“I have made enough money to secure my family and that is all I care about.” – Natalia Vodianova
In my immediate family, starting your own family after you get out of school and start a career is a high priority. I have even been told that “having a child while you’re young w[ould] be enough motivation to build wealth”. That’s insanity. Having a child while you’re young would actually be enough motivation to just get by…quickly.
Of course there are those rare cases where a young couple has a child and they become enormously moneyed through both hard and smart work. But as I said before, that’s rare. Statistics around the globe will prove to you that the possibility of becoming wealthy (not just ‘rich’) is very slim if you have a child or children at an extremely young age – I’m talking before or right out of college.
A child is a beautiful gift, but it can also be a costly gift if brought into this world at an inconvenient time. Many of our first-generation parents attempt to instil in us the belief that we must have kids in our early twenties because of the woman’s ‘biological clock’, but that, first of all, is creating gender norms and that is not something I can co-sign. Of course there is a period when women can have the healthiest kids, but to base a woman’s significance to only childbearing is problematic.
What should you do instead then? Build Wealth.
Coming out of university can be one of two things, extremely exciting or extremely scary. If you are fortunate enough, you and/or your family have paid for majority if even all of your tuition and you are coming out with a clean sheet, ready to take on the world. On the other hand, you may have had to pay for yourself through university while racking up student loans. I think more so for the latter, you should put off starting a family.
Even if you have been in a long-term relationship, start to think long-term about your legacy. We aren’t taught in school and rarely at home about building a legacy. Of course a legacy doesn’t have to mean leaving a billion dollar empire for your family, but you should not have your future children (if you choose to have any) struggle the way you may have for things like education and an acceptable well-being. Instead of having children the second you get out of university (if you chose that educational path), rather opt to hold out until you can afford to have them. I have always said that ‘if you have to work SOLELY to maintain your living, you aren’t ready to have a family’. That does not mean your parents made a bad choice at all if that is what they did, it just means that it is up to you to take it ten times further than your parents did. And that requires you to do some things a little differently in this generation.
This is only my opinion for the Wealthy Family on this platform. Others may be satisfied with a $30k salary for life but to be wealthy financially, we all know it takes more than that. How can you build wealth when ninety percent of your income goes to your mortgage or rent, food, children’s needs, etc? You MUST have various streams of income in order to build wealth. As you get older, you will realize (if you have not already) that 24 hours in a day really isn’t enough for us achievers. While you are in your twenties, focus on building a SOLID foundation for yourself, your partner, your future children, and you’re great, great, great grandchildren. You don’t have to work yourself to death, but you must either be able to be the one who takes the baton from your parents and sprint or to be the one who makes the decision to get a baton and begin running. The decisions of your twenties are what define your future, not only your degree(s).
Until next time,
Live Long and Prosperous.
J.M.
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