Since I started working and I got on the personal finance train, the only thing I've really done considering the future is start saving for retirement, which I do through auto deductions. Besides that, I have an emergency fund of roughly $1000 and that's it. Everything outside of that for my future has just been a vague goal with no real plan of action. Things like owning a home, travelling, getting married and starting a family are things I want to do but in no way am I moving towards any of these things, and only recently when I started to look at things did it start to bug me.
I'm going to write a few more post related to this topic but for today, I want to introduce you to my Seven Year Plan. It is a short to medium term plan which highlights the main things I want to achieve by my 30th birthday. Here goes.
- Own my own home(mortgage)
- Be in a financial and emotional position to start a family if I choose to.
- Do some travelling (5 trips in the next 7 years and many more after)
Those are the main objectives to achieve in the next 7 years. The challenge now comes with the fact that I still want to do some of the "normal" stuff 20 somethings do. I still want to go to events, buy new gadgets, and go out to eat and hang ever so often. I'm willing to sacrifice but only so much, so this is going to be really tough figuring out how to achieve all of this and be happy with it.
The next few post will be highlighting challenges, thoughts, feelings and ideas all related to this seven year plan.
P.S
This is totally unrelated but a few people asked in some comments so I'll just put it here for everyone to see. The cost of gas in Barbados right now is $3.15 per liter. That was the cost last time I filled up this week. Now before it gets confusing, the exchange rate for the BBS dollar to the US dollar is 2 US = 1 BBS. To make things easy, I'll do some conversions.
Gas cost $11.92 per gallon in Barbados prices.
That works out in US dollars to $5.88 per gallon which is ridiculous when compared to what I see on GasBuddy. I know I can't fully compare it by just numbers as they are other factors but still. Anyways, let me not dwell on this before I once again consider giving up my car.
I agree that its good to have long term goals. Gas is expensive there but I figured it would be more expensive.
ReplyDeleteYikes, this IS expensive gas! I like your 7-year plan but I'd love to see more on the steps you want to take to achieve it :) We have some long term plans too but I'm wondering where we will be in 7-10 years (other than being parents of teenagers :) in reality.
ReplyDeleteThat is funny that you classify spending on gadgets and going to event as something 20-somethings do. I think that stuff applies to all age groups! And gas is so expensive... gotta hate that.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your planning! I need to re-revise my 5 year plan, as of right now, I'm sort of stuck at getting my 2yr plans come true.
I think you are right Tanner, it is funny when I think about it.
DeleteI think what I was trying to refer to is how most of the 20 somethings do it so freely without care. I want that freedom but I also want to be responsible.