Time Is Money: Are You Over 40?

By Piero Paravidino @ Shutterstock.com

You, my fairly wealthy, highly successful reader, learned a long time ago how to harness a most powerful force: t-i-m-e. You saved ‘til it hurt and put money away with the faith that you might be in a better spot down the road.

And now, when you look back on it all, you think, “No way I want to do that again. Not sure how I even did it. Can we change the subject?” Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.

But saving ‘til it hurts does something magical. It puts the most powerful force into action. You put time on your side. You become a compounding machine, and without even knowing the miracle of the math involved, you’re pretty well off. You paid yourself first, and if there was some left over fine, but you got so used to saving, you didn’t even spend that. Nice.

But here’s the hard part: Once you retire and start living off your cornucopia of savings, it’s human nature to feel uneasy. There’s no more lifeline. No more paychecks to refill the bucket from losses in areas like AI. The tide rolls in, it rolls out, and father time keeps ticking.

The other night, Your Survival Guy was with friends and family sitting around a fire pit when someone asked another guest how old she was (never a good idea).

“38?” he asked.

“Ha! You’re funny,” she said. “I rounded that mark a long time ago.”

Which got us talking about how, in our minds, we never really feel older than our thirties or forties, but our bodies never let us forget. The younger generation in attendance never looked up from their phones. If they were listening, I’m sure they were thinking, “38’s old.”

When the commodity of time is no longer in abundance, it’s not always easy to recognize. That’s the mystery of it all. One way to solve it is to look at your largest financial position and do the mental math of the hours you would have had to work in your prime to replace it. That’s probably a long time.

Action Line: Your Survival Guy rounded 50-years old not too long ago. I learned a long time ago investing isn’t about making you a Rich Man. It’s about keeping you as one. When you’re ready, let’s talk.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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