From the Editor

GEORGE Bernard Shaw’s well-known witticism “youth is wasted on the young” has a corollary: “Wisdom is wasted on the elderly.”

Older folk view young people as having an almost irrational disregard for risk, but the truth is that they often aren’t fully aware of the risks they face. They tend to form risky personal relationships, engage in risky behaviours such as drinking too much and driving too fast, and exhibit a risky approach to money when it comes to taking on debt, spending and investing.

They also have a burning need to be accepted by their peers, which means feeling pressured into exhibiting the outward trappings of success, even when their earnings might not warrant the extravagance.

As they mature they will begin to feel more comfortable in their own skin and the need to put on a show for others will fade. They will start to show heightened responsibility towards their loved ones (and themselves) by toning down their risky behaviours.

On the financial side, they will stop living in the moment and start thinking about the future. More experienced in life’s ups and downs and more aware of their own mortality, they are likely to take out life insurance and consider saving for a rainy day.

This transition can take many years; it can happen earlier or later in life, and for some it hardly happens at all.

The danger is that extreme behaviour in the early phase can ruin one’s life for good.

Education in all its varied forms helps to transfer the collective wisdom gained through life’s lessons to younger generations.

This publication hopefully contributes in a small way to that education.

Martin Hesse

Money, like emotions, is something you must control to keep your life on the right track

– NATASHA MUNSON Author and motivational speaker