4 Important Money Lessons You Can Learn From A Broke 60-Year-Old & A Rich 60-Year-Old

(Both Started Working on Their Dream At 30-Years-Old)

Evan here from Smartmove U.

I want to share with you a story of two 60-year-old men.

Both of them started working towards their dream life at the age of 30.

However, at 60 years old…

One became rich… while the other ended up in a 6-figure debt.

They both had equal chances in life but why did they end up differently?

This is based on a real-life true story.

I want to share their story because I know it’ll provide you some lessons that you can use in your own life.

*I will not use their real names in this article for privacy reasons.

Both Started At the Same Start Line
At 30-Years-Old

The two men, James & Gary both started working on their dreams at 30-years-old.

Both of them equally had a passion for business.

Gary started a restaurant business.

While James got involved in multiple businesses.

30 years later, Gary grew his business into one that’s well-known in Southeast Asia.

He now manages multiple brands and even has a catering business on top of everything else.

At 60, he has the ability to decide whether to retire or not.

However, for James, it’s completely different.

He couldn’t retire at all.

He had to continue working because he ended up with a 6-figure debt.

How did this happen?

It seemed impossible for this to happen to James.

Because James was talented in business!

So what went wrong?

Let me share with you…

4 Major Lessons that struck me from observing the life of two 60-year-old men…

Major Lesson #1: Use the Power of Focus

For Gary, he greatly focused only on 1 business type.

That is the Food & Beverage industry.

But for James, he stepped into many different types of businesses.

Supermarket, Business Loans, Clothes, Fruits & Vegetables, Education and the list just goes on.

There’s actually nothing wrong with getting involved in multiple business types.

Because that’s what people should do if they don’t know what to do or what they love.

As a metaphor, you have to taste different types of food before you know what you like.

But after exploring, you have to just focus on what you love.

This actually reminds me of a quote from the late Bruce Lee:

He says…

“I fear NOT the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced ONE kick 10,000 times.”

Avoid learning 10,000 different types of kicks.

You just have to know that ONE type of kick and practice it 10,000 times.

This is exactly what Gary did.

He focused on the F&B business and then expanded on that single idea.

Instead of going 10,000 feet wide, he went 10,000 feet deep.

This is why today he has different types of restaurant brands and even a catering business as well.

Major Lesson #2: Focus On What’s Working, Quit Jumping

This is a little related to major lesson #1.

After you found what you love or what you’re good at, stick to it.

You just have to repeatedly do it over and over again and you’ll become a master at it.

But people sometimes make the mistake of jumping from one thing to the next.

As soon as they experience hardship or they get bored, they jump.

This is the exact same mistake that James did.

You see… of all the businesses he started, he was great at corporate loans.

But instead of focusing on what was working, he got involved into other businesses.

I call this: “The Grass Is Always Greener on The Other Side” Syndrome

Everything else always seems to be more attractive when you’re on the other side.

But once you get to the other side, it’s actually the same (always an upside and downside to everything).

So how do you avoid making this mistake in your life?

It’s just a matter of being clear about who you are.

Being clear about what you love to do and what you’re good at.

If you aren’t clear then you’ll just find yourself saying “YES” to every single thing that comes.

When that happens, you’ll be UNABLE to focus on what’s working!

This was how Gary became so successful.

By ONLY focusing on what was working for him.

And that was why he stuck to the F&B business for 30 YEARS!

Major Lesson #3: Think Thrice Before Leveraging on Borrowed Money (Especially If It’s Yet to Work!)

This is a common mistake that people make.

This is the same mistake that James made himself.

Before he started on his supermarket business, he took out a loan.

But why is this a mistake?

Doesn’t every business start with a loan?

Well, it’ll be a HUGE mistake if the business if you take a loan before it’s PROVEN to be profitable.

You see…

If it’s NOT proven to work yet, how will you know if you’ll be able to make back what you borrow?

But every so often, this is a mistake that people make.

They tell themselves:

“All I need is money and I’ll be able to start a successful business.”

OR when it comes to investing:

“I just a higher capital and I’ll be able to make good returns.”

They tell this to themselves WAY BEFORE having a proven profitable strategy.

This is why it’s best to think not once, not twice but thrice before borrowing a single cent.

Money is usually just 1 small part of many factors which enables a person to be successful.

For business: Apart from money… you have factors like business strategy, partnership, marketing and so on.

For investing: Apart from money… you have factors like strategy and money management.

This is why Gary first focus on having one successful restaurant brand before starting the rest.

Major Lesson #4: Learn About Wealth BEFORE You Have It!

Despite James getting involved with multiple businesses, he actually found success.

In fact, in his lifetime, he became a millionaire at one point.

If he made it, how did everything turn around?

It was because he failed to know how to manage it.

He didn’t learn or have the knowledge of how to manage wealth.

Because he didn’t have the knowledge…

He made the mistake of investing too much money into 1 single investment.

But another mistake was:

James invested into things that he didn’t understand.

He invested in them because the returns were attractive.

The bottom line is:

If you don’t FULLY understand how the company makes money THEN just avoid it.

No matter how attractive the returns are, don’t invest in it!

Take bitcoin as an example…

It’s attractive but if you don’t know how bitcoin is able to increase it’s market value, just avoid it.

Just focus only investing in what you can understand.

So apart from investing only in what you can understand, how can you become a great money manager?

Study it.

Learn it.

Yes, study and learn how to manage money BEFORE you have the wealth.

This is exactly what 60-year-old Gary did when he was younger.

Before he became rich and successful, he educated himself.

He read the news, books and practiced what he learned.

And so by the time he had more wealth, he knew exactly how to manage it.

For many, it’s the other way around.

They tell themselves: “As soon as I have wealth, I’ll learn how to manage it.”

Instead, you must first learn how to manage wealth BEFORE you have it.

As a metaphor…

Before you get on the road, you first learn how to drive.

In the same way…

Before you have wealth, you must first learn how to manage it.

As the saying goes…

“Poor people have big TV’s. Rich people have big libraries.”

To sum it up:

1. Practice the power of focus. Master 1 kick instead 10,000 different kinds of kicks.
2. Focus on what’s working for you, dump everything else away
3. Don’t borrow money too soon. Be patience, prove it then you can consider leveraging
4. Learn about wealth BEFORE you have it. Constantly read and be hungry for knowledge.