Key Takeaways
- You are in the learning stage of life until you go out and get a full-time job.
- There are two parts to the earning years: earning enough money to pay your bills, and saving enough money to prepare for the yearning years.
- If you only focus on spending your money to enjoy life during your earning years, you will not have enough money later for the yearning years and will have to delay those yearning years well in to your eighties or nineties.
A long time ago, one of my mentors said to me, “Gary, life is about three things that happen to us. First, we learn, then we earn, then we yearn.” He was in the yearning stage of his life and was reflecting back on that, but many times I wondered, how does that relate to me and where I am?
We are in the learning phase of life until we decide to go out and get some kind of full-time job. Then, we are in the earning phase. You’re probably in the earning phase like a lot of Americans out there, where you are trying to figure out what this earning means in your life. Well, it means you are being very productive during this time to earn enough money first, to pay your bills and save some money, then to ultimately get to the point where the money that you’ve saved over time takes care of paying your bills.
During your learning years, it was your parents, grandparents, family, and community that earned the money to help support you and pay for your needs. During your earning years, you have two parts: you must earn to pay for yourself, and that money has to do double duty. This means that you have to earn money to take care of all the current expenses, and you have to save to make sure you have money for those yearning years.
Where people go wrong with this is when they take their earnings and spend them all to enjoy life. If you do that, you’re going to have to delay the yearning years. You may have to delay them well in to your eighties and nineties because you didn’t do any saving up front. It all goes back to making sure you are saving while you are earning, so ultimately, you can yearn however you want to yearn!
Until next time, enjoy!
Gary
