Last week, I met one of my uncles-in-law who has been a sailor for many years. In the past decade, he has been out of town and travelling all over the world to make a living. He has two children to raise and being a father who is always absent from their growing-up, he somehow does not know how to get along with his kids once he is back home once a year. In this transition period, usually like one month or two, he will find him some odd jobs to make money to support his family. Unfortunately in this economic downturn, it is very difficult to find a job so he is quite upset now. Staying at home means no income and this makes my aunt very anxious. This uncle is in mid fifties and he is one of the most diligient people I've ever known. Ever since he was young, he would always keep busy doing all kinds of jobs to make money. I have to say that he made some savings for some years but it was most used up by sending his daughter to study overseas. Under today's economic condition, he has to wait more time to be assigned onboard and it is said his salary will be slashed big next time he has an offer. Well, to make a living, he has to accept that. He used to be a happy-go-lucky guy and always have a smile every day, last week I saw him, he was more like silent and upset.
As he ages, the window for him is closing. I never saw him encounter any financial problem because he has been diligient and frugal. This meet-up has completely changed my mind. Even people like him are struggling financially and we'd better prepare a comfortable life for the old version of ourselves. This uncle is still doing okay although with some struggles but I am sure there are millions who are broke and wish they could have made and saved more money when they were young. Always plan for the future. What do you think ?
I don't know, as far as I know, a sailor has a salary that is high above the average job on land, even though it's just a low class crew member.
Moreover, your uncle is a sailor who takes routes that cross various countries in the world, in my opinion, not just any ship can sail taking cross-country routes and I'm sure that the possibility of money or savings that your uncle have may still be quite a lot even to send his daughter abroad.
I don't know or maybe your uncle has other problems that make your uncle unhappy, because life's problems are not only limited to economic problems, there are many other problems that will be faced in life.
Apart from that, we really have to be able to make the best use of our time and income to deal with old times, creating a small business ourselves is a good thing because when we retire from the world of work we still have things to do and can produce money.
Investing in certain instruments such as gold, stocks, property and even Crypto is a good thing.