1,2,3…Set….Go.
I’m sure all of us remember the day we started off our financial journey. We knew the road to financial success will be a long and daunting process yet at the same time we feel excited to finally get off the mark on a new adventurous journey. Those were the days.
Roll forward to the present days, are your motivation still around? If the answer is yes and you are still hanging on just like me, then give yourself a pat on the back. No matter where you are and how much you’ve accomplished, you’ve done a great job which not too many people in this world are able to do it.
For me, I’ve worked hard over the past couple of years and amassed experiences in my workline that can substantiate the knowledge for fundamental investing. Yet, it seems that there is still a long and arduous journey, probably another 7 years of working 9-6 office job. So how do I reconcile the celebration of having achieved something the past couple of years versus the fact that there is still so much to do for the next couple of years?
For many, the answer lies in living at the present.
While it is tough to handle the daily grind of working 9 to 6 everyday, we should consider ourselves lucky to have a job that can provide us with basic everyday needs. Of course, somewhere in the world we always have people who are extremely better or worse than us, so we seemingly always ended up in the middle.
If you consider your financial independence journey boring or stagnant, you may consider taking a break from it to give yourself a breather. Take and use the money to spend on things you’ve always wanted to but never had a chance to do it. In this instance, you’ve felt the real purpose of money.
Last but not least, do not go extreme over your goals and chill about it. Wearing a big hat while your head is small is as bad as wearing a small hat while your head is big. One results in underutilization while another results in overutilization.
It’s always easier said than done but until you do it, perhaps you have not given yourself enough justice.
Hi B,
Good post. I work 8-6 though. Even harder. haha
Enjoying every bit of the journey. Many more years to go.
Hi SG YI
Glad you are still enjoying your journey. I know many people who have given up halfway.
What kind of motivations help you spur further in your journey? Maybe you would like to share :)?
Hi B,
Its just a passion I guess. I have no idea what motivates me too. Financial stuff just interests me. Be it economics, news, financial planning, investing.
On the other hand, it may be the goals I set for myself. Something to achieve at each stage. I hope the motivation would not be gone when I fail to achieve my goals. It's hard to say what will happen. But for now, it has been almost 4 years and I'm still in this journey 🙂
l have read about this before …."Once you have 2-3 children and when you need to care for both your aged parents and parents-in-law which by then you will be so overwhelmed with them that financial freedom takes the backstage time being."
Hi MH
Thats very true.
Once we are at that nanny stage, we can almost kiss goodbye to our financial freedom goals.
For me I will plan accordingly and hope to reach better financial freedom when I hv 2 to 3 children by then. I am certainly not capable of giving them the best at this point in time.
There are many bends in one's financial freedom journey especially when you have 2-3 children and caring for your aged parents (and in-laws). We have much to learn from successful investors like Temperament and CWW8888 both whom already have grown up and working children and both also already achieved financial independence.
Hi B, Great post, I think that whatever you do, if you try to hard, you will eventually burn out. We should all pace ourselves and find the pace that suits us best.
Hi RetireSG
I like to try hard because I'm almost a perfectionist by nature, but I'll try to keep it within my capacity to do so. If I exceed then I'll blow out. Pacing ourselves to our capability and needs is the best advice to anyone 😉 thanks.
Hi B
How do you know that you will have about 7 years of work before achieving financial freedom?
Ben
Hi Ben
That's just based on my estimation on the spreadsheet I used to calculate every year. Of course, that is pending a lot of uncertainties we have in our daily life but I'll try to review and revisit them often at least once a year.
http://www.foreverfinancialfreedom.blogspot.sg/2013/08/28th-birthday-edition-post-whats-next_3339.html