It’s a fact that men need to consider some things as they age though almost no man — who generally tends to continue acting like a boy with very expensive toys — really likes to do so. However, there’s absolutely nothing wrong (and probably everything right) with making a man sit down and figure out where he’s been, where he is and where he’s going in life.

This doesn’t mean that obsessing over growing older is the way to go, because it most certainly isn’t. What it does mean, though, is that having a plan for a nice retirement income should be a part of any young man’s outlook on life. The old story about the ant and the grasshopper — in which the grasshopper was left out in the cold — it’s a good parable to keep in mind.

However, there are a number of things that are conspiring to keep men from planning for the long run. A literal obsession with aging is leading to activities like men waxing parts of their body they never even used to pay attention to in olden times. Still, it’s probably better that they wax hair off the chests and backs rather than try to dye it with some sort of shoe polish, for example.

So, instead of obsessing about waxing maybe men should take a good look at the 40 years between the time they’re 20 and the time they’re 60 as their golden years. This means the years when they can amass the most gold in terms of savings or investments. They’re the most vigorous during that time and they can do the most work. Trying to do it all once one hits 60 is no way to go, to be honest.

Men should stop and think about how easy it is to amass a literal fortune in 40 years versus trying to play catch up in 10 or 15 years. That’s why blowing a lot of cash on some super expensive anti aging eye cream when that money could be better used in an interest-bearing savings account or some sort of regular investment account isn’t exactly being very smart about things, it must be said.

What’s for certain is that compounding of interest is going to lead to the little bit of money that initially went into that account — as long as a little bit is added to it regularly — turning into a large bit of money over time. At age 60, if that account has been attended to for 40 years, one will be shocked at how much money is going to be in it, though most men refuse to consider taking such action.

Maybe refusing to think about what’s going to go on once one hits 60 or older is just a man’s way of ignoring the fact that we have to get old in a chronological way. We never have to age in all of the ways that are probably important, but we (especially men) tend to ignore that which we find we’re afraid of, though we have the ability to plan for such an event, so be happy about that.