via Forbes

As the old saying goes, “Life begins at 40.”  Since I just reached that milestone myself last week, I have to tell you that it is true.  You might not think so but turning 40 was a very exciting event for me and not just because my husband “kidnapped” me from work and with the help of a good friend set up a day of pampering and then threw me a surprise party with family and friends that night.  He also single handedly planned a wonderful week long vacation for our family to celebrate this milestone in my life.  As I reflect on life at the beginning of this decade and realize both the good decisions I made (which include marrying this guy) and the mistakes I have learned from I begin to smile.  My life is very different than it was ten years ago.

Benjamin Franklin once quipped, “[a]t 20 years of age the will reigns; at 30 the wit; at 40 the judgment.”  I am always amazed at how his wisdom stands the test of time.  I have seen both men and women come into their own when they turn 40, and I believe it has to do with their life experience, which is of course a component of how judgment is based.  In my case, in the past 10 years I’ve run a workplace financial education firm, gotten married, and had a son.  My life experience is richer and deeper, which hopefully makes me wiser and a better CEO, as well as wife and mother.

The decade of the 40’s is a unique time in one’s life to get serious about financial planning because of this life experience and also because of the timing.  A 40 year old still has 20 – 25 years to save and invest so there is also still time to make an impact. Life is also no longer a “dress rehearsal” – life is serious.  We’ve also seen it zip by quickly and realize that we need to make good decisions going forward.  That is why the decade of the 40’s is a pivotal point for retirement planning.  With a long-term horizon, there is time to set plans in motion to significantly impact the future.

I just saw the new 5 minute video from my friends Johnny and Lara, and had to share it with you. It’s so inspiring, and so relevant to what many people are going through right now!

Johnny and Lara’s Amazing Video!

You see, we all feel overwhelmed sometimes. We work and work, but bills keep coming and debt keeps piling up – many people feel like they just can’t seem to get ahead. Good news! Johnny and Lara have discovered the secret to living a truly wealthy life and reducing your stress over money. There’s a way to grow your wealth so you can truly afford the finer things in life – and have time to enjoy them.

As the average Brit reaches 40 years of age they may like to think that, as the cliché goes, life begins. But financially it’s not so, according to research by money website Fool.co.uk.

The roaring twenties

The study finds that the average wage of 16- to 20-year-olds climbs from £15,000 to £17,500 for people in their mid twenties. Earnings accelerate throughout their thirties, but flatten out at £35,000 for 16 years once they hit forty. And it gets progressively worse after that.

Women’s earnings reach their potential earlier, but with a whimper rather than a bang. Earnings plateau in the mid thirties and never reach the peak of £45,000 scaled by their male contemporaries.

The withering in wages coincides with a life stage that is typically more dynamic, making income stagnation a double blow. Around this age, eight out of ten people (85%) own their own homes, of which three in ten (32%) are family dwellings. Six out of ten (65%) support dependents, including both parents and children.

By James Altucher – Financial Times

I can’t believe I’m turning 40 two weeks from today. I think I’ve written about this before, but it’s starting to bother me. For one thing, I haven’t been to a doctor since I was 17. Several readers have written to me that I need to start going to a doctor, if only to check for prostate cancer on a regular basis, which apparently can start plaguing men “my age”. Here’s how I think about decades: In your 20s you should try as many things as possible (whether in your career or personal life) and try to ramp up as many learning curves as you can. In your 30s you have to have some initial success and start making money. In your 40s (I’m guessing now) you need to translate that initial success into permanence and in your 50s you need to figure out something completely new that you’re going to do for the rest of your life.
Nothing is set in stone but this is the way things seem to be shaping up. I was excited to turn 30 because I felt as if nobody would take me seriously in a meeting until I was 30. Particularly since I have the personal presence of “Pigpen” from the Charlie Brown comic strips and that tends to be a mark against me in business meetings.

But now that I’m almost 40 something else is starting to occur to me. I might die soon. And by soon, I mean, “fewer than 40 years”. I might be more than half way through my life span. So for the first time ever I have to think about ways to live longer. This is a matter of common sense and not thorough scientific research. For instance, basic exercise – such as walking an hour or so a day – is probably better than doing nothing. Reducing stress is also probably another good way to live longer. And how can you reduce stress? By laughing more. Using a magical tool called “Google”, on something the kids are calling “the world wide web”, I just found out that 100 laughs is equivalent to 10 minutes of rowing. Personally, I hate to row. I’d rather laugh. Another way to reduce stress: not worrying so much about your portfolio or the markets (more on this in a second). And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that no smoking, no alcohol and better calorie intake is probably better than the reverse.

Now that you can live forever by following the tips above, it’s time to make your portfolio live forever since we don’t want you to run out of money when you’re 300 years old. The good news is that there’s no better time in the past four years for your portfolio than today. How come? Because people are assuming that the US is on the brink of a devastating economic collapse. I won’t get into all the reasons for or against this. I’m bored of that already. You can turn on CNBC to listen to endless pundits expounding on their books with well-crafted arguments on how we’re either going to boom or collapse. The reality is the markets will ultimately do what they always do: go up.