Tips and advice huh? Man, where to start.
Personal finances is absolutely critical. If there is one thing you must know, this is it. With the advent of the internet this is something that is at your fingertips and it will either make or break you in life so start reading up. Don't trust anyone selling you something. Never ever ever ever! They will sound genuine, they will sound kind, they are putting up a facade to get your money. Don't let them. The following are my personal primer:
>The millionare next door
Gives you an understanding and perspective of how much money one million is
>http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page
Overview on everything PF, but more towards retirement/saving.
>http://www.youneedabudget.com/
Outstanding budgeting software. It is well worth the price.
Speaking of the internet, I never understood why it was such a big deal until I realized that the internet is basically the secret teller of pretty much anything and everything. Use it, abuse it, don't neglect it. Go to library genesis and read books as well. Sometimes a simple article isn't enough and you need a thorough understanding of a subject.
Dental Health. DON'T PUT IT OFF. Go to a dentist. If it takes you a few tries to get one that you like so be it. But get your teeth fixed. And go in every six months. Better to remove a simple cavity in 15 minutes that have to do a root canal. Just trust me on this, it's insane the level of confidence you have once you know your teeth are good.
Plan, Engage, Reevaluate. By planning well you can keep moving at a steady pace and If you know what your options are to some degree of certainty, it will be much easier to come to a decision. When you re-evaluate you are basically steering yourself back onto the road that you want to be on. And be realistic, there are some things you cannot do, be it physically, mentally, or financially. Accept it and move on to the things that you can do. There is a famous halfchan lifetips screenshot that says stagnation is death among other things. It is.If I can find it I'll post it, because whoever that guy was he knew what he was talking about.
My personal philosophy is to always find what the catch is. Everything has a catch. Make sure you know what it is and if you're ok with the consequences. If you can't figure out what the catch is, then fucking run because more than likely you're the one that's going to be fucked.
With that line of thought I'll leave with this. Life is a zero sum game. Whatever the fucking libs want to think, SOMEONE is going to be the low man on the totem pole. You are not god. You are not mother teresa. You need to make sure that you hustle so that you're not that person. Is it selfish or whatever? Yeah, maybe, but tell me that when you're behind on your payments, with 6 kids, no education, living in squalor with no way out. Start getting tough because there are many people out there, who are insanely ignorant, who will try to do that to you. Don't let them. If someone is going to suffer make damn well sure that isn't going to be you(or your family).