In the Battle of Brisbane, Australian challenger Jeff Horn shocked our very own Manny Pacquiao and turned the fight into one of boxing’s greatest upsets. Pacquiao was heavily favored to win, as Horn was handpicked to make Pacquiao look impressive
A lot of fans of the fighting senator surely felt bad about his loss. We have a lot to learn from his experience.
Learn to respect Father Time
Pacquiao is already 38, and a lot of boxers this age (with the exception of a few) are past their prime. Their punching power and speed start to diminish. For the past eight years, Pacquiao has yet to score a knock-out victory. He also suffered losses in more recent fights. It is evident that Father Time is catching up. He has to learn to quit when he is still on top. As in the movie Rocky IV, Rocky said they are no longer the same as they were five years ago. Every boxer should realize that. All of us cannot prevent time from moving forward.
What this means to us
When Pacquiao was in his prime, he was a knock-out artist and can take blows as fiercely as he delivers his own. He even dominated in eight different weight classes and outclassed his famous opponents either by knockout or by decision. Along the way, he suffered some losses but managed to stand up and go on to become the eight-division world champ. If he started boxing at a late age, he will find it difficult to reach his achievements today. Unlike other boxers who squandered their wealth, Pacquiao invested his earnings to ensure that his family will never be poor again. Win, lose or quit boxing, it is next to impossible that he will outlive his wealth.
Similarly, young income earners have the potential to make more than the previous generation. They can afford to take risks by job-hopping to increase their income. They can choose to fire their bosses if they wish. Since they are still young, they must start to invest in higher risk instruments, as they have plenty of time to recover if they suffer losses along the way. As they grow older, things change. They have to play it safe with their jobs because they need job security. They cannot simply switch jobs because of greater competition from the fresh graduates. Even if they have experience on their side, like Pacquiao, the youth still have the advantage innovation and aggressiveness. Shifting jobs at an old age is similar to starting boxing very late. Worse, if the old employee does not have any investments when he retires, he will be just like many other boxing champs who return to the ring to make money only to be knocked out cold by youthful adversaries.
Let us all learn from our favorite boxer by investing early. Make TIME our ally. Time is the real money. The earlier we invest, the better our future will be. Remember that time waits for no one. It moves forward forever. We can only look back with regret but can never take it back. Respect time and later it will give us due respect. If we procrastinate, time will be our enemy. If we start to invest early, we are investing stress-free. When we invest later, it will be stressful because we have a lot of catching up to do. Likewise, if Pacquiao wasted all his money, he will have to knock out all his younger opponents (a hard task to do) even if he is aged 50. Learn from him so that when we reach our twilight, we thank ourselves for having done a great job this very moment.
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Edmund Lao, is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personal-financial planning, attend the 63rd Registered Financial Planner program this July 2017.
To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text <name><e-mail> <RFP> at 0917-9689774.