You are exactly like Cristiano Ronaldo. Have you heard of him? There’s a chance you have. He’s quite high profile. There’s even a chance you’ve had him on board the yacht you work on. If you haven’t heard of him, don’t worry. All you need to know is that you are exactly like him.

Ronaldo is coming to the end of the present phase of his life. It’s hard to imagine him doing anything other than what he does right now. But his time is running out. He is supremely gifted at what he does, so he may hang on for another few years, but eventually, he will have to leave his present life.

That’s probably going to be very hard for him.

You might scoff and say he’s very rich, so he’ll manage.

Maybe.

But money is only one part of life. There’s no doubt it’s an important one. It opens up all sorts of opportunities for those who have it. And Ronaldo has an awful lot of it, so he’ll have plenty of opportunities to choose from. But all his hundreds of millions can’t buy him the one thing he may truly want: more time in his current job.

When the end of his career comes, it won’t be gradual. It’ll happen from one day to the next. One day he will be part of his current life. The following morning, he won’t. As it stands, his present life will be over at the stroke of midnight on 30th July, 2025.

That’s where you probably differ from Ronaldo. You might not know exactly when you’ll walk off a superyacht for the last time. Other than that, you’re the same. You have a well-paid job that allows you to pay for an above average lifestyle. You also can’t imagine doing anything other than what you’re doing at the moment. You are also young and have many years ahead of you once you have left the industry.

Drift on the current or set your own course?

Now, do you think Cristiano Ronaldo is avoiding the imminent arrival of the end of his career? (He’s a professional football player, by the way. A good one, too.)

We can’t speak for him. We’ve never met him. But we get the feeling he’s the kind of person who plans things meticulously. He’s also the sort of man who won’t want to simply vanish from view. That’s where the next challenge of his life lies. It’s possibly the biggest challenge of his life so far. He needs to work out what he’s going to do with himself for the rest of his life—or at least the phase after he steps off the football pitch for the last time.

If he doesn’t, he risks ending up in a dark place. It’s not uncommon for people who retire after 40 or 50 years of working to become depressed. They fall into a hole, because they didn’t plan for what they were going to do next. The consequences can be grim. In fact, you’d be alarmed at the number of people who die very soon after retirement.

As human beings, we need a purpose in life. Right now, the yacht gives you your purpose: cater to the whims of the ultra rich owner or charterers and their guests. Your life is laid out for you neatly in accordance with their desires.

Could you readily say what you’d do to give your life purpose if you were dropped ashore and out of yachting tomorrow? Most superyacht crew can’t. They’d talk a good talk. But it would be very low on specifics. More than likely, it would be a short-term thing as well. Nothing that stretched beyond a few months.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Most people in the world couldn’t tell you what they’d do if their current life ended tomorrow. Like you, they’re far too caught up focusing on the present so they do the best job they can today. Tomorrow can wait. You deal with that when you get there.

But that’s the same as letting the winds of life blow you where they will.

Wouldn’t it be better to take full control of the direction of your life yourself?

The money helps, but it’s not the most important thing

That’s the crux of the matter. His money is meaningless to him unless he can put it to use doing something that gives him a sense of purpose. The plan is more important than the money. The money only opens up the scope of the plan. But it can’t make the plan for him. Only he can do that.

Ronaldo’s two-and-a-half year contract with his current club earns him €200 million a year. And he was hardly struggling to get by when he joined. He’s been earning a fortune since he was a teenager. In other words, money is no object for Ronaldo in the next phase of his life. He will be able to finance pretty much anything he wants to do. All he needs to do is figure out what that is.

You have that in common with him. Deep down, you already know this: nobody else can decide what a meaningful life is for you. Only you can do that. You have to set the goals yourself.

Money just makes it easier or quicker to achieve your goals. And it may even allow you to set bigger goals—but don’t fall into the trap that only the wealthy can set big goals. The only thing you need to set a big goal is ambition. You’ll get much further with a tonne of ambition and a little money than you ever will with pots of money and only a flicker of ambition.

Money is like talent. Ronaldo again: he is talented, for sure, but his ambition and work ethic are legendary. He got where he is today through dedication and hard work.

The money is great, though

Regardless of all of that, we’d obviously like to see you leave yachting with a very healthy sum of money. We’re sure you do too. The more money you have, the less time you have to spend earning what you need to make your plan and goals come to fruition.

The combination of a solid plan and enough money to fund it is unbeatable. That’s why we always encourage superyacht crew to have both a life plan and a financial plan. In fact, one without the other just doesn’t make sense.

ALERT. THIS IS IMPORTANT! IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING TODAY READ THIS:

Just like Ronaldo, you are currently in the position of being able to earn and save more money than you ever will in your life. And just like Ronaldo, the money tap is going to be switched off. Your time to make significant money and build wealth for yourself is NOW.

Ronaldo has squeezed every single financial benefit he could out of his time in the money-making bubble.

Are you going to do the same?

It’s there for the taking. But, like Ronaldo’s playing career, it’s a limited time offer. He grabbed it with both hands. You need to make sure you do the same.

Life planning for superyacht crew

Your life after yachting has two components to it:

1. a meaningful purpose
2. the money to fund it.

Ronaldo has the money, but his happiness will be determined by finding a meaningful purpose.

You have the opportunity to build up a significant amount of money. No time like the present to start.

The same goes for your plan for your life after yachting. The sooner you start planning for a meaningful life, the better. You’ll also find that having a life goal in mind for after yachting will give you powerful motivation to create and carry out an effective financial plan to pay for it. You’ll become enthused about saving and investing money, rather than simply spending.

So are you ready to be even more like Ronaldo than you already are? Contact us today… OK, Ronaldo isn’t a client of ours. But you can be and we’ll do our very best to help you build and pay for your ideal life when you leave yachting.