The 5 year plan (part 1)
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The 5 year plan (part 1)
Money comes and goes, and it’s an obvious trend that because people feel like saving for houses or retirement is virtually impossible, they’d rather spend what they have and enjoy the experiences that are around. After all, climate change is going to ruin everything, right? Get what you can while it’s hot! I propose an alternative perspective. This plan enabled me to accumulate enough money to have upward mobility and enjoy life the way I never thought possible. My strategy can work for you too; here’s how I did it.  

Frame your expectations

With the nature of how money works, some people will have more cash than others. If everyone had everything, then money becomes worthless and you won’t be able to do anything anyway (monetary hyper-inflation). That is to say, there is no easy way to go about getting ahead of the curve than to put in the work prescribed below. The smarter and more consciously you do this, the faster and more likely you’d get there.    If you think you can work your ass off, 24/7, and be well-off in less than a year, I wish you the best of luck. Maybe you can teach the 11ish community a thing or two after your success! My plan spans across 10 years (from the day I graduated college) and I was fortunate enough to have been able to enjoy the fruits of my labor around year 5. Thus, I don’t recommend any plans that are less than 5 years.   If you are more interested in learning about the powers of fuck-you money, bookmark this page and read our article here.  

Plan your best, expect your worst

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Ok, so now that you have mentally set the right timeline, think about what you want to have then multiply it by 5 (years) then multiply the result by 1.3 (rainy-day padding). The thought process here is that you aim to hit your plan in 5 years, which means that when you do hit your goal, you will have the opportunity to enjoy the fruition of your goal for 5 years. Meanwhile, you will have the opportunity to either repeat or create a NEW goal for the following 5 years.    Idea 1: World-traveler A common goal these days is being able to travel regularly. In this case, you’re reasonably confident that the cost of travel+hotel+cultural experiences (food/souvenirs/tours/etc…) for you is between 2 to 5 thousand dollars a trip. Since we’re aiming for freedom, we’ll set our goal for the upper bound: $5,000 x 2 (twice a year) x 5 (years of freedom) x 1.3 (rainy-day padding)  = $65,000   Idea 2: Foodie
Photo by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash
One of my other goals, when I started this project, is to be able to try all the food experiences around me. Here’s how I created my budget projection   $30 (per meal) x 261 (weekdays a year, because I eat home on weekends) x 5 (years of freedom) x 1.3 (rainy-day padding) = $50,895   This was when I thought I’d never eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant, but since in practice, I will not be eating out every single day of the year, my average $20/meal estimate will workout. This same principle can be applied if your goal is to permanently move to an expensive city or want to buy all the shoes you’ve ever wanted or whatever!   Go to Part 2

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