Time and Financial Goals
A while ago, I celebrated my daughter’s birthday by reminiscing about the day she was born (she is out of town at school, so that we won’t celebrate with her, but assume she celebrated with friends). As the Rolling Stones pointed out, Time and financial goals wait for no one.
More than Twenty Years Ago
The decision to have kids was a hotly discussed topic between my wife and myself. I was positive we could not afford to have kids at the time. As usual, my wife was correct that we would adjust our lifestyle to fit the new costs in. We were lucky I had a good job that paid well.
What Would I Change?
It’s easy to be trite in this situation and list out the obvious things that I should have done back then, such as:
- Start an RRSP and invest in high tech early and get out early
- Don’t build up credit card debt
- etc., etc., etc.,
but this would imply some degree of regret or sadness about those twenty-plus years. I don’t wish to portray those years that way. They were (and still are) beautiful years.
I have learned more from being a parent than I would have, had I got a Ph.D. I have had more happiness and joy in those twenty years than I deserve.
Yes, there are times where I look back and think, “I should have….”, when it comes to some money decisions and some other decisions in my life, but in some ways, I learned more from my mistakes than from my (minor) successes in the financial world.
Am I saying, “Don’t worry, be happy!” (to paraphrase Bobby McFerrin) about your money? No! I am telling you should be careful and take the obvious steps to be safe with your money and to avoid debt every which way you can. However, if you think you have done all you can, and you are comfortable, then you should enjoy your life, is all I am saying.
Tempus fugit and twenty-plus years will fly by in a heartbeat, so make sure you are enjoying it.
I’m in the “where have the last 20 years gone” boat too. It seems like the last decade lasted only 5 years. Having kids makes life busy but fulfilling. I can verify that you’re correct on parenting teaching us a lot more than a PhD.
Best wishes to your daughter!
You are right…it goes by in a heartbeat…what you really need now is a front porch…so you and the missus can sit back in your rocking chairs and enjoy the grandkids!! Trust me…while “tempus fugit” for the first 20….the next 20 speed up!!! Its all good:>)