Understanding money management through different ages, life events, or financial circumstances will help us manage uncertainties, and life-changing events or set the right priorities while not compromising our end goals.

Our financial priorities will change when we embark on our life journey, and understanding what could have changed or impacted our financial life will help us maneuver through the potential uncertainties. There are different angles we can look at as we go through our financial life:

• We can plan for financial priorities by age milestones, for example, when we are in our 20s, 30s, or 40s.
• We can plan for the financial changes from being a student to our first job; single to married life, then having kids; health situations as we age, or based on family medical history.
• We can plan for different lifestyles we each want to pursue: like minimalist, YOLO, FIRE, or leading single independent life.

No matter how we go through life, and what priorities we want to set for ourselves, we can’t avoid the fact that we have to face money issues and make big financial decisions for the rest of our lives. And all of us would eventually set end goals for retirement (at a young age or later in life).  If we all want to secure a quality and meaningful and healthy life, we have to start planning now and should not stop. We can all control our financial situations by knowing everything about it, teaching ourselves by managing them, and overcoming difficult situations by making wise decisions on finances.

MO Foundation embarks on our journey to providing the Financial Literacy program to our community. When we refer to literacy, we do not mean just knowledge. It is everything from information, knowledge, skill sets, actions, habits, and mindsets about money. It is our goal to cover all aspects of financial literacy; and over time, we will provide the foundation to help people in having full control over their businesses and finances.

So, what can you do as you go through your financial journey?

Ages

• 20s: if you are at this age, you have the full advantage of being young, because time gives you a longer runway to prepare and plan to grow your money over time. You just need to start putting a smaller amount aside and learn to use money as a tool to help grow your money and assets exponentially. You could be a FIRE when at 35 if you save/invest and plan your financial journey accordingly.
• 30s: You are at the stage with better career advancement. How are you coping with your career and love life? With more money compared to your 20s, you start thinking about setting up backup financial streams. Do you not like your job much and think of being your own boss? Or you have to focus on your love life and build a family, but money talks with the partners can be complicated and stressful.
• 40s: You are more concerned about your health and worried about what is to come for your old parents. But you have missed all the saving/investing when you were young, and all of a sudden you now have a shorter time runway. Can you achieve certain financial goals to ensure you can retire at 55 (or 15 years later)?

Life circumstances

• Single: Your financial life is pretty much different when you are alone, and maybe you only have to worry about your parents. How to set up a foundation when you receive the first paycheck, negotiating for the best salary from the start? You might be looking for love and dating now, but worrying about the money discussion. How can you set the right foundation from the beginning to create transparency and responsibility?
• To be Married or Marriage: You need to save for wedding funds. You have worries about your money, and your partner’s money, should you set up separate or joint accounts? What kind of conversation should you have with your spouse? Love and Money are two topics that should not be mixed as we might be taught it is just the way it is. Is it true? What if your partner has debt management issues? At this stage, you might also plan to buy the first property together.
• Having kids: What kind of money do you have to prepare? What about education funds for your kids? How do you teach your children about money?
• Health: Do you have health insurance? Insurance is a complicated product and you do not know what to choose for yourself and your family. What happens if you do not have insurance, and what kind of impact does it have on your financial life?
• Big family: You have to care for your old parents too. Money is tight and how do you plan for everyone when they are dependent on you?

Lifestyles

• Minimalists: What is this lifestyle and how do you know if it suits you?
• YOLO: You want to experience everything at a young age, and you do not believe in saving for later. What kind of impact will it have on your finances? Build the disciplines now so you can still enjoy yourself to the max while being responsible for your financial life to ensure your YOLO life can still carry on.
• FIRE: You plan to retire early at 40 years old, what do you have to do now to achieve that? Why is it so difficult to achieve, when many have already become FIRE at a much younger age than you?