Another quote I like from the book Simple Prosperity:

“The modern mind,” writes Wendell Berry, “longs for the Future as the medieval mind longed for Heaven.” Berry argues that we’ve been conned into believing that the present is something we need to escape because it’s just not good enough. We can’t be here now because we don’t yet have enough money, enough gadgets, or a large enough house. We’re not yet powerful enough or “happy” enough to live in the present. The truth is, if we’re satisfied with what we have in the present, we’re less likely to be obedient consumers, so the supply-side of the economy has invested trillions to engineer dissatisfaction into our shell-shocked psyches. Leisure, love, and laughter can be best had in the future, we begin to believe, but we can’t put our fingers on where that disturbing idea came from.

Am I satisfied with the present? No, because I still have to wake up and work every day. 🙂 But I also make it a point to do activities that I love every day as well so I’m not just looking forward all the time. I’m still working on goals, but now a big part of that is figuring out what is “enough”.

Some readers have noticed that I am no longer tracking the progress towards my long-term financial goal. That’s because I don’t have one! It used to be a million dollars by age 45, but I have dropped it since it doesn’t motivate me on a daily or even monthly basis.

I have come to realize that it is just stupid for me to plan out something 15 years ahead. Even looking back only five years, my life now is vastly different than I thought it would be. It’s an interesting exercise.

On February 27, 2004:

• I was 6 months out of graduate school, and in working at my first “real” job. Although I had held several jobs earlier including being a student researcher and teaching assistant, the corporate world was completely new to me. Even then, I knew I didn’t want to do this for four decades.
• My net worth was hovering around zero… I was just about done finally paying off my student loans from undergrad, but that was about as far as I was looking. Here’s an updated net worth history chart:
  
• I was single. Although I was engaged at the time, I had never lived with my fiancee and had no idea what it would be like to completely share a life together. It’s been quite an adventure.
• I didn’t have this blog. I don’t even know if I knew what a blog was. Who knew that it would provide a non-trivial chunk of our total income, and that I would continue to spend at least 20 hours a week of my time maintaining it, and often much more (although I’ve been working on better balance).
• I didn’t own a home. I was still living in the same cheap, run-down, graffiti-covered apartment that I lived in during college. I would end up renting five different apartments in the next 5 years, before finally buying a house.

I’m actually really happy with how things turned out, but looking ahead there is still so much more uncertainty. Kids? Jobs? Economy? So I’ll have to keep that in mind when crafting a measurable, specific, and inspiring long-term goal. Are you surprised at where you’re at now, compared to five years ago?

While Suze Orman has her Action Plan, I have also been thinking of my own. The first is general but the rest should be good blog fodder. They also fit into the concept of Kaizen and continuous improvement. Not really resolutions… I just want to keep making small steps forward.

Project #0 – Make Sure You’re Valuable At Work

I basically think of job security like this. Would life be difficult if you’re gone? Make sure it would be. 🙂 In addition, networking can be hard for the introverted like myself but necessary.

Project #1 – Back to Basics, Conscious Spending

Tracking Spending
People either love or hate budgets. But can you say right now how much your annual expenses are? I think that is more important. I have already estimated that my family spends about $3,500 on housing per month (!) and $1,500 on everything else. But I want to drill down further.

I plan to try out the newest versions of free online money management tools like Quicken Online, Mint, Geezeo, Wesabe, and Yodlee MoneyCenter and review each one.

I’ve already started using Quicken Online for January, and it has already had a lot of improvements since it became free a few months ago. This old screenshot is obsolete.

Critical Examination Of All Expenses
Next, I plan on going through every single expense category one by one (housing, electricity, dining out…) and looking at each with an open mind. Am I willing to move somewhere with cheaper housing? How about when I retire? Should I install a solar water heater? Buy a new car and drive it into the ground, or buy used? I also feel I should prioritize all expenses.

Project #2 – Build an Online Store

I don’t get too excited about selling a physical product as a main job, primarily because it is so labor-intensive if you do the inventory yourself. I’m more interested in either drop-shipping or dealing with electronic product, even though it is a very crowded field. Investigate profit margins. I also like the idea of playing with the back-end software like shopping carts and content management.

At a minimum, it will be a educational hobby with small start-up costs and one that might make some money. Lots of trial and error expected. Want to tell me about any good drop-shippers? I can keep it a secret. 🙂

Project #3 – Rental Property Search and Education

I don’t think the real estate market in most areas will be picking up anytime soon. But with lower prices and real estate agents with more time, I think later this year will be good time to learn about possibly being a landlord. I might hire a Realtor to run some searches, and also do browse some foreclosures. Learn to run the calculations and properly estimate rental income, expenses, and tax benefits.

This way, I can recognize an opportunity when I see it, and act accordingly. As part of being ready, I should also commit some cash to this goal.

Have you heard of the Olympics Hangover? It’s when you stay up way too late watching “just one more event” and end up being red-eyed and unproductive the next day. So to counteract this, I used the public library for the first time in a long while. Funny thing: childless friends and co-workers had no idea where the library was. Only the parents did, since their kids use them. Why do we stop using the library as we grow older?

It was a productive visit, helping me to complete both a few short-term and lifetime goals:

1. Read one financial book per week. Obvious one first. 😉 I put the following books on hold: Work Less, Live More and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Retiring Early. Hope to find some good nuggets.
2. Visit a Foreclosure auction. In most areas, listing notices are required to be in the newspaper. I don’t have a subscription anymore, but I was able to look through the last 3 days of papers at the library for free. Looks like there will be one on September 9th at Noon at the county courthouse. Also, I found an announcement that a local self-storage place is also auctioning off the contents of the lockers that have been abandoned and unpaid. That might be interesting to go to as well.
3. Learn more about financial analysis of potential rental property. Also found the Landlord’s Survival Guide and The complete guide to your first rental property. To judge the quality of books I’ve never heard of, I consider both Amazon.com review (if any) and also the number of copies in the city-wide system. I simply assume (right or wrong) that the better books will have more copies.
4. Plan international travel. The in-branch pickings were slim, but I found a nice book on Spain. I should be able to find many more online. I’ve actually brought library travel books with me on international trips. (Well taken care of and returned on time, of course!)
5. Learn a Foreign Language. Borrowed a few Pimsleur language audio CDs (intro to Cantonese and Spanish). The full sets of these often cost over $200. These will go great in the car and in my iPod while jogging.

Of course, not all goals can be done at the library. 🙂 I also recently signed up for a 3-day PADI scuba diving certification course over Labor Day weekend that will cost around $400 altogether. I’m really looking forward to it.

Watching the Olympics has been both inspiring, entertaining, and also taking up a lot of free time. I can’t believe the amount of dedication these people have towards their goals. I am trying to go back to setting regular monthly goals, and writing them down always helps.

A rough list:

• Visit a live foreclosure auction at county courthouse, just for the experience.
• Buy a term life insurance policy.
• Learn more about long-term disability insurance.
• Read one financial book per week, and take notes.
• Learn more about financial analysis of potential rental property.
• Investigate solar water heater credits, and get quotes from contractors. Also look into solar fan for roof/attic.
• Have a series of dinner conversations about finances with wife. Teach her the details of managing all household finances if I am incapacitated. (Show her where I stashed all the money in all these bank accounts…)
• Help parents firm up outlook for retirement based on current assets. Help them complete rollovers of 401k/IRAs to Vanguard.
• Plan international travel somewhere. Currently thinking of hiking the Inca trail in Peru.