A Financial Plan for the Rest of Your Life
20 years ago I created a “Financial Plan for the Rest of My Life” — I wonder how I’m doing…
When I was in college I took a personal finance class and one of the tasks was to create a blueprint, of sorts, for the remainder of my life.
It wasn’t about anything specific, mind you. And the professor readily admits there is only so much you can predict — when you’re in your early 20s you have no idea what life will bring you. Hell, you can’t predict life regardless of your age, but you certainly can’t predict anything specific when you’re that young.
So this wasn’t about “I’m going to work here, and then get promoted and then work here, then move to this town…” but more so “I’m going to start with $X/year salary and expect Y% increase each year while spending Z on these things.” Along those same lines, you extrapolate out high-level life goals —saving for retirement, adding costs of marriage, raising kids, traveling, etc — to fully build out everything for the rest of your life.
I do not still have this file, unfortunately, or if I do it’s buried in some paperwork and files in the garage. But I do remember the shock I had over two numbers that I had calculated: my annual income around the time I’d retire and the estimated balance of my…
