How should one be prepared for life post 30?

30s are for building your family, raising kids, growing in career at middle management level, buying house, having close friends that could be counted on one hand.

If your life goes different from this you are probably derailed and needs to save yourself from being a train wreck in 40s

Accept the fact that most of your friends will be married and won’t spend time with you like they did back in 20’s. Worst, they might not even call or message you for days or even months. This is hard to accept when we are used to calling our friends everyday. But life changes in 30’s. I think this is one thing we must be prepared before entering the 30’s club.

Unmarried 32M, my 2 cents:

• Make friends you can chill with outside of parties and drinking nights, a support system will go a long way in ensuring a sense of security and belonging
• This is the phase where you'll see people around you being in very different life stages: some (or most) might be married, some will have kids, some might have already bought houses, etc. Figure out what is important to you from a satisfaction POV - having a solid partner, having a high paying job, work life balance, financial goals, etc and work towards it
• 20s is the time to enjoy life: You'll find a lot of gyaan on savings and investments, which are very important but what is more important I feel is the mental and physical energy you have spend on experiences in your 20s - It's much easier to do things like travel and impromptu shit
• Investing in quality stuff: For most folks, you'll have more expendable income in your 30s - use it to buy good quality things for yourself
• Finding time for hobbies: Either trying out new stuff (you may or may not be good at it), or rekindling old hobbies from school/college