If you are 15 or 17 or 19 years old, begin now to put aside money for the day you stop working and start living the best years of your life. It’s long been established that “Retirement” is the day you stop working a traditional job.
It’s a day to celebrate the first day when you are free from a paycheck. The truth is that “Retirement” focuses on one stage of life, but not the best stage of life.
3 Stages of Life
The first stage of life is childhood. That’s when parents are supposed to teach the children values. A few of those values include thinking of others, education and the value of work. This first stage gives you the foundation and readies you for the nect stage of your life.
The second stage involves applying what you learned in stage one. By this stage you have the morals, values, education, skills, talent and desire to leave your parent’s home and go out on your own.
*** This generally means making money to pay for the necessities of life; supporting a family, paying the bills to sustain the second stage of life, and saving your nest egg for the third stage of life. ***
I understand that while still in the second stage of life, you have a family with wants and wishes. There is always something more pressing on which to spend money when you’re in the second stage of life.
You want to go on a nice vacation, dine out, buy nice cars. If you have to live beyond your means to provide those wants and wishes, don’t do it.
If you succumb to overspending instead of putting those funds aside for your future, what you're doing is robbing yourself, and you will suffer the consequences as millions of others have.
I've harped on “Stop spending: Save More” for years. I’ve cautioned my children. I can only hope they listened.
Save sooner than later, BEFORE you arrive at the third stage of life when it’s too late. It’s a common mistake that often has devastating consequences. Too many ignore their future.
You must live below your means in the second stage of life. Cut expenses to reduce spending so you can build your nest egg.
The third stage of life is the best stage of life. This period of time is your reward. It’s applying or overcoming what you learned in stage one. When you apply those lessons successfully during stage two, you get a bonus. It’s simplistic, but true.
Stage three is the best years of your life, because you reap the reward that you earned in stage one and two when you get to stage three.
Let’s give the third stage of life a name that better fits a successful life; a life of achievement; the bonus for learning and living a good life.
The Reward of Life
Because you worked hard and smart, and religiously saved for the third stage of life, you earned a reward. It’s your bonus for all those sacrifices. The kids are grown. You’re an empty nester. It means getting to live well; not having to get up and travel to an office building. You can enjoy the best time in life without worrying about paying bills.
You’re free to live the life of leisure you worked so hard to earn, if that’s what you choose to do.