minor self-revelation
Jul. 24th, 2008 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutR., of course, found this completely obvious. Which just goes to show.
So I wrote and posted a long bit about what to teach the next generation about finance (it's friends only, but if I know you, drop me a line and tell me your lj-handle and I'll add you as a friend; it just has enough detail in it I don't want to share it with the world). Then I did a little editing and a little thinking and it occurred to me that I _didn't_ just back into my current financial situation. There was definitely an element of whoa-howdy-that-happened-fast. Had my life gone along its original trajectory, I probably would have retired at fifty something and never would have had kids.
But having enough to pay the bills for (effectively) ever AND not having to work any more was clearly an early and consistent goal of mine. And it _is not_ most people's goal. R. notes that it's weird for someone to have the kind of plan I did at the youthful age that I did, but my point is that there are people out there who hit it big, retire, are bored out of their skull and go back to work _for someone else_ even tho they don't need the money. Or who blow the pile somehow, but are okay with having to work again. Or whatever. If everyone _really_ wanted and worked and planned towards having-financial-independence-without-having-to-work, those people probably wouldn't exist.
So I guess my takeaway is that all of my ideas about finances and what's important and relevant about money and planning has probably always had this buried in it as an assumption. And that assumption isn't true for everyone. Thus, my ideas are not universally -- or possibly even widely -- applicable.
Fancy way of saying, YMMV. And the better-adjusted you are to living and working and playing with others, the more likely your mileage will vary substantially. My focus on independence has to be understood in light of my social difficulties.
So I wrote and posted a long bit about what to teach the next generation about finance (it's friends only, but if I know you, drop me a line and tell me your lj-handle and I'll add you as a friend; it just has enough detail in it I don't want to share it with the world). Then I did a little editing and a little thinking and it occurred to me that I _didn't_ just back into my current financial situation. There was definitely an element of whoa-howdy-that-happened-fast. Had my life gone along its original trajectory, I probably would have retired at fifty something and never would have had kids.
But having enough to pay the bills for (effectively) ever AND not having to work any more was clearly an early and consistent goal of mine. And it _is not_ most people's goal. R. notes that it's weird for someone to have the kind of plan I did at the youthful age that I did, but my point is that there are people out there who hit it big, retire, are bored out of their skull and go back to work _for someone else_ even tho they don't need the money. Or who blow the pile somehow, but are okay with having to work again. Or whatever. If everyone _really_ wanted and worked and planned towards having-financial-independence-without-having-to-work, those people probably wouldn't exist.
So I guess my takeaway is that all of my ideas about finances and what's important and relevant about money and planning has probably always had this buried in it as an assumption. And that assumption isn't true for everyone. Thus, my ideas are not universally -- or possibly even widely -- applicable.
Fancy way of saying, YMMV. And the better-adjusted you are to living and working and playing with others, the more likely your mileage will vary substantially. My focus on independence has to be understood in light of my social difficulties.