are too few hours in the week and life balance becomes a challenge . From a wealth perspective , this is the phase where it needs to happen and hence also the phase where things can go off-track . Because a particular lifestyle can become a wealth-eroding trap . Space does not allow me to write about all the habits and principles that the happy and successful typically follow during this phase , but it covers aspects such as : pay yourself first and take tomorrow ’ s money off the table , travel lighter , be advisable , commit to lifelong learning , take your job seriously and be switched on when you appear on your ( professional ) stage , respect your health …
We can write paragraphs on each principle / habit that will help us to make this core life stage a success , which I will not do here . But let me just take the last one mentioned in the previous paragraph , respecting your health . It does not sound like financial advice , does it ? And yet it is one of the most central elements of the road to financial freedom . Our bodies are , after all , the vessels in which we travel through life , the one and only address at which we reside during our time on earth . Good or bad health makes its mark in our personal income and expense statements , in our personal balance sheets , especially in the phases to follow .
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A healthy body allows us to perform well , even in brainy professional roles .
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And then , at some stage in our professional careers , we start to change gears . We enter a third phase . These can be the real high-income years . Our value skilling is at its peak but might also start to date somewhat . The energy levels begin to ebb . We might start to think about life after “ retirement ”, although , for many of us , “ retirement ” is a very outdated concept , something that belongs to a previous age . We do not “ retire ” anymore , we just change gears . I call this phase the Consolidate your wealth phase . Because it is the phase when it becomes vital to fill our wealth preservation tanks . Wealth creation assets are high-return assets , often associated with high risk . The extreme example of such an asset for a professional is our qualification and value skilling . It is a high return because it can generate great income . But it is also risky because it can be taken away from us in an instant due to an accident or sickness . To protect our members against such risks was the reason why PPS was founded more than 80 years ago .
Wealth preservation assets , on the other hand , are something very different — it is typically low return and low risk . It is often boring and invisible — a diversified portfolio of financial assets . Again , PPS has many such solutions for professionals to assist them in filling their tanks that should allow them not to be old and poor one day . In this phase , personal debt should be aggressively eliminated . It also becomes extremely important to get a personal wealth manager in place , if this is not in place . Benjamin Graham , Warren Buffet ’ s mentor , said : “ The investor ’ s chief problem and worst enemy is likely to be himself .”
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