Friday, January 26, 2018

You Got to Walk that Lonesome Valley

You've got to walk that lonesome valley
Well you gotta go by yourself
Well there ain't nobody else gonna go there for you
You gotta go there by yourself

This morning, as is my custom, I was listening to a psychologist delivering a lecture on the elements of success, as I sipped my daily cup of coffee. For some reason, perhaps it was my frame of mind, it wasn't working, at least not for me. Losing interest, I began to surf the Internet in another window while the speaker droned on in the background. While looking at some other personal finance blogs, I was reminded that there are no silver bullets, no magic cures. Others can help your progress or hold you back, but ultimately no one, not your friends, neither personal finance gurus, nor politicians have the answers that will release you from accepting personal responsibility for how you choose to live your life.

There is a reason they call it personal finance. It's personal. You can't escape the money equation:

Money In = Money Stored + Money Spent

But how you chose to fill in those numbers over the course of a lifetime is up to you.

You get make the decisions and take the actions that will become your career. You can choose to follow the impossible dream, whatever the cost, you can make the "Great Compromise" that is finding the least objectionable way to earn what you and your wife consider an acceptable amount of money, or become an entrepreneur, striking out on your own quest to earn more money by becoming a greater blessing to your neighbor.

Once your basics are covered, how you spend your money is up to you. After all it is your money. If you want to live in a trailer park, so that you can dine at the finest restaurants in town, that is your business. If making a fashion statement with a pair of $600 shoes rings your chimes, go for it. If you want to give your surplus money away to charity or use it to benefit individuals in need, if you have it to spend, who or what organizations get your money is totally up to you. At this point, let me add that from my personal experience, you can give away more to help others than you are likely to think is prudent or possible.

Some people, like me, choose to place shares in conservative dividend paying companies and low cost index funds in their money stored column. Others prefer income generating rental properties. Some are not comfortable beyond insured savings accounts and Government bond funds. Some bury gold and silver coins in their basements, right under their stores of emergency freeze dried rations and boxes of shotgun shells. How you envision the future, will determine how you prepare for the future.

How you define financial freedom is your decision. It is likely that your definition will evolve over time. I would say, my first experience of financial freedom occurred the month I paid off my mortgage. Suddenly, I had an extra $1,000 to spend or invest-every month! It was exhilarating to be able to dramatically increase the amount of money going into investments and take my wife to places like Hawaii, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas.

I remember the day I understood, really understood, that I had reached my goal, financial freedom. During my annual performance evaluation held sometime back in September/October 2011, I told my boss it was clear that barring a major stock market meltdown, I would be gone by January 2013 when I would turn 62. I suggested that he start training some folks to replace me. Of course, I volunteered to help in this process. Then after the death of my mother in law in the spring of 2012, we inherited enough extra to kick us over the top. At the time, my employer was offering "buy-outs" to encourage old folks like me to take early retirement. In a meeting with my supervisor, I told him that for the first time in my life, I no longer had to work for a living. If he wanted to offer me the buy-out, I would take it. He was horrified at the possibility of that option, so I worked until the day after my 62nd birthday, as planned, since that would be the first day I could retire without penalty to my pension.

P.S. I had enough vacation time on the books to take off the last two months of my career with the Government. Roughly 47 years after taking my first job as a caddy at an exclusive nearby golf course, I reached one of my goals, financial freedom. My prayer is that you will achieve this goal in less than half that time.

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