Author Topic: Do you know what you want?  (Read 6009 times)

TokyoLotus

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Do you know what you want?
« on: June 26, 2014, 01:05:50 AM »
I think the hardest part of adopting the MMM philosophy is to figure out what I want.
Creating a random goal doesn't really connect to me emotionally, and I think it is important to have an emotional connection to saving investing and earning.

Have any of you sat there knowing you should be saving but didnt actually start until you had a goal with a desired deadline?

For me, in the future, I want to work freelance for lifestyle purposes(though I don't know what...). In any case, I realized that if I want to give freelancing a try, I want to save a years worth of salary to enable me to be without a steady income while I'm building up that role. And, that would mean if I save a third of my palate per month, I'd have to wait three years before I can try freelancing, which gives me time to gain skills and make connections in preparation.

Any freelancers out there? How do you adjust your monthly goals without knowing when your next job/paycheck comes in?

And for the rest of you, I want to hear about the difference between when you were passively being badass for the sake of being badass versus badass for a mission.

Life is fun when you are on a mission.

sobezen

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2014, 01:31:52 AM »
I approached Mustachianism very differently.  I began with the life I want to live and what true freedom meant to me.  This is very personal and takes a lot of time.  I strongly recommend watching Adam Baker's TED talk, it just made sense to me and I hope it helps you too. http://youtu.be/9XRPbFIN4lk  Also, re-reading the classic book "Your Money or Your Life"  really helped create clarity on "how" I wanted to live my life.  I wasn't looking for a career change specifically but I wanted more time to dedicate to meaningful causes and to spend time with loved ones.  So to get to the point where I could begin creating the life I wanted, I knew well before MMM, I HAD to save more money and make every penny I earned work for me.  No one cares about your money more than you do!  I kept this truism in mind as I carefully went over all of my expenses, work benefits (HSA, 401k, medical, dental, vision, insurance, et al) and determined which ones I could optimize and which I could reduce/eliminate. Additionally, I spent a lot of time consolidating funds/accounts and assets so I had economy of scale working in my favor. E.g. rolling over old 401ks into an IRA or Roth and setting up direct deposits into discount brokerage accounts with automatic contibutions into specific index funds like how MMM suggests.  Also, I treated my possessions as if they were all radioactive cockroaches and I got rid of most of them (selling and donating).  And you guessed it the proceeds went straight back to work.  Try it you'd be amazed how liberating it is to see more space in your room(s) and to feel free of the weight of stuff.

Having clear goals helps focus your limited time and energy.  However, isn't it true, you do not need to wait until you crystalize your goals before you create financial plans to help get you closer to your goals?  My recommendation, start aggressively saving now, before lifes little bumps, distract or potentially derail the momentum you've carefully built.  Good luck and keep us posted.  Cheers!


« Last Edit: June 26, 2014, 01:42:31 AM by sobezen »

gooki

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2014, 01:32:20 AM »
Wanting to be debt free was the biggest goal for me.

Now it's spending and working less, so I can have more time with my children.

pom

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2014, 02:27:10 AM »
I know what I don't want: I don't want clutter. Owning stuff beyond a certain level is of little interest to me. I have been that way for most of my life so that part of the philosophy was very natural to me.

Another caracteristic of my personality is that I refuse to be a sheep: brand name have very little appeal to me.

The rest sort of flows from that: as I don't buy a lot of stuff and the little that I buy is usually not brand, then at the end of each month I am left with a few Ks to put aside.

One side note though, I do spend a lot on travelling, often north of 10k € a year so overall saving rate is small for a mustachian: around 40% of take home pay.

As far as what I want, beside travelling and spending time with friends and family, not much.

TokyoLotus

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2014, 04:20:12 AM »
Yes, I agree that it is easy to know what you don't want as opposed to what you do.

I know that I don't want to have a moment where I need to take time away from work and realize I can't afford to do so.

In ten years from now I know that I don't want to be 34 with a bajillion children with money tight and wish I had brought my lunch to work more often back when I was 24.

I don't want to feel like I'm relying on my future partner financially which might put an unforeseen pressure on our relationship.

I dont want to look back and wish I had invested my money to get the compound interest rather than let it sit in this 0 interest Japanese bank account (working on moving it elsewhere...)

I don't want to sell something on craigslist for a fraction of what I purchased it for and feel elated only to realize shortly thereafter that I am appalled to have thought it was worth spending a huge amount on in the first place.

I guess the question is how an unclear future can possibly help me change my current habits.

Malaysia41

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2014, 04:22:17 AM »
I treated my possessions as if they were all radioactive cockroaches and I got rid of most of them (selling and donating).

My new visual when I list stuff for sale online!

Malaysia41

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2014, 04:33:56 AM »
When I started working it was easier to save because getting out of debt was my goal.  Once accomplished, however, making the everyday small-decisions-that-add-up-to-savings became difficult and I failed often. Why? Because 'retirement' seemed further away than alpha centauri. As a result, I'm retiring at 41 when I TOTALLY could've retired at 30 or 35!  If I had visualized a FIRE goal I think I would have been able to plan and stick to the plan.  But I fell into stupid mindsets like, "I make a lot and I deserve this <insert stupid thing here>".

Señora Savings

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2014, 05:46:07 AM »
I want to decrease my impact on the environment.  Sometimes this means spending more on food that is packaged in ways that I like, usually it means not buying anything.  Mixing my selfish goal (hoard money for retirement) with my altruistic one (keep earth livable) gives me the drive to keep saving even though retirement seems ages off but any short term goal can be accomplished by cashing a check. 

Emilyngh

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2014, 07:27:07 AM »
I want to be able to keep living the life I do now (working PT hours at a job I like in an area I love that's close to family with DH SAH), but with complete freedom to quit anytime I want.

I already have what should be FU money, but it's not as freeing b/c getting my current type of position is so very hard and would definitely involve moving and will take at least a yr + to find, which I imagine as very stressful.   I don't think I'll truly feel FU freedom until FI, since that then I'd have no fear of losing my job (b/c I just wouldn't find another).

MrFancypants

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2014, 08:31:56 AM »
Something I learned on my own many years ago is that money buys freedom.  So even though it wasn't until the last year or so that I had set a solid goal for when and wear I want to be, I always knew that whatever I decided would require as many resources as I could muster.

So I started saving, knowing that when I figured it out the more I had the smoother the journey would be.

sleepyguy

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #10 on: June 26, 2014, 08:43:39 AM »
Ever since even a child i HATED being told what to do.  Probably the reason why I cannot stand the regular school system one bit.

FIRE will allow me to do whatever I please.  Primarily I'll be spending time with my kids while they are still young and I can teach them lots of stuff, instead of being stuck to a cubicle sending them to camps/training grounds.

galaxie

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #11 on: June 26, 2014, 09:21:33 AM »
My job is A-OK (in fact, because of MMM I was recently able to take a pay cut to go work at my dream job), but it sure takes away from my social time.  In the long term, I want drastically reduced hours so I can spend time with friends and hypothetical future kids in my wonderful, walkable, bikeable neighborhood.

Because I live in my wonderful neighborhood, I don't have a lot of space for junk, so I want only maximally useful possessions.  Sometimes they cost more.  But a lot of the time, annoyance at the prospect of having another Thing in my house prevents me from buying stuff.

For environmental reasons, I want to limit my resource usage.  So I'm vegetarian, and when I start my new job I will have a car-free commute.

hybrid

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2014, 10:42:06 AM »
You can't get what you want 'til you know what you want.

No wait, that's a Joe Jackson song.....

Rather than set some over-arching monstrous goal, set a small achievable goal that is on the path to something better. Every big project is a series of small projects put together. Improve your life one step at a time and when you pass one milestone, set another and keep going.

When we started down the path of eliminating our Exploding Volcano of Wastefulness I knew full well that going cold turkey would create too much backlash from the missus, so we took it one step at a time. A year later we still have ways to improve, but a whole lot of low hanging fruit was plucked between then and now.
« Last Edit: June 26, 2014, 12:31:54 PM by hybrid »

golden1

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #13 on: June 26, 2014, 11:21:53 AM »
I want to be less stressed out and crunched for time. 

I want to be able to explore the hobbies that I don't have much time for currently. 

I want to be around for any grandkids I might have in the future.




Zikoris

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2014, 12:29:17 PM »
Right now, it's a really sunny and beautiful day in Vancouver. Warm, but not too hot - little bit of a breeze. Perfect day for hiking a nice mountain and spending some time on a summit somewhere overlooking something pretty. However, I am not hiking.

My goal is to change that. Ideally, I'll eventually only do unpleasant tasks on days with nasty weather.


frugalnacho

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2014, 01:27:04 PM »
I want freedom.  I want to FIRE.  Before MMM retirement seemed like such a long term goal I couldn't really motivate myself to save for it, so I was constantly saving for small goals and milestones - even though many of those goals were completely manufactured by consumerist sucka culture.  After MMM though it doesn't seem so distant.  I don't miss that $30k going into investments this year because I am excited for that eventual payoff.

I want to reach over and turn my alarm off and get up whenever I feel like it.  I want to cook a nice breakfast at my own pace.  I want to play guitar, and do some errands on my bike, then come home for a mid afternoon nap.  I want to live with the freedom of a summer vacation 24/7.

sobezen

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2014, 01:53:17 PM »
All great points!

I'd also add this http://spartantraveler.com/the-key-to-freedom-isnt-making-more-its-spending-less/

Helps focus, perhaps you might be better off than you imagine?

Bateaux

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #17 on: June 28, 2014, 10:47:10 PM »
I have no idea at 45 what I want.  I'm 22 years into my current job that I really don't like but it pays too well to leave.  In 2018 I want to through hike the AT.  Beyond that I don't know.   Live aboard sailboat cruising maybe?  Sell all current real estate is likely.  RV travel maybe.   Small cheap house somewhere in semi rural Florida maybe.   Right now I'm more comfortable working and stashing major cash and investments than making a decision.

MrsSmitty

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Re: Do you know what you want?
« Reply #18 on: July 01, 2014, 09:50:45 AM »
I want to keep more of my brain energy and use it on things other than my job. Right now I feel like all I can mentally tolerate at the end of the day is mindless TV or a trashy novel. My job sucks up so much of my thinking energy I don't have any left when I get home. I want to be able to learn things again, to read real books, to talk with my husband about more than what we should have for dinner. I also want more time to travel. Since we live on about half our income, my goal is for both of us to work part time starting in a few years. Hoping to save enough that when we go part time we can cover our costs with income and let our savings grow. Then when the kids go off to college, retire for real.