Ages from 25 to 35!
Congratulation – you just passed the Puberty stage in the Game of Life, unbroken and full of optimism.
Considering of all the complexity and the unknown you have been experiencing for the last 10 years, and if you are on cue, the Game of Life is about to give you an ultimate assignment. The end result of the mission if properly executed will last into the millennium – the construction of The Family.
If you have not watched the 2005 family documentary, The March of the Penguins, it is highly recommended before returning to finish this article. The Puberty march from ages of 15 to 25 should have taken you to the moment you where have found your true object of affection – the final ceremonial courtship is effectively in play.
By the age of 25 the frontal lobe of your brain is fully developed. Mindfully, you are ready to comprehend the world in its true colors and noises, less inundation the fantasies in the earlier years.
Approximately 20 to 25 percents of you have college degrees, and another 70 to 75 percents should have found the niche of profession that jump starts the life beyond the family you have been with for the last 25 years. Fig 2 below is showing the stats for a player in the Game of Life from the ages of 25 to 35.
Without going into the detail discussion of the illustration, the take away from it is that you are at the prime of your life, as you are about to take on an assignment that have been passing down from the millenniums – the procreation mission.
From the age of 25 to 30, many of you will still experience the euphoria left over from Puberty, but more reality based and tangible verses hormonal induced fantasy in the Puberty years – the career, the home, the car, the love of your life and the baby are coming down the pipe.
All these realities will be extraordinary and grandeur as you have been imagining and long lasting if the investment of time and effort are appropriately played and matched in proportion.
For each of the inning in the Game of Life, how much Money do you need? What is the Relationship requirement? What is the appropriate Health play? What is the proper tint of Morality to keep the wining? All are ascertainable with the application of the 1DesignerLife framework.
The Game of Life is rhythmic to the natural tune of each of the player. From the ages of 25 to 35, the majority of the population will be relatively productive in whatever the choice of career that has been chosen. As a result, most of you will be able to finance your basis needs in most cases.
Unfortunately, the game will place a heavy taxation on Finance, Relationship and Health in The Family inning.
It is a fact that most you will play the game such frenzy that slowly you will lose sight of everything that matter to you. All base on some life style that has no correlation to the happiness to yourself and your families.
It is interesting when comparing how the Game of Life is differed between the two stages of life, Puberty and Family.
All the complexities and confusions within the Puberty years were mostly originated from within. There was a tsunami in biological transformation from being a child to a young adult with the capability to produce a new life – the tidal wave of hormonal changes crippled the young brain of rationality.
In contrast, the soon to be life complexity and stress from the Family years are rooted from the external environment – the mortgage, the car payment, the Joneses next door and the fast changing career.
Between the two stages, Puberty is biologically hardwired. Therefore, many of us are at the mercy of our genetic makeup. Whereas, the influences that conditioned our lives from 25 to 35 are mostly external.
Genes are immutable, but external environments are not inevitable!
As depicted in the Fig 2 above, the financial stat is improved for majority of you due to the fact that you have found the career niche that fits your current capability.
The median household income in the United States is approximately 60K. Statistical median meant ½ of the population is below the 60K income line and the other half is above.
An average US household size is a little over three in 2018, traditionally composed of two adults and a little more than a child. The income is collective of two working adults or just one head of household.
Let’s assume that your household is straddling exactly at the 60K income marker. It is a 50% of probability, your household income, inflation adjusted, will fluctuate close to this line for the next 10 years – with the very high possibility of staying at the median of income for the rest of your
working life.
As an example of a personal real life experience, from the age of 25 to 35 years old, I was able to move from the median income bracket to the 90 percentiles. As of 2018, the top 10% earners commanded a salary of 100K or greater.
The sacrifices our family had made was the 15 moves across four different states. In exactly 7 years after I had earned the BSEE, as a family we had to take a step back and for the next two years managed to live with less than 20K per year while I was working toward the Master degree.
The final piece of the financial puzzle that ensured our family will have the financial security for the rest of my career and possibly for the rest of our retirement was the execution of the 1DesignerLife frame work – The Sixty-Forty Money Play.
The take away lesson I would like to convey to most of you with my personal example is that it will take an enormous sacrifice and determination to move up the financial tiers. Unless you are willing to put in effort and time, thinking about it will not bring about the change.
More importantly, the crucial lesson I learned in the journey from the median income tier to the 90 percentiles was the saving. It is all about how much I was able to save more so than the amount I was making – similarly to the idea in exercise where 90% the effort is in perfecting the diet not the actual workout.
The financial strength depicted in Fig 3 is not in dollars figure in comparing to the population. It is an illustration that you have honed in the necessary “Hunting and Gathering” skill necessary to start a family of your own.
For many of you, the next ten years will be the pinnacle of achievement. Within this inning of the game, you found the love of your life, the necessary financial resource to support the birth of your very own offspring and physically, you are at the peak of health.
Fig 3 below is a glimpse of your stats in the next inning of the game, the Midlife Crisis– from the age of 35 to 45.
Your best game is here! Out of the nine innings in the Game of Life,the best version of you as a result from genes and environment will be expressed within the 10 years time frame of this inning.
The 1DesignerLife framework is a proactive solution, whereas most of us deal with life situations with reactive actions and behaviors. The framework gives flexibility in options for dealing with the unanticipated life events – internals or externals.
The Midlife Crisis will be loaded with these challenging events.
Are you prepared for the next inning of the game?
Let’s play the Game of Life!
