One thing that significantly changed in me when I had kids is the willingness to build wealth.
My family is never really about luxury. We’ve never really envied other people who has more than us. My upbringing is heavily biased on being contented with what we have (thanks Ma!). There’s natural resistance to excess. And that’s how I am up to now.
Bringing kids to this world though, have this good burden of wanting to provide and secure them the basic necessities of life. That’s how I see my primary role now: a provider. However, there’s really no guarantee up until when I’ll be alive. The best option I have is to build wealth as fast as possible that can cover their life up until they are capable of choosing their own path.
At the core of what I do and why I’m motivated to work hard is actually a disguise on being ready to die anytime.
How I’m preparing to die
The best way I effectively work is when I have a crystal clear vision of what I want to achieve. I’ve identified two goals that, when achieved, I can go peacefully:
- House and lot per kid – with a lot of luck, I was able to achieve this recently. Whatever happens now, at the very least they will have a place to live in.
- 5m per kid – to cover basic necessities and education up to college – this will take some time to achieve. My strategy for this one is get to a term-life insurance until I get to this point. Regardless of what happened to me, they will still be covered.
Of course I want to provide them more than material things. I’m figuring those out along the way. I just consider this as the baseline of what I’m aiming to provide.
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There’s this line in one of my favorite song when I contemplate about death: love is watching someone die — so who’s gonna watch you die?
I sure hope that my kids are the ones who’ll be there. Already equipped for whichever path they choose and ready to whatever challenge the world is going to throw at them.