Chasing the Bull

“Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” - Luke 12:15

I would have loved to retire a millionaire. I would probably sleep better at night if I knew that our future was secure. The more I think about it, however, the more I have come to realize that my personal net worth does not define who I am as a person, as a dad, or as a husband.

This does not mean that I have suddenly stopped caring about our finances. Unfortunately, I tend to spend a tremendous amount of time worrying about them. What this does mean, is that I have finally forgiven myself for the financial mistakes I made in the past. I cannot go back ten years and correct these mistakes. I can change my future, if I start now.

We are not in terrible fiscal condition. Our net worth is relatively modest at $93,462. We do not really have a ton of assets, we have simply minimized our liabilities. We basically have our mortgage, my student loan, and another personal loan (which I took at 6% to pay off every one of our high-interest credit cards).

The main problem with our fiscal plan is that our expenses equal our income, almost to the penny. At the end of the month there is nothing left. We stick to our budget within 5 to 10% and have cut out just about everything that we can (and still maintain the lifestyle that we have agreed upon). We have 2 old cell phones with the minimum amount of minutes for emergencies, have basic cable that is bundled with high speed internet, and cable phone (Yeah for free long distance calls), and only eat out once a month. My wife and I go to movies about twice a year, and rent movies even less than that. It is just so hard to find anything else to cut out.

Just this week, I have began Snowflaking and will send this money off to our Roth IRAs. Additionally, with any money left over from my My Diet Coke Challenge will also be sent to our retirement accounts. I guess this is as good a start as possible.

Will we retire as millionaires? I have no idea, but I would love it if you joined me on this adventure. Please consider subscribing to my feed.

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