I’ve visited this website (blog) a couple of times in the past – and learned a lot from you, THANK YOU FOR THAT.

I must say the comments are very interesting too – and they all take VERY different angles throughout the article! (Human behavior and interaction is VERY mind boggling, and amazing!)

Anyway, one of the things that is frequently mentioned in mature personal finance blogs is that taking hold and controlling ones personal finances is a lengthy journey. You mentioned that the journey ends at some point – but does it really?

Once the goal is met, doesn’t the journey somehow evolve to something else?

P.S. Your kids are UBER cute! Please heed what Ms. Nancy said.

Thanks again!

For instance, a marriage or divorce or childbirth is likely to put a temporary dent in the upward trend. There are also things like the investment capital is suddenly cut by 30-50% due to market conditions (e.g. November 2008 anyone?).

On the positive side, sometimes marriage or downsizing or a promotion will accelerate the curve.

In my own situation, I’ve been charting the investments I control since 1993. First house I bought was in 1997 and it took a good three years before the curve began accelerating upward again. Marriage in 2001 was relatively benign to the finances, but we realized a bigger house was needed in 2004 and again it took 3 years before the curve began accelerating upward again.

In hindsight, the move to a bigger house wasn’t needed and we would have had the old house paid off already, but the lifestyle change has been welcome. In terms of goals, I now realize I’m trapped in my job for at least another 7 years in order to maximise retirement benefits… if we’d been content to stay in the first home, I would not need to maximise those retirement benefits.

I also looked carefully at “regular” expenses and decided to dump my AT&T phone for a prepaid phone. Got a Tracfone for 30 bucks but it was kinda-sorta free since it came with 30 bucks worth of air time.

Now I budget my phone use by buying the amount of time I want, up front. I also got a double minutes card which makes it an even better value.

There are some expenses that can be “managed” and those are the ones to budget.

Your kids are cute and those are cute pictures of both of them. With that being said, you might want to think about not putting their pictures in the articles in the future. Unfortunately, we live in a society where children are not always safe from predators. I live in California and the Sandra Cantu case just happened out here. In that case it appears that it was someone she knew and should have been able to trust but that is not always the case. Just some food for thought.

You lose credibility by having this ad on your page. I’d rethink that decision. People trust you.

I think the level of our needs change or advance as we address each need. Money to pay my current bills VS. money saved to pay several months worth of bills VS. planning for retirement. Putting food on the table VS. putting high quality and healthy food on the table. These are examples of this evolution and if the questions are becoming more complex then we’re likely headed in the right direction.

On another plane there is the defining of goals and of success against those objectives. This is a great line of discussion. I recently wrapped up a 10 part series on goal setting. I think we need to set goals across several facets of our lives and then work to achieve goals within each area. This should provide the balance in our lives that we require.

Great stuff Trent and I appreciate you sharing!
Dave

I do understand what you are saying here, though. For example, the last $100 we take to pay the last of our debts is going to be a huge achievement. It’s going to mean much more than any other $100 bucks along the way. It’s good to take time to track these milestones, as well.