Читать книгу Millionaire Expat - Andrew Hallam - Страница 13

A few years ago, I met a 50‐year‐old Canadian woman who lives and works in Ethiopia. “I need to take bigger risks with my money,” she said, “because I'm only going to be investing for 15 years. I want to retire when I'm 65.” She failed to realize, however, that if she retires at age 65, her investment duration isn't 15 years. If she lives until she's 85, her investment duration would be 35 years. Investment lifetimes have two phases. That's why she shouldn't take unnecessary risks.

The first is an accumulation phase. This is when we're working and adding money to our investments. The second stage is a retirement (or distribution) phase. The day we retire isn't the day we sell our investments, hold a massive party with the proceeds, and drink tequila until we puke. We need to keep our money invested, so we can sell pieces of it to cover our costs of living. That money should keep growing so we can continue to live off its proceeds (see Chapter 14).

That's why a 50‐year‐old investor's time horizon could be 35 years or longer. A 40‐year‐old investor's time horizon could be more than 45 years.