Phase 3 pre production thoughts
Before you make a lot of money these are some of the thoughts that will go through your head.
“This will change things”
“I can finally..." I like this one. It is true, you can finally -insert here-, and that's what people usually do, but whatever amount of money you make, it is finite. And those things you wanted to do weren't usually big enough in thinking (making that spend count for years, not just now,) and few of them very rarely every return on "investment".
One of the ways to think about it is that I have enough money to not work for 8 years and three months. That aint bad, but that still leaves me ten years from when I could ever imagine cracking into my retirement and social security. So I probably shouldn't do that. Besides, spending the money on the rent, or on things that are immediately apart of my past are not going to make me more money. I might get some experiences, or things out of it, but i'm not going to make more money using money in that fashion.
This does change things, but it is somewhat anticlimatic. The real story isn't about the money, don't get me wrong, making money is GREAT! The secret is not having debt. I've been telling myself that for fifteen years and it has been hard for me at times, but that was just cause I knew I could dive in and get back out, but it didn't benefit me to do it. The last few times it has happened, I should have not done it.
Another way to put it is to say “Being close to having no debt, but not having much saved means you’re always clawing your way back to zero.” Struggling, or working hard, or always having a goal of no debt is different than having a goal of no debt and then saving a bunch of money. Granted, people in debt, or without much money are nearly drowning in the fatigue of just getting by. Talking about how pleasing it is to not only be debt free, but to also have only is maybe thoughtless?
I’m going through this full exercise of reinvesting my gains the best way I know how, building a new house. I will dot my i, cross my T and get right to the ribbon cutting and then I’ll step back and ask myself “Am I doing the right thing?” Making a plan and then fully developing an alternative direction to go in has always been a bit of a nail biter for me, but I guess I should just change my thinking, cause it checks my math and has always worked for me.
Things have changed. I am out of the corporate life. I am debt free, there is money in the bank. I’m working on a new project. Everything isn’t positive, money doesn’t fix everything. And no matter how much you understand the concept, money is hard to wrap your head around. We have a financial caste system that just has more mobility than India’s caste system, but it is still a tier. Money only matters if you save it when you get it.
