The Phases of life

As we thought about our life, some major changes had taken place over a relatively short period of time.  Our children had grown and moved out which had brought along that accompanies being an empty nester.  We had moved away from our first careers and raising our kids to becoming owners of our new business.  Our parents needed more care as they were aging.  We started calling this time of our lives “Phase 2”.  Looking back, we saw all the changes we were experiencing and how much we had to learn.  That was the genesis of Living Phase 2.

But what is Phase 2?  We’ve defined it as that time in life after an early career and raising families, but before the late retirement years.   We measured each of life’s phases using 3 key characteristics, time, money, and health.

Thinking about each of these measures, let’s look at each of the phases of life to see why and how Phase 2 can be possibly the best time of our lives.

Phase 0

Phase 0 is the start of life.  It’s our childhood.  It is days of playing, going to school, growing up, while living with a family support system.  Phase 0 continues up until we start “adulting”.  It’s that time of life where we have the freedom and minimal responsibility.    Looking at the chart in Phase 0, there’s plenty of time and great health, however, there is little “money” available in this phase.  While our family may have “money” it’s not generally our choice how that money is spent, and it is not an important component for a person in phase 0.

Phase 1

In Phase 1 it’s time to transition from childhood into adulthood.  It’s the time in life where many of us start our careers, marry, have children, and raise our families.  During this phase, our time is often limited.  We are early in our careers, not making much in the way of income yet.  We may have only 1 or 2 weeks of vacation and time off is spent around family activities.  Money earned goes towards necessities along with buying cars, houses, raising families, and hopefully investing in the future.  Although we have excellent health and vitality, our time is often not our own.

Phase 2

Now here we are, phase 2 of life.  Our children are grown and most likely out of the house.  At this point we may start to feel some of the early effects of our age.  We wake up a little stiffer.  After a night out, it takes a bit more to get going in the morning.  We start grow hair in places where we didn’t want it and lose it where we do.  It is at this time of life when we are well into our career, making more money, and most likely have more in the way of vacation and free time.  We may even be wondering what to do with ourselves now that we aren’t spending all our time catering to our children and their activities that have been such a significant part of our life.  We also may be looking at a refreshed career, more travel, spending time with grandchildren, and caring for aging parents.  Our thoughts become more concerned about our health. We also look outside ourselves and consider how we can spend our time, talent and treasure to help others.  Finally, our retirement is on the horizon, and we are thinking about options and hopefully seeing the fruits of our retirement investments and wealth planning.

It’s around these pillars of Health, Wealth, Career, Leisure, Family, and Faith & Charity that we will have discussions in our Living Phase 2 community, including website and social media.  It is our hope to build a community of others in Phase 2 where we can share ideas and help each other have the best Phase 2 life possible.

Phase 3

And last, lets identify phase 3.  During the transition from phase 2 to 3 we find that we have even more time with being retired and having less career responsibilities.  Often our home, cars, and other debts are paid off.  We also have fewer family expenses and if our retirement plans are well executed this can lead to more disposable income.   However, it’s during this transition that our health and vitality decline.  That is the major transition indicator from phase 2 to phase 3.  We have plenty of time and money, but not the energy or health we once had.

Wrap up

We would like to note, we certainly understand that this is a very broad and generic view.  You will note that we don’t put ages on these phases.  They are keyed by the balance between health, wealth, and time.  Everyone’s experiences will differ and how we experience each of life’s phases will be unique.  How we see phase 2 is the time in life where you have the freedom while having a good balance of time, money and health.  For some people that may be in their 30’s and for others it may extend well into their senior years.  We hope you will enjoy our journey through phase 2 and look forward having you join us.  Together, we can help each other get the most out of life.

Nancy and Mike Jacobs