Decision matrix — when living, learning, or earning should dominate
| Situation | Live (experiences) | Learn (education/skills) | Earn (wealth building) |
|---|---|---|---|
| You’re healthy, flexible, with few obligations | high (targeted) | high (use the leverage) | medium (start small) |
| You’re close to entering the workforce / changing careers | medium | very high | medium |
| You have high fixed costs or unstable income | low–medium (budgeted) | medium | high (buffer/emergency fund first) |
| You have stable income and little debt | medium | medium | high (automate) |
| You’re burned out / at your mental or physical limit | high (recovery) | low–medium (gentle) | medium (stabilize, avoid overload) |
A realistic compromise: 70/20/10 isn’t the goal
Many people look for a perfect percentage formula. But life phases aren’t linear: sometimes one year is dominated by “learning” (e.g., graduation, retraining), followed by a year of “earning” (buffers, investment routine), and then a year of “living” (travel, sabbatical, project break). What matters isn’t the perfect split, but the conscious rationale.
Practice: a 3-account system for young people
The idea: you don’t need more discipline — you need more structure
A practical approach is a simple 3-account (or 3-bucket) system. It reduces friction because decisions are made in advance.
- Bucket 1 – Live: experiences, social activities, travel, hobbies. (A conscious budget instead of guilt.)
- Bucket 2 – Learn: courses, books, coaching, conferences, tools, exam fees, portfolio projects.
- Bucket 3 – Earn: emergency fund + long-term investing (e.g., a monthly plan).
Example rules (adaptable)
- Automate “earn”: a fixed amount goes out right after payday. Small is fine — consistency matters.
- Protect “learn”: the education bucket is off-limits for impulse spending. You’re buying options.
- “Live” without regret: what’s in the living bucket can be spent — but only that.
- Scale instead of going radical: when your salary increases, don’t put it all into lifestyle; raise earn/learn first.
If you want to go deeper into “compounding,” a compact introduction can help: Vanguard – Basics on compound growth & long-term saving . And if you want to compare education returns and labor-market effects: OECD – Education at a Glance 2025 .
Conclusion: the best life is rarely “either” — it’s usually “in the right order”
“Live, learn or earn” is a good framing because it forces you to see real trade-offs. But the resolution is rarely either/or; it’s a personal system:
Live, so your present doesn’t become a waiting room.
Learn, so your future self has more doors to open.
Earn, so freedom isn’t only a feeling — but something you can afford.
If you take only one thing away: start small, but start consciously. A small experience budget prevents frustration, a small learning goal prevents stagnation, and a small saving plan prevents “later” from never arriving.
Mini checklist (for tonight, 20 minutes)
- Write down 3 things you want to experience before 30 (live).
- Pick 1 skill that realistically improves your income/options in 12 months (learn).
- Set up 1 automatic transfer — no matter how small (earn).
Sources & further reading: Van Boven & Gilovich (2003) – Experiences vs possessions, OECD – Earnings advantages to education, Vanguard – Compounding & saving, WHO – Physical activity.
