Seeing that I have already wrote two articles on saving this week, I figure it’s only appropriate to finish the week off with, yet another post, about saving. Consider these three articles the holy trinity of personal finance. Okay, maybe they aren’t that insightful…wait, actually they aren’t really insightful at all. Oh well, I tried 🙂
So we all have a desire to be rich, right? The word “rich” is totally subjective though. I would consider both, Kobe Bryant and Bill Gates to be rich, even thought there is a large discrepancy between their net worths. Being rich isn’t about reaching a specific quantifiable amount of cash, but instead it varies from person to person. Whether we are talking thousands, millions, or billions, I think we can all agree on at least a base line definition of wealth: comfort in knowing we have enough money to survive tomorrow.
Personally, I will feel wealthy when I have the ability to work any job I want, regardless of the salary. Imagine the freedom that would come with such financial stability! Not being dependent on employment income would be the best thing since sliced bread…
Sure comfort, peace, and stability are all important reasons for accumulating wealth, but let’s be honest, we also wanna do some crazy awesome things with our hard earned moolah. Thus, the reason for today’s blog post title…What are you saving for?
I can think of a few things I want to do when I achieve great wealth…
1) Pay the Young Life summer camp fee for 50 high school kids that live in under privileged neighborhoods. This last summer I was able to take a charter bus full of these kids to camp through the generous donation of $30,000 from an anonymous donor. I got to be there and witness these high schoolers experience the best week of their lives! It was an incredible experience, and I can’t wait for the day I can do the same.
2) Buy a vacation property. I absolutely love skiing and have not been able to do enough of it since I have been living in San Diego (apparently it hasn’t snowed here since Dec 13th… 1967). It would be incredible to own a cabin in Colorado that I could spend a few weeks at every winter so I could get my ski on. Oh and I would get to said vacation property via my private jet of course 🙂
3) Visit each continent. I think it would be totally sick to go to every continent at least once. Sure Antarctica may be a little difficult to get to, but if you are loaded it’s probably more feasible. As of this point in my life, I can check one continent off the list (North America)… not a great start. Ninjafrica here I come!!!!
So those are three things I am saving for. What about you? Hopefully you have some plan to become financially abundant, what do you plan to do once you get there? Maybe take a year long vacation touring the world? Maybe you want to buy a killer whale and name it Rufus? Or perhaps you want to collect every action figure that has ever existed like this guy…
…whatever it is, I want to hear it. WHAT ARE YOU SAVING FOR?
This is all assuming that I've won my battle with the debt unicorn and I have amassed a fortune.
1. I want to buy a house in Sea Isle, NJ, which is my parents' dream retirement location, but they cannot afford to move there. They will be caretakers of my vacation home so that they don't have to worry about the cost and can life comfortably.
2. I want to take a trip to the Greek Isles. I want to see if it really looks like the photos. If it does, I may deem it the most beautiful place on earth.
3. I want to take baking classes and learn to bake amazing things.
4. I want more hairless cats. I cannot command and army of hairless cats unless there are more than two. Two is not an army.
5. Start my own charity. I've worked at a 501(c)(3) before and I want to start my own. I could only hope to make 1% of the difference that the Gates family has made. However, my charity would be based entirely on domestic causes. Primarily education, pre-school through high school. I would name it the Mary B. Liss foundation after my grandmother. Even though I've got a lot of student loans, she taught me the value of education. She was a trailblazer and made sure she was self-sufficient at a time when most women did not work once they were married and had a child.
1. Put the kiddos through college and graduate school if they want.
2. Make replicas of things like
this http://www.everaftercostumes.com/breathe.shtml
and this http://www.giantbomb.com/assassins-creed-ii/61-22…
no expense spared.
3. An entire room filled with nothing but video game systems and every awesome game ever made.
4. Take over the universe.
I think I used to work for that guy. I worked in a toy collector store during the mid 90s… add some gray, a beard and that could totally be the same guy. Those are definitely the toys he started on too, Toy Biz Marvel Superheroes.
Right now, I'm saving for my own house. But if I had life goal to save for, I guess it would be to have a scholarship that could help one (or more) kid/s attend the college of their dreams. It's small, but it really does break my heart to hear that someone would like to go to X school, but can't because the tuition is too high and they can't take on that much debt. So in a nutshell, I'm saving up so that I can make someone's dream come true.
My law school has a loan repayment assistance program for people who work in the public sector for X number of years, which is entirely dependent on donors to run. I want to endow the program, and I want to add another sector for the vast majority of students are aren't public sector and aren't in the top 10%, who need help repaying their loans as well. I'd also love to have a scholarship (in my name, of course, and in my hubby's) to provide a full scholarship for someone to attend my high school, my college and his college, and my law school (we don't like his med school like that), and to add more to the scholarship currently in his dad's name to provide scholarships for the pharmacy school he went.
Yeah, that's it. Lots of scholarships and help to people who need it. Ooh, makes me wanna go play in the snow outside!
1. I'm saving to pay down some debt
2. I'm saving to buy a new car
3. I'm saving to buy another investment rental
4. I'm saving to pay down my current mortgage
5. I'm saving to for when and if I have a baby
6. I'm saving because I need to save for all the good things in life
7. Oh and I'm saving for an early retirement
That is a long list of savings. And in what order is important you may ask? I'm not really sure yet myself.
http://moneyhoneysf.blogspot.com/
I'm saving for property. My dream is to raise sheep, alpacas, and rabbits for my own yarn – all near my adopted family.
Debt payoff is a few years away, but I'm feeling good about my prospects. 🙂
I haven't even planned beyond that – baby steps and all that.
1. I am saving for my first house/condo/whatever it may be.
2. A startup business that is yet to be determined
3. Saving for the sake of saving–I don't know what I'll want/need later so I might as well prepare myself now even thoughI have no real plans where this $$$ will end up going.
you don't have to be that loaded to go to Antartica, just organised and patient… just so you can keep it as a goal.