Insights from Entrepreneur and Consultant Josh Cote
When people ask Josh Cote what he invests in, they’re usually expecting to hear about property, markets, assets, or the next big opportunity. His answer cuts straight through the noise. In your twenties, the highest-return investment available isn’t a stock, a property, or a side hustle, it’s you.
Before you worry about where to put your money, you need to focus on what grows it. Your earning power is the single asset that follows you into every role, every business, and every decade of your career. It compounds long before your portfolio ever does.
Your twenties are a rare advantage. Fewer obligations. More appetite for risk. And most importantly, time. Time is the most powerful force in both wealth-building and career-building. Just as money invested early multiplies exponentially, the skills you build in this decade pay dividends for life. Sales, communication, leadership, negotiation, and relationship-building don’t depreciate. They scale.
Through his work at EAW Consulting, Josh consistently advises young professionals and early-stage founders to treat skill development as their first serious investment. Because long before compound interest works on your savings, it works on your income, and the return on that decision can be measured not just in money, but in opportunity, leverage, and long-term freedom.
Skills That Pay You for Life
Some skills produce a return that lasts a year. Others last a lifetime. The highest return on investment usually comes from four core areas that increase your value, your confidence and your opportunities in every environment.
Sales and communication sit at the top of the list because they influence almost everything you do. From interviews to pitching ideas, your ability to speak clearly, persuade, present and listen determines how far you can take an opportunity. Strong communicators often advance faster, earn more, and create more options for themselves.
Leadership and management come next. You do not need a title to start developing leadership skills. You build them through responsibility and consistency, as well as emotional discipline and the ability to guide people in challenging moments. Good leadership is rare. It is why leaders stand out quickly in any organisation and why investors like Josh Cote often emphasise it when advising ambitious entrepreneurs.
Negotiation is another skill that compounds throughout your career. Whether you negotiate salary, contracts, opportunities or even daily decisions, the ability to navigate conflict and advocate effectively saves and earns you enormous amounts over time. A single negotiation can change a trajectory.
Finally, networking and relationship building remain one of the most underrated forms of investment. Your relationships determine your introductions, your openings and your collaborations. The right network can reduce years of struggle into months of progress.
When you combine these skill areas, you become more adaptable and more valuable. You create earning power that grows with you, regardless of industry or economic climate.
Compounding Works on Skills Just Like Wealth
Many people only think of compounding in financial terms. Invest early, and your money grows faster over time. The same principle applies to your abilities. A small increase in income during your twenties compounds for the next forty years. Even a slight improvement in communication, leadership or negotiation can dramatically change the opportunities available to you by the time you enter your thirties and forties.
This is why Josh Cote, both as an entrepreneur and as an investor, encourages young people to resist the pressure to chase quick wins. The earlier you improve your earning power, the more your future expands. What you learn in your twenties pays you every year for the rest of your life.
The Question That Shapes Your Entire Future
There is one simple question that every ambitious person eventually has to face. Who are you becoming through the choices you make today?
You cannot control every opportunity, but you can control the skills you build, the relationships you deepen and the standard you hold yourself to. Most people drift through their twenties without real direction. They focus on what feels urgent instead of what will compound. But the individuals who treat this decade with intent create momentum that carries them for years.
Josh Cote often challenges young entrepreneurs to think beyond the next job or the subsequent pay rise. He encourages them to focus on the qualities that will determine every outcome that follows. Skill, discipline, clarity, consistency. These are the investments that never lose value.
So ask yourself right now. If your future self could look back at you today, would they thank you for how you are using your time?
The answer to that question might be the most crucial investment decision you ever make.
Invest in Yourself Before Anything Else
Your twenties are not about having everything figured out. They are about planting the right seeds. When you focus on the skills that increase your value, you build a foundation that supports financial stability, career growth and personal confidence.
Treat this decade as your training ground. The money you invest now has more time to grow. The skills you build now will be rewarded with more time to reward you. People often look for the perfect investment. In reality, the most consistent and powerful one is the person you become.
As Josh Cote often reminds young entrepreneurs through EAW Consulting, invest in yourself early, and your future returns become limitless.
