Quitting is not difficult. Quitting while feeling a sense of closure and contentment is hard. In other words, how can we quit without having feelings of regret? How can we live so that we can truly quit?

I think Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, described the three phases of life:

The first phase is where we are dependent, when we are young. We need our parents and society to nurture and feed us for us to grow.

The second phase is where we are interdependent, when we are in our adult phase. We contribute to society and enjoy its benefits.

The third phase is where we give back to society. This is when we put all of our excess wealth to growing our legacy.

These phases are not necessarily dependent on age, though they correlate. Meaning, while only a small minority of people past 50 years old get to the third phase, some are stuck in the first phase, depending on government aid and allowance from children and relatives.

I personally think, if we get to the third phase, we can quit anytime. Any day can be the last day of our lives and we would have lived a good life. We could have looked at ourselves in the mirror and said “you lived to your fullest and you gave back more to your society than society provided you with.”

So today’s episode will be based on getting to the third phase. I will take a page (literally) off Alex Charfen’s program The Billionaire Code. This page contains a table that describes the 9 stages of wealth, and how to get to one stage to the next.

[insert page]

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, be sure to share, download or follow this podcast on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts from. If you’d like my PDF copy of the table from The Billionaire Code by Alex Charfen, drop me an email with subject line Episode 13 to [email protected]