Life Planning Questions
Feb. 11th, 2005 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI just read an article describing George Kinder's The Seven Stages of Money Maturity: Understanding the Spirit and Value of Money in Your Life. It presents some scenarios for you to imagine yourself in to help you make decisions on what to do with your life.
First, imagine that you've reached financial security. You have all the money you need to take care of all your needs, both now and in the future.
I've thought about this sort of question before, more along the lines of "If you didn't have to worry about money, what would your typical day be like?" I would start the morning doing chores. Then I would play on the Web for a while, reading my favorite sites and learning stuff. Then I would write, if I had any good ideas. Then fix a quick lunch. Then I would leave the house for some sort of field trip: errand running, a class at the gym, auditing a class, having lunch with a friend, something like that. Then work on a project, like knitting or listening to Spanish tapes. Then have supper. Then do the same kind of stuff I do now with my friends after work.
That's just a typical day. Some days would be atypical where I would be traveling or camping or something like that.
There is also some volunteer work I would like to do, but you have to be careful with that, because once an organization learns you exist, they like to try to hog all of your time for themselves. Additionally, most volunteer work has time commitments. You need to be around every Tuesday for one school year or every month until the big event. I might like to be a Girl Scout leader or tutor some junior-high kids in math or tutor an adult in reading or help out in a public school somehow getting ideas for educational simulations that teachers could use.
Okay, another scenario is that you have five to ten years to live. You will be healthy until you die, but you get no additional information on when you will die until it happens.
First, write a will, sometime in the next five years of course.
After that, this is a surprisingly hard one for me. Currently, I plan to retire in ten years. So of course the first thing I would do is calculate whether I could quit now and have enough to live on for the next ten years. The answer is no, I can't, at least not in the manner to which I have become accustomed.
I realized that if I could live on my money, I might be using it all up. I discovered that this bothers me. I like thinking that if I die before my parents, at least they would get some money. I never knew that before.
Okay, so the next obvious thing to do is to realize that if I have to work the rest of my life anyway, I should make sure it's the most fun job possible, right? But no. My reaction was almost just the opposite. I decided that actually, I would just quit job hunting at all, because I really hate job hunting. Just stay in my current job as long as I like it, do whatever I can to make sure I keep liking it. If I fail miserably, I could just quit and job hunt during work hours. If I couldn't find another good job, no big deal. I could work at CiCi's or something. I would no longer need a good retirement plan; I could live on the retirement money for my current job for a whole year if I had no other job, and several years if I had a very poor-paying job. My IRA would get me through a few more years. That decision also surprised me.
Another thing is that I would quit saving my vacation time, and I'd quit scoring teacher certification tests (unless I had to quit my day job). I wouldn't need the cash, and I'd feel I should be doing something more fun.
What more fun things should I be doing, and shouldn't I be doing those things anyway? Interesting questions. Take more day trips? Visit local tourist attractions? Do writing projects? Now, this sounds like the part of the answer I should be paying attention to and using to improve my life, doesn't it?
One problem has always been that my friends don't get as much time off as I do. But that's not so true anymore. My boyfriend currently has Mondays off, so I can take off any Monday and do a "more fun" thing with him. Plus I now have at least one semi-retired friend.
Another good scenario (though it is probably not in the book) is that you know you're going to live to be one hundred years old.
I already think like this because there is evidence that I have a pretty good chance of living a long life. Therefore, I have healthier habits than I would otherwise want, I'm saving lots towards retirement, I'm making sure my house gets paid off in a reasonable time frame, and I try to be open-minded about acquiring new hobbies, because you never know which ones you won't have the capacity for anymore as your body breaks down.
Okay, the last scenario is that you are told you have one day left to live.
I don't feel like I'm depriving myself, saving all my fun for later or anything like that. The only thing is that I would like something that helps people (probably in an educational way) that will still be there after I die. I don't really have that yet. I did make a really cool quilt, and it will be just as cool when I'm dead. But it doesn't really help people that much. (It's not even really big enough to use to keep warm under; it's mostly just pretty to look at.) I also give advice on some Web sites, and the people who got that advice might keep using it or pass it on after I die. And some of my monetary donations will still be doing some good: some of it is buying ecologically valuable land to protect it and some is being lent and repaid in perpetuity to help people pull themselves out of poverty. So, it could be worse.
Another scenario that probably is unhelpful but can be fun: What would you do if you were going to live forever? Well, you'd probably want to learn some self-defense skills, because chances are quite good you would eventually wish you had some. You'd probably want to pay attention to language trends and keep up to date. Like in Roman times, Latin would have been good; not so much anymore. You'd still have to do sightseeing in a timely fashion because the sights generally get destroyed eventually. You'd probably want to collect well-stocked hiding places around the world for sitting out huge disasters.
So, my next goal is to figure out fun things to do with vacation time and pick some. Did any of these questions give you any new ideas?
Related journal entry: Read Changes (of the Major Variety) in Patrick's Daily Journal for a snapshot of what life looks like when things are going really well. "I'm ecstatic. I have a new computer on the way. Bernice has now shifted gears in thinking of me from 'potential boyfriend' to 'potential girlfriend.' I have a date with Robert for Saturday. I'm going to be working days for the first time in 5 years very soon."
Other journal entry: Friendship, Unrequited from Bad Hair Days. Interesting. "When K. spends the night with your boyfriend and you realize in the ugliest possible way that what you thought was a friendship was something more like a horrible joke, you replace the boyfriend but K. is just gone; there are jokes and feelings that won't ever make sense again."
Yet another journal entry: Get Off the Counter You Spawn of Satan! from Are We There Yet. "I'm thinking that only something that originates in the depths of HADES could have such a persistent, unholy desire to wake me up early on a Sunday morning."
First, imagine that you've reached financial security. You have all the money you need to take care of all your needs, both now and in the future.
- How would you live your life?
- What would you do with the money?
- Would you change anything?
I've thought about this sort of question before, more along the lines of "If you didn't have to worry about money, what would your typical day be like?" I would start the morning doing chores. Then I would play on the Web for a while, reading my favorite sites and learning stuff. Then I would write, if I had any good ideas. Then fix a quick lunch. Then I would leave the house for some sort of field trip: errand running, a class at the gym, auditing a class, having lunch with a friend, something like that. Then work on a project, like knitting or listening to Spanish tapes. Then have supper. Then do the same kind of stuff I do now with my friends after work.
That's just a typical day. Some days would be atypical where I would be traveling or camping or something like that.
There is also some volunteer work I would like to do, but you have to be careful with that, because once an organization learns you exist, they like to try to hog all of your time for themselves. Additionally, most volunteer work has time commitments. You need to be around every Tuesday for one school year or every month until the big event. I might like to be a Girl Scout leader or tutor some junior-high kids in math or tutor an adult in reading or help out in a public school somehow getting ideas for educational simulations that teachers could use.
Okay, another scenario is that you have five to ten years to live. You will be healthy until you die, but you get no additional information on when you will die until it happens.
- What will you do in the time you have remaining to live?
- Will it change your life?
- If so, how?
First, write a will, sometime in the next five years of course.
After that, this is a surprisingly hard one for me. Currently, I plan to retire in ten years. So of course the first thing I would do is calculate whether I could quit now and have enough to live on for the next ten years. The answer is no, I can't, at least not in the manner to which I have become accustomed.
I realized that if I could live on my money, I might be using it all up. I discovered that this bothers me. I like thinking that if I die before my parents, at least they would get some money. I never knew that before.
Okay, so the next obvious thing to do is to realize that if I have to work the rest of my life anyway, I should make sure it's the most fun job possible, right? But no. My reaction was almost just the opposite. I decided that actually, I would just quit job hunting at all, because I really hate job hunting. Just stay in my current job as long as I like it, do whatever I can to make sure I keep liking it. If I fail miserably, I could just quit and job hunt during work hours. If I couldn't find another good job, no big deal. I could work at CiCi's or something. I would no longer need a good retirement plan; I could live on the retirement money for my current job for a whole year if I had no other job, and several years if I had a very poor-paying job. My IRA would get me through a few more years. That decision also surprised me.
Another thing is that I would quit saving my vacation time, and I'd quit scoring teacher certification tests (unless I had to quit my day job). I wouldn't need the cash, and I'd feel I should be doing something more fun.
What more fun things should I be doing, and shouldn't I be doing those things anyway? Interesting questions. Take more day trips? Visit local tourist attractions? Do writing projects? Now, this sounds like the part of the answer I should be paying attention to and using to improve my life, doesn't it?
One problem has always been that my friends don't get as much time off as I do. But that's not so true anymore. My boyfriend currently has Mondays off, so I can take off any Monday and do a "more fun" thing with him. Plus I now have at least one semi-retired friend.
Another good scenario (though it is probably not in the book) is that you know you're going to live to be one hundred years old.
- What would you like to be doing in your later years?
- What do you need to do now to get ready?
I already think like this because there is evidence that I have a pretty good chance of living a long life. Therefore, I have healthier habits than I would otherwise want, I'm saving lots towards retirement, I'm making sure my house gets paid off in a reasonable time frame, and I try to be open-minded about acquiring new hobbies, because you never know which ones you won't have the capacity for anymore as your body breaks down.
Okay, the last scenario is that you are told you have one day left to live.
- What dreams will be left unfulfilled?
- What do you which you had finished or had been?
- What do you wish you had done?
- What did you miss?
I don't feel like I'm depriving myself, saving all my fun for later or anything like that. The only thing is that I would like something that helps people (probably in an educational way) that will still be there after I die. I don't really have that yet. I did make a really cool quilt, and it will be just as cool when I'm dead. But it doesn't really help people that much. (It's not even really big enough to use to keep warm under; it's mostly just pretty to look at.) I also give advice on some Web sites, and the people who got that advice might keep using it or pass it on after I die. And some of my monetary donations will still be doing some good: some of it is buying ecologically valuable land to protect it and some is being lent and repaid in perpetuity to help people pull themselves out of poverty. So, it could be worse.
Another scenario that probably is unhelpful but can be fun: What would you do if you were going to live forever? Well, you'd probably want to learn some self-defense skills, because chances are quite good you would eventually wish you had some. You'd probably want to pay attention to language trends and keep up to date. Like in Roman times, Latin would have been good; not so much anymore. You'd still have to do sightseeing in a timely fashion because the sights generally get destroyed eventually. You'd probably want to collect well-stocked hiding places around the world for sitting out huge disasters.
So, my next goal is to figure out fun things to do with vacation time and pick some. Did any of these questions give you any new ideas?
Related journal entry: Read Changes (of the Major Variety) in Patrick's Daily Journal for a snapshot of what life looks like when things are going really well. "I'm ecstatic. I have a new computer on the way. Bernice has now shifted gears in thinking of me from 'potential boyfriend' to 'potential girlfriend.' I have a date with Robert for Saturday. I'm going to be working days for the first time in 5 years very soon."
Other journal entry: Friendship, Unrequited from Bad Hair Days. Interesting. "When K. spends the night with your boyfriend and you realize in the ugliest possible way that what you thought was a friendship was something more like a horrible joke, you replace the boyfriend but K. is just gone; there are jokes and feelings that won't ever make sense again."
Yet another journal entry: Get Off the Counter You Spawn of Satan! from Are We There Yet. "I'm thinking that only something that originates in the depths of HADES could have such a persistent, unholy desire to wake me up early on a Sunday morning."