Enjoy Young Life or Enjoy Retirement

Climb EeeeeVERY mountain...

 

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quote..
No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time ..It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves..
Sir Edmund Hillary..

 

That quote never made sense for wealth creation. Who knows who the 10000th richest person is? Totally fine with being that person. We in it for the money or for the fame?

 

I agree, I'm not doing any of this for fame, status or bragging rights. The only reason I'm in this game at all is for security and time. Nothing else.

 

If you do that, it's very hard to 'knuckle down and invest.'
Why? People get used to that kind of life, and that kind of life is expensive . E.g. travel round the world.
Likely won't have too many good options at your disposal to invest.
I would suggest make sure career is strong (and this takes years) and then once stable with a high income and have investments, then let loose with disposable income. certainly don't have to wait till retirement to do this, but its not gonna be in 20s.

 

I think this is my favorite response and is probably the most where my head is at.

I’m not driven by the idea of early retirement. Ask me again in 10 years but right now I think I would work until my mind or body checks out.

My biggest driver right now is giving my wife and child everything I can BUT not at the cost of me not being around. I’m watching one of my best mates go through a divorce over this very thing.
We are talking serious money but simply the cost is spending no time with the kids.....what’s the point??

 

@albanga my friend died not long ago at the age of 35. She had a very aggressive cancer. She was also an investor. Does that mean I am going rearrange all my plans just because someone close to me died so young..? maybe yes maybe no. Once you start to go down that road, its a very dangerous slippery slope. Of course only you know what is best for you and your family.

My point is, just be careful what you let influence your life and your goals. IMHO someone else's divorce and life situation of no time with kids etc really shouldn't make the cut. That's their dynamic. Not yours. I'm sure they likely had a whole set of other issues too. Not wanting to sound condescending, but really be mindful of what you let impact your mindset.

 

If I can add some personal experience to this for consideration - myself and my oldest son.
I grew up with no financial knowledge at all - none from parents and surrounding others. No investors, or investing advice, very little advice on planning for future or saving (other than a Bank account).
So, from commencing full-time work at 18, through to age 30, my life was a bit as above - have fun, work, spend, buy stuff. At aged 30 I had not much to show. I had managed to buy a house together with the then girlfriend late in my 20's, but no actual plan when to do it, and was a very cheap house.
Contrastingly, my oldest son has recently turned 18, he has enjoyed 18 years of savings from my wife and I setting up a regular, modest online savings account for him when he was born, and have bombarded his brain with finance stuff ever since he could count money.
He has made a couple of small investments with some of that money in recent years (we are the custodians of the account and dictate what he can use it for), and has been working part-time since aged 15, and adding to that savings account on his own. He does spend money, but he understands such things as "opportunity cost", and waiting for specials, etc. His nett worth is now approx $15k through combined cash savings and investments, and he could have saved a lot more of his own income earned if he chose to. Plus, he now has an investment income stream to add - not large, but better than me at the same age by a country mile.
So, my point in all of this is the knowledge they have makes the difference when telling young people to go out and enjoy life and knuckle down later.
My "knuckle down" moment came much later than I wished - no knowledge.
My son is now doing all the have fun things as Y-Man said, but he has the knowledge to balance that, which makes Y-Mans statement less potentially "dangerous" for the young person's financial future.
(Not intending to criticise Y-Man's statement by the way; I think we should all live life because tomorrow you could be dead - just pointing out we can do both living and knuckling down at the same time if you have financial knowledge).

 

I guess another way to look at things is to consider what you would do if you were given 6 months to live. And if you are not doing that now, why the heck not? What you would do with 6 months left is probably the things that are really important to you.

 

It probably goes to the psychology of the different types you mention ;

1. Take it as it comes, no worries types. Money in, money out. She'll be right. Low expectations. happy to rely on safety net.
2. Anxious savers, worked hard, worried about running out of money, cant relax. prefers to be self reliant.

Type 1. is usually going to enjoy a more carefree life, as that is how they are pre-wired.

I'm a 2 but aware of it and taking steps to slow down and pull back a bit.

 

@albanga I highly recommend the book "I know how she does it" by Laura Vanderkam for you. Though targeting women it applies equally to men who want to spend time with their families, but also grow their careers.
I read it when my firstborn was approx 3 weeks old and I had a sudden overwhelming desire to make more money and provide him with an excellent life - but I didn't want to be an absent parent and I wanted to work less hours than before. The book isn't your typical work/life balance stuff. I gotta say my income's been going up every since kiddo was born.

As for enjoy life vs retirement - I love my work so would never retire, but might cut down hours a bit more to fit in more social life, hobbies and fitness.

Saving vs spending - my personal values err on the saving and living frugally side, but there are some things (eg travel, experiences, healthcare) that are worth splurging on. I've heard quite a few rich old men say that they'd rather be young and poor than rich and healthy, which to me implies that youth has benefits all of its own, and we may as well enjoy those benefits while we can.

I also believe that any reasonably smart person can do a bit of both, so it's not really a black and white decision.

 

Awesome post! And the books in my Amazon cart. I’m heading to the beach over holidays so will have that knocked off in no time

 

Enjoy Life or Enjoy Retirement - It is not a question of either or
In my opinion you can do both - I watched a young man work part time while at school and also renovate cars in his spare time to build up some capital. On leaving school he began a Carpentry apprenticeship. At the end of the second year he used his savings to do a joint venture with a friend to build a 2 bedroom stand alone townhouse. They sold it at the end of the following year after flatting in it for a few months. The lesson from this for the young man was "I proved to myself that I could do it before anyone told me I couldn't". No financial input was received from parents just advice on thinking outside the box. Then at the age of 21 he decided he wanted to do the Big OE. Before he left to travel I suggested that he build 2 flats so his money would be working for him while he was away. No point in travelling to come back broke. He was away for 3 years. When he returned he continued investing.

 

Yep, work hard/play hard, enjoy it while you "have" it.
You are a long time dead.
But its so easy for some folks to lean on the crux, "oh but I need a job and there are no other jobs that I like so Im stuck doing this forever !"
The amount of times Ive heard this.....unbelievable.
I guess Im a proponent of having my cake and eating it too.