We all need Mentors who have seen it all and (ideally) 10 to 15 years our senior to guide us through life's unchartered waters. Its better to take advice from an old sea dog captain who may have retired from helming his cargo ship days than from depending on your experience, gut instinct, or what your star sign may say (Sagittarius is mine).
Here are tips from the very successful friend of whose picture is here, and whose name I shall not reveal. He retired early at age 54 and has never looked back on wanting to stay on in a highly stressed, though very high paying career as a banker. He was the CEO of a major multinational bank in a nearby Asian country. He spends his time, doing hobbies he enjoys, and meeting friends and his extended family (his daughters are both married and living outside of Singapore).
REAL LIFE TIPS
1.Always read the fine print in any thing
A product , a contract, an NDA, a guarantor in any loan or financial
transaction
If you have doubts, don't sign.
2.Watch what the person does - not what he says
3. What is NOT said is more important that what is said 99% of time.
4. If its too good to be true, it probably is.
5.Always be on time for appointments.
If you think you are stretched for time to meet that person on a particular day, reschedule. Do not waste his and your precious time fuming about a possible no show.
6. Never brag about expensive possessions.
They belong only to those who earned money the hard way for them and look good only for a while. A top level S Class Mercedes at the end of the day is just a big car, but requires lots of money to purchase and to maintain. Be Humble.
7. One unlucky break and you are wiped out
Financially, reputationally and even health can go overnight from seemingly healthy to (say) you have just 6 months to live.
8. Black Swans Do Exist - and when they bite, all heall breaks loose.
Finally, the big downer, you can do well in anything for decades, (running a
business, have a lucky streak in gambling, flipping properties, assets
enhancement etc) - there will be a time when the PERFECT STORM hits,
and if you are in the game. You WILL be wiped out.
9. Be Humble.
10. Greed is real Bad.
Gordon Gecko, in the film Wall Street ended up in jail.....
Don't be greedy, earn a little (or more than a little) and...
10. Exit Early
Enjoy what you have struggled for while you are still striving for that one last hurrah. Its a contradiction, but you deserve the small fruits that come your way to incentivise yourself to climb higher for the best fruits.
Finally a Bonus.
11. Life's too short to die with millions in the bank and while you worked a lifetime to earn it, you have hardly had any time to enjoy it. Spend Some
12. Live a Little
Go for the year end holidays (I have had over 20 with my family to date). We thoroughly enjoyed those getaways first when the kids were babies (first in 1996, and young children 1997 - 2009, next when they were early to mid teens (2008 - 2012). From 2014, it was duo holidays just my wife and I (in total 6 - all in Europe and all at least 2 weeks long).
13. Pay it Forward
Give to charity and the needy. Money, your experience and Time.
There is No Time like the Present
Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Horis Sapit.
No Human has all the Wisdom of the World.
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