I’m 35, I should have at least HK$3M Right?
How much do you think you should have right now?
When I meet various clients, I often get asked this question, “I’m at this age… I should have saved up $XXX right?” Each one of us has a number in mind unique to ourselves. This is our “bottom line” to feel safe or feel like “I’m a grown-up”, especially for young professionals between 28 and 40 years old.
When do you feel you’re officially a grown-up?
Funny enough there aren’t any courses to take to be certified as a “grown-up”. We just have to learn the hard way - to make mistakes, test, learn, review, and adjust along the process. We might think getting married and having kids would make us a grown-up, but nope, that might not be the case. These are just the beginning of big projects that we need to commit to throughout our lives but with little preparation on how we can jump across the multiple hurdles of unknown heights. We just have to go head-on… if we don’t have a plan beforehand.
How much should we have at every age?
So back to the question - how much should we have at every age?
I’d say it depends on your goals at every stage of your life. This is where life plans play a crucial role - mapping out our entire life will help us visualize what we want to achieve at every stage of our lives so that we know our “monetary bottom line” when we are in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and when we retire. We can then set specific goals for each phase, matching our planned achievements with our saving goals - this is what I call “goal-based” life planning.
Your life plan is unique to you and your life purposes. There is no right or wrong and it should not be copied, just as you can’t live another person’s life.
One piece of advice on savings
To me, this is an essential starting point to understand what we really want in life at every phase. Don’t get lured into setting up a savings plan without a proper goal - you will just give it the least priority and eventually drop it all together because you don’t even know what you’re saving up for. Don’t start anything until you have it planned - you’re going to be in reactive mode.
Life planning is for everyone at any stage of life. The earlier you have your life plan, the easier it is to achieve your goals. Just like what I’ve mentioned in this previous post about my career playbook, our Life Plan is our life’s playbook. This is one of my life mottos which rings true in terms of life:
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. “
~John F. Kennedy
And remember:
“A goal without a plan AND ACTION is just a wish.”
If you want to take action and set up your holistic life plan or learn more about it, schedule a free 30-minute call via this link or reach out at gc@gracechan.co .
Supplementary to this article:
