8 Investments You MUST Have Before Age 50

If one thing in your life disappeared tomorrow, what’s the one thing that would cause everything else to fall apart?

Would it be your job? Health? Biggest client? Marriage? Your home? Maybe your ability to work?

Because I've been thinking a lot about this as I get older. 

I’m currently in my early 40s but spend a lot of time speaking to, and even had the privilege of coaching, people in their 50s as they navigate life’s challenges.

And I've realised that one of the biggest risks we face isn't necessarily that we don't have enough money.

It's that we've built our entire lives around one thing continuing to work as it has always done. 

For example:

• Having one salary and one employer.
• Having one business or one main skill.
• One main pension for retirement.
• One body that we assume will always cooperate.

I call these single points of failure.

And by the time you reach 50, I think one of your biggest financial goals should be to start removing these single points of failure.

Now here's where this gets really interesting.

There's a piece of wisdom written thousands of years ago that I've been reading and thinking about a lot lately.

Ecclesiastes 11:2 says:

Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

Seven ventures. Yes, eight. Why?

Because you don't know what's coming and I think that's the bit that matters.

You don't know. Nobody knows.

Nobody knows exactly when their company might restructure, when another recession might arrive, what tax rules will change and work against you or what AI is going to do to their profession.

Nobody knows when illness might come or what will happen to the stock markets next year.

So wisdom isn't about predicting everything that's going to happen.

Wisdom is building a life that doesn't collapse when something does.

So in this post, I want to share eight investments I believe you should have before the age of 50.

And when I say investments, I'm not just talking about only stocks and property and so on.

Some of these will make you money, while some will save you money.

Some will protect your ability to make money, and others will buy back your time.

And one or two could genuinely change the quality of the rest of your life.

But I want you to do something practical as we go through them.

I want you to keep score.

For every investment you genuinely feel you've made as I list them, give yourself one point.

Not “I'm thinking about doing it.” or “I’m gonna do it”

But I’m actually doing it.

So at the end you're going to have what I'm calling your Life Diversification Score out of eight.

And don't worry if your score isn't particularly high. This isn't a competition.

But if you can discover where your life is over-dependent on one thing, you can do something about it.

My name is Ken Okoroafor; I’m an investor, Chartered Accountant, NED and former CFO. Follow me on LinkedIn.

I worked in the investment business for 14 years, and together with my wife Mary, we achieved financial independence at the age of 34 while raising two children; 

And without making the right investments, we wouldn’t have achieved that goal.

We’re also Sunday Times Bestselling authors of two books: 

The first is Financial Joy, a 10-week plan to help you banish debt, grow your money and unlock financial freedom.

And the second is The Wealth Habit, a habit and mindset system that makes wealth building effortless, inevitable and sustainable for life. 

Okay, let's start with the first investment.

8 Investments You Must Have Before Age 50

And I deliberately put this first because it’s that important.

1. Invest In Your Ability to Make Money Without a Job

If your salary stopped arriving next month, what else would pay you?

Notice I didn't ask, “How long could your savings last?”

That's a whole different question… I'm asking, what else would actually pay you? 

For millions of people, the truthful answer is nothing.

And I think that's especially dangerous, particularly as you get into your 40s and 50s.

Because something happens as you progress through your career.

At the beginning, experience makes you more valuable e.g. you get promoted, earn more, get more responsibility and life feels good!

Maybe you eventually earn 60k, 80k, 100k, 150k. Fantastic! 

You’re smiling, and you believe you’ll always earn that money!

But experience can eventually make you more expensive as well, and that's something nobody tells you when you're 25 or 30.

You build your life around that high income.

e.g. your mortgage reflects it, and so do your children's lives. You go on nicer holidays, drive a nicer car, etc.

And then something happens. A restructuring, redundancy, offshoring, a merger, a new CEO, or new boss who arrives with a PowerPoint presentation containing the words “operational efficiencies”.

I know, I used to be a CFO.

And suddenly you're discovering that replacing a 100k job isn't necessarily as easy as replacing a 30k job.

So one of the investments I think everybody should make before 50 is:

Learn how to create money without an employer. Wow.

What a powerful thing to be able to do.

Can you imagine waking up and being able to make your own money without anyone’s permission?

It usually begins small… £10, $100, £1,000 or $1,000 and beyond.

When I say, invest in learning how to create money without an employer, I'm not saying quit your job.

Please don't read this post, resign tomorrow and then tell your spouse: “Ken told me to do it.” 😅

Ken did not tell you to do that.

Your job could be fantastic. What I'm saying is:

Don't make your job carry the entire weight of your financial life.

And here's what's fascinating.

If you're reading this in your 40s or 50s, you might already own one of the most valuable raw materials needed to build another income stream, and that’s your knowledge and experience.

Think about it. What have you spent the last 10, 15, 20 or 25 years learning?

Maybe you're an Accountant, Teacher, Nurse, Doctor, Project manager, Lawyer, Engineer or maybe even a Tradesperson like a Plumber.

There are things that you know today that somebody else desperately wants to know because it solves their problem.

But here's the issue most people have.

Familiarity hides value.

Because something comes easily to you, you easily assume everybody knows it, and you undervalue yourself.

You might have spent 20 years becoming excellent at something and never stopped to ask:

Could this knowledge become an asset that I own?

Notice the emphasis there is on “asset” (a source of future economic value) and the other emphasis is on something you “own”.

Because you’ve likely been trained for years to help others improve what they own and make it more valuable, but not to build something you own for yourself.

Think about it…

• Could what you know and what you’ve experienced become an in-person workshop or live event that people pay you to attend?
• Could it become a digital product that people buy from anywhere in the world?
• Could it become something that earns you royalties?
• Could it become something you license to others for an annual fee?
• Could it be a productised service?
• Or a membership community others pay you to join?

Essentially, could one body of knowledge and experience create more than one stream of income? 🤔

This is actually one of the reasons Mary and I created ManyStreams™.

What's it all about?

ManyStreams™ is designed to help professionals take knowledge, experience and skills they already possess and use AI in a responsible way via a practical process to turn that knowledge into many streams of income.

We want to help excavate hidden gold within your existing knowledge and experience.

Because we meet so many people who are incredibly capable but also incredibly stuck!

They have 15 or 20 years of experience and they've solved valuable problems for others at work.

People come to them at work for answers but the only organisation currently monetising that knowledge is their employer.

And I want you to remember this sentence:

Your employer should not be the only organisation on Earth that knows how to turn your knowledge into money.

If ManyStreams™ sounds relevant to you, click here to check it out.

But whether you ever join us or not, ask yourself this:

What do you know that could become an asset and pay you without you needing to be there all the time?

I want you to reach 50 knowing that if your job disappeared, you're not starting from zero.

So that's number one. Do you already have this investment made? If so, give yourself one point.

2. Invest In Your Healthspan

This one is something money cannot replace, and that’s your health.

But specifically, I want you to think about something called your healthspan.

There's lifespan. And then there's healthspan.

Your lifespan refers to how many years you are alive.

Your healthspan on the other hand is how many of those years you're healthy enough to actually enjoy.

What's the point of building a £1 million or $2 million portfolio if you finally retire and the only journeys you're making are between your house and the hospital?

I recently coached a 53-year-old Jamaican woman in the UK who has decided to retire in Jamaica because she’s worked too hard for years and her body is giving her the signs that now is the time to start enjoying that life while she still can.

I'm increasingly conscious of this as I get older.

In your 20s, your body forgives you for all kinds of foolishness.

You can sleep for four hours, eat nonsense, not exercise and even work all night.

Then, you wake up the next morning and you are Fine.

Then you get into your 40s, and your body starts sending invoices. You sleep badly one night, and somehow you're still discussing it on Thursday.

You sit in the wrong chair and injure yourself.

Your metabolism appears to have resigned without giving notice.

And more seriously, people around you start receiving diagnoses. This one feels very, very real.

You start to hear about high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and heart problems.

And suddenly health stops being this abstract thing you're going to sort out “one day”.

You realise:

My ability to enjoy the wealth I'm building depends upon the body carrying me there.

And poor health doesn't only affect your body.

• It can affect your income.
• Your ability to work.
• Your relationships.
• Your independence.
• Your confidence.
• Your retirement. Yes! Even where you're able to live or not!

So I think we have to stop treating health as a bit of a side hustle.

It is recommended that adults generally aim for around 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days.

But I'm not trying to turn this into a fitness blog.

My point is simpler. 

• Move your body.
• Build strength.
• Eat good-quality food (ideally organic).
• Sleep.
• Deal with unnecessary stress.
• Get proper detailed health checks. I know people who avoid health checks because they’re afraid of what they might find out. Don’t be that person!
• Look after your teeth.
• Look after your mental wellbeing.

And don't wait for something to break before you start maintaining it.

We understand preventative maintenance perfectly when it comes to cars.

You wouldn't buy a car and say, “I'm never servicing this thing until the engine fails”. That would be ridiculous.

Yet people effectively do that with their bodies.

Here's how I think about it now:

Your body is the only house you're guaranteed to live in for the rest of your life.

Let that sink in and invest accordingly.

So that's number two. What's your score? Two out of two? One? Zero? Be honest.

3. Invest In Assets That Work While You Don't 

Imagine you had £10,000, and let's say you invested that money back in 2009 in one lump sum.

You didn't add another penny and you didn't trade.

You didn't try to predict interest rates or sit on your laptop looking at candlestick charts 😆.

You simply invested it into a broad investment fund like the Vanguard US Equity Index Fund and left it there.

Approximately how much do you think that £10,000 would be worth today?

Would it be £25,000? £50,000? £100,000? £125,000? More?

The correct answer is £126,758.89.

Now just process that for a minute.

Note: This is not financial advice or a personal recommendation to you. Illustration and education only.

If that was £100k in 2009, it would be worth £1.26m today for doing no work except investing your money in the right environment.

Here is the annual performance from this investment:

Bear in mind…

Two years ago, when I asked this same question, 10k invested in 2009 was £93,211.16. Today, it’s £126k

And looking back to 2009, a lot has happened during those years.

e.g. Political uncertainty, COVID, inflation rises, interest-rate uncertainty, wars and rumours of wars, stock-market falls and rises, tariff shocks and more!

A lot of these headlines told us the financial world was apparently about to end approximately every six months.

Yet you didn't have to predict all of those things.

You simply owned the asset, and you stayed invested.

We've been investing ourselves since 2010, and it has been one of the most life-changing things we've ever done.

Now, obviously, past performance doesn't tell us what will happen in the future, and I'm not recommending this particular fund to you.

I’m also not saying you should only invest in the US market; you can achieve amazing returns in a low-cost, globally focused fund.

Here is an example with $10k invested as a lump sum in the FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (VWRP):

Here is the year-by-year performance:

There's a much bigger lesson here.

There are essentially two versions of you all the time.

There's Worker You, and there's Owner You.

Worker You

• Wakes up and goes to work.
• Attends meetings and answers emails.
• Deals with somebody sending a “quick question” on Teams at 4:57 p.m.
• Makes money.

But Owner You owns

• Shares and funds.
• Businesses.
• Intellectual property.
• Potentially property (or REITS).
• Assets capable of creating economic value without you exchanging another hour of your life.

And as you approach 50, ‘Owner You' should gradually become more economically important than ‘Worker You'. That's the transition that people miss.

When you're 25, you might not have much capital. What do you have? You have time, energy, and potential, so you sell labour, which is perfectly normal.

But imagine getting to 50, and your body is still the only engine producing wealth in your life.

If you stop working, everything stops. That's completely fragile.

Somewhere along the journey, you need to convert labour into ownership.

You work, earn, keep some and invest some.

Those assets hopefully grow and eventually something beautiful begins happening.

Your money joins you at work.

This is why accounts like Stocks and Shares ISAs and pensions can be so powerful.

For the current tax year, the overall ISA subscription limit remains £20,000.

That doesn't mean you need £20,000 before you start.

Start with what you can e.g. £50, £100, £250, £500. Whatever is sustainable.

Recommended: New to Investing and Need a Step-By-Step Guide? Start Here

Think about every pound or dollar invested as a tiny worker you send out to work for Future You.

And yes, some years those workers will go on strike because markets fall and that's part of investing.

But over long periods, the objective is that your capital begins carrying more of the financial load.

Here's the transition I want you to remember:

Your younger years are largely about learning how to work for money.

Your middle years should increasingly be about teaching your money how to work for you.

Ok, give yourself a point if you're genuinely building productive assets like number 3.

4. Invest In Rare and Complementary Skills 

Imagine two people; tell me which one you'd rather be in the world we're moving into.

Person A is exceptional at one technical skill. Let's say 10 out of 10.

Person B is perhaps 7 out of 10 at that same skill. But they're also good at:

• Communication.
• AI.
• Sales.
• Leadership.
• And understanding business.

Who would you rather be? Person A or Person B? Think about it.

There's no universal answer because some genuinely exceptional specialists will remain extraordinarily valuable.

But I want you to notice something about Person B. Their advantage isn't any one skill. It's the combination.

I call these rare and complementary skills. Think about skills like ingredients for baking.

Flour isn't rare; eggs aren't rare (although becoming more expensive); butter isn't rare; and sugar isn't rare.

But put ordinary ingredients together in the right proportions and suddenly someone in a fancy cafe in London is charging you £7 for a slice of carrot cake. Yup! It happens.

The combination is what creates the value.

Take me as an example. I stack:

• Finance (which I got into via clearing because I didn't know what career to pursue)
• Communication (which I learned by pushing myself outside my comfort zone to speak and write)
• Teaching (which I learned from the desire to make complex ideas simple)
• Content creation (which I learned by taking the leap to make start making videos in 2019)
• Writing (which has led to bestselling books and began with blogging)
• Business (which I learned more of by doing it rather than doing an MBA)
• Leadership skills (which I learned from being a dad and rising in my career to C-Level and Board roles)

Individually, there are millions of people who are better than me at each of those things.

But combine them? Now something more distinctive starts to emerge.

The same could be true for you.

Maybe you're:

A nurse who stacks AI + teaching.

A lawyer who also stacks tech skills + content.

A teacher who stacks curriculum design + ability to create videos.

An engineer who stacks sales + leadership. You can see this person easily becoming a CEO.

A Plumber who stacks Project Management + Digital Marketing

So here's an exercise I want you to do.

Write this down 📝

What are the five most valuable things I know how to do?

Then underneath it, write:

What ONE skill could I add over the next 6 to 12 months that would make this combination significantly more valuable?

e.g. Sales, Public speaking, Video creation, Leadership, Negotiation, Data Analysis, Another language, Financial literacy. etc

And here's what I want to say particularly to somebody watching this who's 45 and thinking: “Ken, I've missed the boat.”

No, you haven't.

Let's say you're 45 and you deliberately develop one meaningful new skill every two years until you're 55.

How many is that? Five new skills.

Now combine those five with 20-plus years of experience you've already accumulated.

Who could you become? This means when your cheese moves, you move with it.

People massively underestimate how much reinvention remains available in midlife.

With this approach, you might not be approaching the end of your valuable years. Instead, you might be entering your most valuable decade.

Because there's something a 22-year-old can learn but cannot instantly download, and that’s experience.

What's your score so far? Four out of four? Three? Two?

And notice what's happened already.

We've diversified your income, focused on your health, begun building your assets and given attention to your skills.

But there's another form of wealth that doesn't appear on any balance sheet.

5. Invest In Relationship Capital

If all your money was taken away tomorrow but you're left with your knowledge, reputation, and your relationships, how quickly could you rebuild?

That's worth thinking about.

Because I've met people who are wealthy financially but surprisingly poor in what I call relationship capital.

And I've met other people who might not have enormous amounts of money but can make one phone call and open a door money couldn't buy.

Previously, I've talked about Cornerstone Connections.

A cornerstone connects walls together and strengthens the structure, and I think there are certain people who do that in our lives.

For me, that might include:

• Somebody spiritually grounded like a pastor who can give me perspective.
• A financial professional.
• Solicitor
• Doctor.
• Entrepreneur friends who keep me accountable and motivated
• A builder.
• Mentors.
• A business leader who's perhaps 10 or 15 years ahead.

And one particularly important person: Someone who will tell you the truth when everybody else is clapping.

We all need one of those. But here's what I've learnt.

Most people approach networking by asking: Who do I need to know?

I think there's a better question: “Why should someone want to know me?”

That's completely different.

Strong relationships aren't built by constantly extracting; they're built through contribution, reliability, generosity, demonstrating trust, showing up, keeping your word, and helping without constantly keeping score.

There's an old saying:

You should dig your well before you're thirsty.

Don't wait until you've lost your job to suddenly remember everybody on LinkedIn.

Don't wait until you need funding before you start building relationships.

Don't wait until you're lonely to start investing in quality friendships.

And this becomes more important with age.

Because here's a question we don't ask enough when we're building wealth:

Who's going to be sitting around your dinner table when you're 55 or 65?

Who's going to phone you because they actually want to speak to you rather than just WhatsApp you?

Who can you phone at 2 a.m.when something happens?

Who knows the real you?

Who celebrates when you win without secretly resenting you?

Who tells you when you're wrong?

That is wealth.

Sometimes our obsession with financial independence causes us to forget that human beings also need relational interdependence.

You can become financially rich and relationally bankrupt.

I don't want that. Never have!

So invest in people and people will invest in you.

And that brings me naturally to our next one.

6. Invest In Your Family 

This obviously looks different for everybody.

Some people are married, some are single, some have children, some don't want children and some are caring for parents.

But whatever family looks like for you, there's something I've become increasingly aware of.

You can become so busy building a better life for your family that you forget to build a better life with your family.

That's a dangerous trade.

I told someone recently, you can grind all you want, and if you sadly die early, another man will enjoy your wife and all the wealth you’ve accumulated.

It was hard-hitting, but it is the truth! I say it because I’ve seen it happen!

Let me bring this back to my personal life.

Mary and I can be building businesses, making videos, writing books, running our community, travelling, raising our boys and family life can become incredibly efficient and routine.

We ask things like: Who's doing the school run? Who's got rugby or football today? What's for dinner? Who's doing this or that?

Everything works. But here's what I've learnt.

Efficiency isn't intimacy.

We need times when:

• Nothing productive is happening.
• We have meals without devices, go for walks together.
• We laugh and make fun of each other.
• We plan and go on dates as we did before getting married.
• We do holidays with children and without children (so important!)
• We sit around doing absolutely nothing. We often do this in the garden.
• We have conversations that aren't about logistics.

Think about all of this in your situation as well.

And if you have children, I think one of the biggest investments you can make isn't simply giving them money.

It's preparing them to live without needing your money.

Teach financial education, confidence, practical skills, family values, give them exposure, help them to see opportunities, give them your time and have memorable experiences.

And yes, if you're able to invest financially for your children, that can definitely  give them an extraordinary head start.

We are doing that ourselves.

But a Junior ISA without financial education isn't enough. Capital without capability can create another set of problems.

So I've increasingly moved away from only asking: “How much can I leave my children?”

Towards asking: “Who am I helping my children become?”

Because that investment can potentially compound for generations.

And there's another thing that begins happening around this stage of life.

While your children are growing up, your parents are growing older, and you're in the middle.

Your children might still need financial and emotional support.

Your parents might increasingly need practical, emotional or financial support.

And suddenly you realise you're being pulled in both directions and it can be difficult to navigate. This is sometimes called the sandwich generation.

Another way to think about it is:

Your children are growing up, your parents are growing older, and you're somewhere in the middle.

That's why time matters so much. Money can be replenished, but time cannot.

7. Invest In Control Over Your Future Cost of Living.

Imagine two people who are both 50.

Both have exactly £500,000 invested and similar health.

But Person A needs £60,000 every year to maintain their lifestyle, and Person B needs £30,000.

Who's wealthier? Person A or Person B?

Financially, their investment portfolios are identical, with £500,000 each.

But in terms of freedom, they're living in completely different worlds.

Person A's £500,000 represents a little over eight years of £60,000 annual spending 

if we simply divide one by the other and ignore investment returns, tax and inflation.

Person B's represents more than sixteen years at £30,000.

Same £500,000 but completely different relationship with money.

And this is one of the biggest things I've learnt about financial freedom.

There are two levers. The first is: Build more. Earn more. Invest more and grow your assets.

That's the lever everybody talks about.

But there's another lever. And this to: Need less.

You don't hear too much about that because it doesn't sound as sexy or exciting but it's incredibly powerful because lifestyle inflation is sneaky.

You earn more, so you buy a bigger house, a nicer car, you upgrade the holiday, add subscriptions, exclusive members clubs, nicer restaurants and school fees, perhaps.

Everything gets slightly nicer.

And then one day you're earning £120,000 and somehow £120,000 has become essential. That's not freedom; it's a more expensive cage.

So one of the smartest investments you can make before 50 is creating margin.

The gap between what comes in and what your life requires, and your home is a huge part of this.

I'm not going to tell everybody: “You must own a house.” No.

Different people have different circumstances,  but for many people, owning their main home and gradually reducing or eventually eliminating the mortgage can radically reduce the income required later in life.

This is why we focused on paying off our mortgage in 7 years, and we’re reaping the rewards today.

Recommended: Pay Off Mortgage Early or Invest? Which Is Smarter?

For somebody else, flexibility from renting might suit their circumstances better.

The principle isn't that property always wins. The focus should be on designing your housing costs intentionally.

And sometimes creating wealth isn't about adding; it's about subtracting.

For example, a smaller mortgage, less debt, one fewer car, a cheaper area, fewer recurring commitments or less stuff.

You can actually increase your financial freedom without adding £1 or $1 to your net worth simply by reducing the amount your lifestyle demands every month.

We spend so much time asking: How can I make another £1,000 a month?

Sometimes we also need to ask: Why does my life require so much money every month?

Those are two completely different wealth-building questions.

So remember: Build more. Need less. Financial freedom gets easier when you pull both levers.

8. Invest In Your Freedom Fund 

I believe everybody should gradually build a Freedom Fund. This is different from an emergency fund.

An emergency fund protects you when something goes wrong e.g. The boiler breaks, car needs repairing, you lose your job or an unexpected bill arrives.

That's extremely important.

A Freedom Fund gives you options even when nothing has gone wrong.

Imagine you're 52 and you wake up one morning and think: I don't want to do this job anymore. Can you leave?

Imagine your company changes direction and the environment becomes something you no longer want to be part of. Can you walk away?

Imagine one of your parents becomes ill and you want to spend three months with them. Can you?

Imagine you've always wanted to start a business. Could you take six months and try?

Imagine you simply decide: I don't want to work five days anymore; I want to work three. Can you afford to?

That's what money is ultimately for. It's about choice. Not impressing strangers or winning an imaginary competition with people you don't even like. Not accumulating the biggest number possible and then dying early before you enjoy it.

It’s all about Choice. Your Freedom Fund might include different things:

• Cash reserves.
• Tax-free investments in ISAs (or Roth IRA in the US or TFSA in Canada).
• Workplace Pensions or Private Pensions (SIPP) or your local equivalent
• Business assets.
• Property equity.
• Income-producing assets.

Whatever is appropriate to your circumstances, but I think there should eventually be a number attached to your freedom.

Because if you don't know what freedom costs, how are you going to buy it?

What's your annual cost of living? £30,000? $40,000? £60,000? $100,000?

What would it become without a mortgage?

We noticed that ours, for example, dropped massively without a mortgage.

What would it become if you stopped paying for private school fees? Or if your children left home?

What income might your investments eventually support? What other income streams do you have?

What pension provision have you built?

Answering these questions means that suddenly, “I want financial freedom” stops being a vague dream.

It becomes maths and maths is useful because maths can be reverse-engineered.

Once you know the destination, you can start working backwards.

That's why I've called this a Freedom Fund rather than simply “retirement”.

Because retirement asks: When can I stop working?

Freedom asks: When can I choose whether I work?

I prefer the second question.

I mentioned earlier the Jamaican woman in the UK who is considering retiring earlier at the age of 53 after I went through her investment and retirement sayings with her. 

Although the phrase she uses is to “Retire early”, what she’s really choosing is freedom.

If you’d like to work with me to discuss your finances or your investing and retirement goals…

Recommended: book a Power Hour 121 coaching session with me. 

What If You're Already 50 or Older? 

Now I know you might be reading this and thinking, “Ken, brilliant post, but small problem. I'm 57 or 63″.

Or maybe you're 49, and you're thinking: “I've got nine months to do all eight!”

Please relax. Fifty isn't a cliff.

You don't wake up on your 50th birthday, and suddenly compound interest refuses to speak to you.

The reason I've used 50 is that deadlines make us pay attention.

If you're 55, start at 55.

If you're 60, start at 60.

If you're 35, fantastic. You've been given something incredibly valuable: time.

My parents began their financial lives in the UK in their mid-40s with very little, and they went on to become financially independent later in their 60s.

So don't use your age as evidence that it's too late. Use your age as evidence that it's time to do something different.

You cannot change when you started, but you can absolutely change what you do next.

Focusing on Many Streams of Income

And if you've gone through the eight and realised that number one is currently your biggest vulnerability and your salary is doing all the heavy lifting, that's precisely why we've created ManyStreams.

Maybe you're sitting on 10, 15, 20 or even 30 years of valuable knowledge.

You know you've got something.

But you don't know what to do with it.

Inside ManyStreams™, we take you through five stages of the Excavate Method:

• EXCAVATE: Find the valuable knowledge and experience already inside you.
• REFINE: Turn that knowledge into something useful and potentially valuable to somebody else.
• PROVE: Validate the idea before you waste six months building something nobody wants.
• REVEAL: Get the offer in front of the right people.
• FLOW: Build systems that help it become something bigger than simply exchanging more of your time for money.

And AI (used responsibly) now gives ordinary professionals tools that would have required teams of people not very long ago.

That's what makes this such an interesting time.

Here is a link for you to join ManyStreams™.

Conclusion

Let me finish with this. When I was younger, I thought wealth was mainly about accumulation.

e.g. How much money do you have? How big is the portfolio? How much property do you own? How much does the business make?

Those things matter. Of course they do.

But the older I get, the more I realise even more so that wealth is really about options.

I ask myself…

• Can I choose how I spend my Tuesday?
• Can I take care of the people I love?
• Can I survive something unexpected?
• Can I say no to money when saying yes would cost me my peace?
• Can I take three months off?
• Can I move somewhere else?
• Can I help somebody?
• Can I sit with my children without constantly thinking about work?
• Can Mary and I make decisions based on what we actually want our lives to look like rather than simply what pays us the most?

That's wealth.

Money is important. But money is the tool. Freedom is the asset.

And please… Let me speak more deeply from the heart now.

Don't lose your soul trying to acquire any of these eight investments.

You can build the portfolio and lose your family.

You can build the business and lose your health.

You can build the personal brand and lose yourself.

You can make the money and lose your peace.

That's a terrible trade. For me personally, my faith shapes how I think about all of this. I put God first in all things.

There's no point gaining everything and discovering that somewhere along the journey you lost the things that made everything worth having in the first place.

So yes, invest. Build. Create. Take some risks. Learn new skills. Make your money work. Build multiple streams.

But also…

Pray. Eat dinner with your family. Call your parents. Look after your body. Take the holiday. Help somebody. Give to others. Rest.

And enjoy your life ☺️.

Because the greatest return on these investments isn't simply dying with the largest possible number.

It's being able to look back and say: I used what I had wisely.

Now I want to hear from you in the comment section.

Which of these 8 investments would you like to start or do more of? Comment below and let me know.

♻️ If this post made you think of somebody approaching their 40s or 50s who needs to hear this, share it with them. It might start a very useful conversation.

Thank you so much for reading.

Don’t go anywhere; check these resources to help you with your investing and wealth-building journey:

• Book a Power Hour 121 coaching session 
• I’m 51. Is It Too Late To Retire Comfortably?
• 10 Retirement Numbers Everyone Needs to Know

Watch the video version of 8 Investments you must have by age 50:

And as always, in all things, be thankful and seek joy.