It is often said that we plan for the future, young people plan for middle age, and middle age plan for retirement, but people often neglect to plan for the present. If you say you want to travel around the world at the age of fifty, your funds and plans have been properly prepared. You only need to take a no-pay leave or take a month and a half between job changes to realize your dream. Why wait fifteen more years? Could it be that the future is sacred, but the present is a poor cousin that can be ravaged?
The elderly have invested their life savings in several property units, and the properties are fully paid. However, because they do not have a tight income to live on, they are unwilling to sell the properties or take out retirement mortgages to cash out, in order to leave the several units to their children. The problem is that the children have just been born, the wife is young, and she has to pay a large sum of money every month to two parents who are obviously wealthy, which is extremely difficult. It is said that three generations of a family have suffered for the future.
In the TV series “Succession”, a seventy-year-old media tycoon refuses to retire and buys Sunset Industries, leaving the company in debt. The old man says that he has dedicated his life to his children, but his children, who have just failed in their attempt to usurp the throne, turn their backs on hearing this. Whether to leave wealth or debt to children is still unknown. His refusal to retire and his desire to reverse the company’s disadvantages plunged the whole family into a power struggle.
Overdrawing the present for the future?
In this century, or at my age, it doesn’t work anymore. As people grow older and are exposed to death more frequently, their mentality will naturally change. What will you be doing in five years’ time, getting promoted, getting married, or having children? If you imagine that you will die, the life you will live and every day you live in these five years will be completely different. Live in the moment and enjoy yourself in the moment. Before I quit my job and travel, I would spend every day shopping, eating and drinking, but there was no need to treat my “now” self badly. Timely reward, timely indulgence, timely leniency. Materials and money are minor matters, but the most important thing for me is who I choose to get along with and what I choose to talk about every day.
Refuse unnecessary social interactions and do not need to show your face
I’m not alone in this kind of occasion. I’m so busy having two drinks that I can’t remember what I said to see and to be seen. It’s a complete waste of time. Or just have a heart-to-heart talk with a friend over a drink. Even a marathon of five hours is not too long. Make time for people you love and respect, not dispensable. Choose conversations that are meaningful and in-depth rather than superficial. The overdraft for the next generation should also be limited to enough cash for tuition and down payment, and the rest must be earned by the children themselves.
