For many people, they choose not to wait until near retirement age and break down goals over many years to gradually create a financial and spiritual foundation for life after leaving work.
Those are also the thoughts of Ms. Bui Phuong (40 years old, Ecopark Hung Yen) when she started thinking seriously about retiring from the age of 30.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, according to Ms. Phuong, the first group of assets to accumulate for old age are intangible assets, in which health is put first. From taking care of both parents, she realizes that health directly affects the quality of life in old age. Therefore, she proactively learns about nutrition, exercise and health care methods to apply to herself and her family.
I started researching all sorts of things about health care, nutrition, exercise, traditional medicine... Even, at one point, I even went to teachers to learn more about health care knowledge," she said.
Having money does not mean having a peaceful old age. A person can own property, but if they have to face illness every day when they wake up, dependence on others in basic activities, they will not be able to fully enjoy retirement life. This is an intangible asset that many people often ignore but it greatly affects the quality of retirement age.
Not only considering health as assets to help a person enjoy old age, but for Ms. Phuong, raising children independently is a way for parents to feel secure entering old age.
I always think that being old and still having to rush to solve one thing after another for my children is very tiring. Therefore, I invest in my children, but not only with tuition money. I find a suitable living environment, educational environment, and most importantly, I also have to learn to know how to accompany my children," she said.
In addition to health and family, she believes that there is one thing that greatly affects the spiritual life of retirees, which is quality relationships. This is also a type of asset that needs to be built before retirement. When there is no longer busy work, a network of friends with common life values can help each person maintain communication, share and have more spiritual support.
She said that she is always conscious of building and nurturing, maintaining relationships with people with the same life values, creating a learning community together, developing herself, raising children... Through these relationships, she has more opportunities to observe, learn life experiences and maintain a rich spiritual life.
In parallel with preparing intangible assets, her retirement plan is also built from material assets. As an investor and asset manager for many years, the principle that Ms. Phuong set out is to divide income into many items to serve different goals including: children's learning fund, filial piety, family life, personal development, risk provision and a separate item for retirement.
Ms. Phuong aims for a method of choosing real estate for rent in industrial urban areas in the future to have a balanced and passive monthly income flow.
Planning and dividing funds helps her define a long-term path, not confusing spending and implementing savings plans in stages, avoiding accumulated pressure at a time when she is old, weak, and has poor working ability.
Setting a goal of being ready to retire at the age of 50, Ms. Phuong believes that the most important thing is not to own how many assets, but to build a plan suitable for her circumstances.
Early retirement does not mean completely stopping working. More importantly, achieving a state of having the right to choose to work because you want to continue, instead of having to work just to maintain life. That is also the journey of freedom in the mind.
