After a night out filled with partying and unlimited booze, I am always reminded by one undeniable fact –I am not getting any younger. As much as I love those raucous night outs with the boys, my late 30 something body is starting to feel the alcohol unlike my 20–year–old self. Hangovers were never fun but there are times when I would pass the chance to drink my heart out and settle for a quiet evening in front of the television. Getting older makes you see a different perspective about responsibility for your wellbeing and for those who are surrounding you.
One major item that those who are in their thirties should think of is financial responsibility. It is easy to turn off your concerns about the future especially when you are employed and you have a trustworthy paycheck to look forward to not to mention your bonuses and other compensation. Or, you have a thriving business that does more than just cover the bills. However, this will not always be the case because you will not work forever, you can die unexpectedly and you can lose your job or business. There are a hundred other things that could happen in the future and you have to prepare for it. When you are approaching the ripe age of 40, you should, at least, meet the following:
Own your home. By this age, you should have some properties to your name. Owning your place gives you a sense of stability which would be great to experience when you are already this old. It is also something that you can be proud of. Even if you took a mortgage for that property, you will be well on your way of completing the required payments for it!
Have a stable income. Whether you are employed or you are running a business, you need to have a source of income that will give you the cash for your needs. Borrowing funds to pay your electric bills is quite unbecoming when you are at this age bracket. With many responsibilities coming your way, you need to possess good financial planning abilities by now.
Make some investments. You can start putting some of your money in investment projects irrespective of age but it is not too late to do this in your forties if you have not started it yet. There are a lot of investment schemes out there even if you do not have a lot of disposable funds. You can go for bonds, stocks and even mutual funds and this makes money work for you.
Take an insurance policy. Death is a given occurrence and you can never be too complacent about it especially if there are people who are depending on you. This is a major reason for having life insurance. As a responsible adult, you want to be sure that the people who are depending on you would be taken care of when something happens to you. Check Pinnacle life website if you live in NZ or planning to move there. They have very simple online insurance buying process and have been recently announced as lowest premium life cover by NZ Interest website here.
Prepare for your retirement. Being employed forever is not a viable option, so you need to look into how you can manage once you retire. It would be cool if you have enough funds to enjoy your older years, travel, have fun and simply sit back and enjoy life.
More than just making sure that you have the financial stability during your older years, you want to be as certain as you can be about what lies ahead. After seeing so much in more than 30 years, I don’t want to be taken aback. Preparing for all these things would give me some peace of mind and I bet anyone who is in my shoes would think the same.