Recently, I watched another video again of Robert Kiyosaki as now he talks about the so-called Game of Money where he described the four quarters of financial life dividing it into 10-year horizons and asked, “at which age will you win the game of money?”
Let’s view the four quarters of life with some inputs so that we know how will we win the game of money and retire as young as we can be.
1st Quarter (25-35 years old) – By this age, you’re probably done with your college education. Most of us start our careers when we land on our first quarter of life. We want a high-paying job, buy a car, have our credit cards and enjoy life. While many of us just want to enjoy life after graduation, it is advisable for us to:
Savings should be our top priority. When you receive your paycheck, take out a certain amount and deposit it in a savings account. Once you accumulated enough savings, transfer the bulk of it into a higher yielding deposit account. Compound interest will help it to earn more interest.
Get Insurance. Get insurance especially if you now have family and kids to support with at this age. The higher and the healthier you are, the cheaper insurance costs will be.
Learn Investment Options. Think of investment options where you can invest your extra cash. You can invest it in stocks, mutual funds, real estate, bonds, etc. Start to educate yourself financially.
2nd Quarter (35-45 years old) – By this age, you are probably at the top of your career and definitely earning much more. But this quarter may also be the time when you’re starting to have your own family so that also means higher expenses. It is advisable to:
Plan for children’s future. You are now working not just for yourself but also for your children. Plan for your children’s future by getting an educational plan or open a time deposit that’s under your children’s name and deposit an amount into it regularly.
Make sure you have enough for your emergency fund. Emergency fund is amount totally dedicated to emergency expenses such as health problems, etc. A good amount would be equal to six months up to 1 year of your monthly income. Place it in an easy accessible type of investment so that when your need arises, you can easily withdraw it.
Have a business. By this age, you could have probably known a lot of networks from friends, colleagues, acquaintances, etc. And since you’re earning much higher, then you could start your own business. Gauge yourself on what business you should start. Examine your passions and skills in choosing the right business for you.
Half Time – Kiyosaki referred after the 2nd Quarter as half time because you are in the middle before retirement. It’s also called as “mid-life crisis”. It is now time to examine yourself. You are not getting any younger anymore. Have you had enough savings to cover for your future? What did you accomplished in your life?
3rd Quarter (45-55 years old) – By this age, you are probably on top of you career, possibly a manager or vice president of the company. You could be earning more and your children may be in their college years or are already working. Retirement is just around the corner waiting for you. In this quarter of life, it is advisable to:
Allocate much of your income to investment capital. Review your investment portfolio and ask yourself if you need to transfer your funds into a higher earning investment scheme. Just be sure to have a through due diligence before you transfer your funds.
4th Quarter (55-65 years old) – By this age, your children may well be on their own now with their respective families already. You are now at the age where you can retire. You may choose to still be employed but it should not be on stressful work as you are now prone to health problems brought about by old age, which means higher health care expenses. In this age, it is advisable to:
Protect your capital. Try to preserve your capital so that you can live with on its interest. And make sure to make your last will in order.
Over Time – Kiyosaki referred after the 4th quarter as over time. If you haven’t had any accomplished things when it comes to your financial future, then that would be a great problem because sooner or later you would be “out of time” and the game of money will be “game over”.
We don’t want to retire old. As much as we could, we want to retire young so that we can still enjoy the things that we want. How could we enjoy it if we are already old with a lot of health problems associated with old age?
Personally, just like what Kiyosaki did retiring at the age of 47, I also want to win the game of money and retire on the second quarter of life. I want to enjoy life as early as I could without having to worry on going or having to work. And that is the very essence of financial freedom.
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