To achieve anything in life, time is essential. Whether it’s earning an income through work or gaining knowledge through study, time plays a crucial role.
For example, it is said that it takes approximately 4,000 hours to become proficient in a foreign language.
If we consider learning English, most of us have already studied it to some extent in school. Let’s assume that you need to spend an additional 2,000 hours to master it.
Hearing this, you might think, “2,000 hours? That’s impossible!” However, you can probably find 5 minutes a day to dedicate to studying English.
Now, imagine if you spent 5 minutes a day, every day, studying English. If you continue this for 400 days, theoretically, you would be able to master English.
Of course, there will be individual differences in the actual time required. However, if you are determined, it’s possible to master English by studying just 5 minutes a day for a little over a year.
Building wealth is exactly the same.
Many people wait until they are close to retirement before they start preparing for their future financial needs. However, trying to accumulate funds quickly requires a large initial investment or taking on higher risks.
On the other hand, if you take your time, you can avoid these challenges entirely.
For instance, using a wealth-building strategy, I calculated the monthly contributions needed to accumulate 100 million yen in retirement savings.
According to the calculations, a 20-year-old would only need to save 100 dollars a month until they reach 65 years old. A 25-year-old would need to save 150 dollars per month. For a 30-year-old, the required amount increases to 200 dollars per month; for a 35-year-old, it would be 320 dollars per month; and for a 40-year-old, the monthly savings would need to be 500 dollars.
As you can see, the earlier you start building wealth, the lower the monthly contribution required.
Certainly, setting aside money every month for decades may not be easy. However, it is not an impossible amount, and during that time, you won’t need to expose your assets to significant risks.
I hope you will keep in mind that the greatest benefit of taking your time to build wealth is the reduced burden and lower risk involved.