How I involve in planning to be financial free?
Hi, finally a new post after leaving the blog and without any updates for 2 weeks. Yes, I am still in good condition and I will continue update this blog.
So what actually happen to me? Hmm…. Nothing special, but just involve in planning for my future. Recently I read an article from Steve Pavlina at stevepavlina.com about planning. It was an old post from him and this post is about how he plans for his future by setting a goal, mission, dateline and 90 day plans.
After reading the article, I think maybe I should have a plan for me and this blog too. I never have a really clear plan before but just a goal where I want to achieve financial freedom for my life. This goal is not enough and concrete because I do not set a time, how much money I want to be financial freedom, how I am going to be financial free, what can I do and so on. So this will be harder to achieve financial freedom.
At that time my mind is disorder and full of question about my future. So I decided to sit down and go away from my computer (Not really 100% away, I still check my mails and read some news from the internet and wrote down a plan for me. I never imagine that write down a plan is so hard. In planning, there are always some inner negative voice came out from my heart and said “You do not know what happen to future, how you plan it. I think this is the common problem that everyone will have in planning for future. However, according to Steve Pavlina, a plan is just a written goal and guide on how you get to the goal. It is flexible and adjustable. So we just have to write down what we can think about and do at the moment to hit our goal. But from time to time, we still have to revise the plan and improve it. There is no worse plan, but a better plan.
Finally after 2 weeks of research, reading and writing, finally my plan is out. There are a lot of question come to my mind, so I have to do some research and consult my mentor about my plan. This is the first time I really have a written plan, although I wrote them in my computer instead of getting them into a piece of paper. I feel that my confidence level is high. Maybe this is the power of a plan. A plan can help you have a conscious mind that you have a journey that you will go through to achieve something and motivate you to take action. At least it helps me remove my uncertainty which is one of the biggest obstacles that block me from doing anything successfully. Now I have my plan and I am going to test it in daily basic. In certain condition, I will change my plan accordingly. Life is really hard to predict but a plan is flexible and should be change according to the condition. In addiction, I will learn more knowledge from time to time, so my plan will be change and improve according to my knowledge. Maybe I can shorter my time to financial free, or even improve the possibility to be success.
That is all for my first post after 2 weeks of non-blogging. Now I feel really happy and excited with my plan. If you want to feel it too, make plan for yourself and you will have the same results like me.;)
Retire Rich - Don’t do what I did for my retirement, from a financial expert
Stan Hinden, a financial writer at The Washington Post is trying to remind us some of the “Don’t Do†for our retirement planning. He is sharing some of his real life experience with us in his great article, called “Don’t do what I didâ€Â
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So Without wasting your time, here is some of the main points of his articles:
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What he did wrong:
- Didn’t think ahead
Comment: I think this is the biggest mistake that most people made in their life…. NEVER THINK OR PLAN FOR RETIREMENT. People only realize when they are around the age of retiring but at that time, it may too late for them to start taking action.ÂÂ
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- Flew solo
Comment: Stan Hiden wishes that he should consult a financial planner to plan for his future. Yes, sometimes we need helps from others to do things. In certain condition, it is good to consult a financial planner and let him know your retiring target. They will use their professional knowledge and help you.
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- Tried to outguess the market
Comment: Yes I admit that it is not easy to outguess the market. I think only our God will 100% know what happen to the market. So what can we do? We only can use our knowledge and experience to do this. To gain this kind of knowledge and experience, it is more than reading a book, but instead we need to take action and learn from failure. This is the only way to be a great investor, I think…
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- May Have Shortchanged his wife
Comment: Stan said that he should left some money for his wife. When he was retired, he had 2 options to choose - take the maximum monthly payment or take lesser and leave part of his pension for his wife. Hmm, really hard to make decision. Finally Stan took the maximum monthly payment. But today he wishes he had chosen the second option and left some money for his wife if anything happen on him.
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- Didn’t know about “givebacksâ€Â
Comment: I think Stan really shared with us his own personal experience in this section. Stan was being charged for working penalty. According to Stan, if you are below full retirement age, getting social security and still working, you will lose $1 for every $2 your earn. If you are going to retire on Social Security, than you must pay attention to Stan’s experience.
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- Spent too much
Comment: oh, again this problem also happens on Stan. I think almost everyone of us will have this kind of financial problem - spending too much. Anyway, we know that the wiser we spend our money and lesser depend on our credit card or loans, we will have a brighter financial future.
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I extract some of the point from Stan’s article and give a little personal comment. Please forgive me if I said something wrong. But anyway, please read the full articles of Stan by clicking here, it really worth reading.
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Source : “Don’t do what I did†By Stan Hinden
Financial Planning - Will home improvements pay back what they cost?
Another good article from Deborah Fowles, About.com touching on the topic of home improvements.
Millions of homeowners have taken the advantage of home improvements over the low mortgage and home equity loan interest rates. However, not all the improvements will really you or break even pay the improvements’ cost.
So Deborah makes a list of improvements that potential buyers are mot likely to be willing to pay for:
- Adding or remodeling a bathroom
- Kitchen improvements
- Adding a room
- Landscaping
- Adding a bedroom
- Adding a garage
This information also important if you plan to invest in real estate. This is why I want to share it here with you. J
Source : About.com
