“Bata pa ako.”

I hear this a lot whenever we talk about retirement or long-term healthcare.
“Coach, bata pa naman ako.”

My answer is usually:
“Exactly. That’s your advantage.”

If you’re 25, retirement at 60 is still 35 years away. Ang tagal pa.
So naturally, you think you can deal with it later.

Maybe when you’re earning more. Maybe after you get married. Maybe when you have children. Maybe when retirement starts feeling a little more real.

Makes sense.

But think about it another way.

When you’re young, you may not have as much money as you’ll have later.

But you probably have more of something else : TIME.
And hopefully: HEALTH.

Those two may be worth much more than we realize.

Sometimes It’s Easier to Prepare When You’re Young

Let’s say you’re 25.

Your salary today may be nowhere near what you expect to earn at 40.

But what about your expenses?

Maybe you’re still single. No children yet. No tuition to pay. Maybe no housing loan. Fewer people depending on your income.

Fast-forward 15 years.

Hopefully, your income has increased substantially.

But now you may have a spouse, two children, a house, tuition, aging parents and all the other expenses that come with family life.

So yes, you may have more money at 40.

But you may also have more responsibilities competing for that money.

That’s something we don’t always consider when we say:
“I’ll start when I’m earning more.”

Sometimes the easiest time to prepare for the future is precisely when the future still feels very far away.

What Does It Really Mean to Be Wealthy?

When we say somebody is wealthy, ano ba usually ang iniisip natin?

Maraming pera.
Investments. Properties. Successful business.

Fair enough.

But here’s an interesting question.

Who is wealthier in time?

A successful 50-year-old with ₱20 million?
Or a 25-year-old who’s only beginning his career?

Obviously, the 25-year-old.

The 50-year-old can have much more money, but there’s something his ₱20 million cannot buy: Another 25 years.

That’s why I think we sometimes underestimate two of our greatest forms of wealth:

TIME and HEALTH.

When we’re young, we tend to have more of both, so naturally we don’t think they’re scarce.

Funny how that changes as we get older.

Money That Is Lost Can Be Earned Again

You can lose money on a bad investment and earn it again.
You can spend your savings and rebuild it.
You can lose a business and start another one.

Of course, none of these is easy. But it can be done.

Time works differently.

Money that is lost can be earned again.
Time that is lost can never be earned again.

You can’t work harder next year and earn back this year.
Once the year is gone, it’s gone.

And that makes time very interesting when we talk about long-term financial planning.

Your Biggest Investment May Be Time, Not Money

We normally ask:

“How much do I have to put in?”

That’s an important question.

But maybe we should also ask:

“How much time can I put in?”

Suppose two people put exactly the same amount into the same long-term plan.

One starts today.

The other starts ten years from now.

Same money.

But are they really making the same investment?

Not quite.

The first person also puts ten additional years into the plan.

That’s something the second person can no longer contribute.

And this is one reason starting young can make such a big difference.

It’s not just the money you’re putting into your future.

You’re putting time into it, too.

What If We Started at Age 10?

Let’s take this idea even further.

Suppose a parent starts a long-term healthcare plan for a child at age 10.

Sounds very early, doesn’t it?

After all, why would a healthy 10-year-old need long-term healthcare?

But that’s precisely the point.

We’re not doing it because we expect the child to get sick at 10.

We’re doing it because the child has so much time.

Imagine starting a plan at age 10 with a seven-year payment period.

By around age 17, the scheduled payments are finished.

The child hasn’t even really started adult life yet.

Career, marriage, children, retirement—most of that is still ahead.

But the preparation has already started.

Then the plan has something you simply cannot give a person who starts much later:

decades.

We normally prepare for a child’s education because we know they’ll need it in a few years.

But imagine preparing something at age 10 that they may still appreciate at age 60.

That’s a different way of looking at a gift.

So What Difference Can 10 Years Really Make?

Let’s use an actual long-term healthcare illustration.

Same plan.

Same annual premium: ₱26,470.

Same destination: we’re looking at the illustrated value at age 60.

The only major thing we’re changing is the starting age.

Starting age	Illustrated value at age 60
10	₱9,157,024
20	₱3,530,429
30	₱1,361,133
40	₱524,776

Interesting, isn’t it?

The person starting at age 10 isn’t paying a bigger annual premium than the person starting at age 40.

Same ₱26,470.

What the younger person has much more of is time.

And that’s the point of this comparison.

These are illustrated/projected values, not guaranteed values. Actual results may vary. The specific ₱26,470 plan in this example is available only through age 40.

“Sayang, Coach. I Should Have Started 10 Years Ago.”

Okay.

Maybe. 😄

But what can we do about that today? Nothing.

If you’re 40 today, you can no longer decide what to do with the time you had when you were 30.
That decision is gone.

What you can decide is what your 50-year-old self will someday say about the decision you’re making at 40.
Think about that.

At 50, will you say:
“Good thing I started when I was 40.”

Or will you say:
“Sayang. I should have started 10 years ago.”

Again.

That’s why I don’t like using these numbers to make people regret not starting earlier.

Regret doesn’t give you your time back.

You can only decide how to use the time you have now.

If you’re 20, you can’t go back to 10.
If you’re 30, you can’t go back to 20.
If you’re 40, you can’t go back to 30.

But every one of those people can still make a decision today.

Starting early isn’t about regretting the time you’ve already lost.

It’s about not unnecessarily giving away more of the time you still have.

But Why Are We Talking About Healthcare?

Because there’s a funny thing about retirement planning.

We spend decades accumulating money so that one day we can stop working.

Then, just when our salary stops, one expense may become increasingly important: healthcare.

If you’re employed today and have an excellent HMO, that’s great.

Use it.

But ask yourself another question:
What happens to that healthcare when you leave the company or retire?

Your retirement money will have many jobs already.

Food. Housing. Travel. Family. Hobbies. The lifestyle you’ve spent decades working for.

Do you really want the same retirement fund to have another job—paying for your future healthcare?

That’s why healthcare deserves to be part of retirement planning long before retirement arrives.

Not because we expect to get sick early.

Because we’re hoping to live long.

Being Healthy Is Actually a Good Time to Prepare

Sometimes people think:

“I’m healthy. I don’t need to think about healthcare yet.”

I look at it almost the opposite way.

You’re healthy?

Great!

That’s exactly how we hope you’ll stay for many years.

Those healthy years give you time to work, earn, save, invest, enjoy life and prepare before healthcare becomes urgent.

We don’t buy an umbrella because we want it to rain.

We prepare because someday it might.

And if it doesn’t rain today?

Wonderful.

Keep enjoying the sunshine.

Time and Health Are Wealth Too

The older I get, the more interesting this becomes to me.

We spend much of our younger years using time and health to earn money.

Later in life, people sometimes find themselves willing to spend a lot of money trying to get more time or better health.

So maybe wealth isn’t just what’s in our bank account.

Maybe part of being wealthy is having:

money to enjoy,

health to enjoy it with,

and

time to enjoy it.

We can’t guarantee all three.

But we can prepare.

And while we’re still healthy and earning, we can use the time we have to give our future selves more choices.

So What’s the Best Age to Start?

If we’re only talking mathematics, earlier is better.
But this is financial planning, not just mathematics.

I don’t want somebody neglecting today’s necessities just so they can say they started early.

And I certainly don’t want somebody buying a financial product just because they saw a big number at age 60.

Understand what you’re getting into.

What are you paying?
How long will you pay?
What benefits are guaranteed?
Which numbers are only illustrated?
What happens under different circumstances?

And most importantly:

Does it fit your financial plan?

Understand first.

Then decide.

The Only Time You Can Decide About Is Now

Maybe you should have started ten years ago.

Maybe you shouldn’t have.

Either way, you can’t make that decision anymore.

So instead of asking:
“When should I have started?“

I think there’s a much more useful question:
“What am I going to do with the time I still have?“

Because money that is lost can be earned again.
Time that is lost can never be earned again.

Use the time you have.
Use your healthy years well.

Prepare for healthcare.
Prepare for retirement.
And prepare for the life you hope to enjoy when you get there.

After all, the objective isn’t merely to grow old.

It’s to have a chance to grow old Happy. Healthy. Wealthy.

Whatever tomorrow brings.

Want to see what starting at your age could look like?

Message me and let’s look at the options and numbers together.
No obligation.

Understand first. Decide after.