What Am I Doing?

I have never been a great goal setter, thus I have never been good at achieving my goals. I am more of a learner than a teacher when it comes to living life with purpose and focus. I’ve always drifted kind of like a tumbleweed, taking my time.  It’s easy to blame my parents – I come from a lower-upper/upper-middle class background, my parents were both working professionals and I lived my childhood in comfort and was well-supported as a very young adult.

Then I fell in love and was married at a young age before I had started my career. I didn’t have to strive to define myself and for others to recognize myself like many young people – since it was in the days before social media had swept over our lives, I felt little social pressure to conform and catch up to peers my own age. I was happy being a late bloomer.

Nevertheless, in my experience covering financial planning, I’ve recognized the importance of laying out long-term goals, and in my research into the financial independence movement, I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of setting aspirational five-year goals as well.

I’ve spent too much of my life waiting. As a result, I have several life goals I may not be able to accomplish.

Being a father.

This is, without a doubt, at the top of my list. I want to be a father more than anything else in my life right now. I’m not sure if my wife and I can have children – we’re financially stable, we have a nice environment in which to raise a child, but I’m 37 and she’s 39, we may have waited too long and it breaks my heart. I would trade everything else just to achieve this goal.

Going back to school...

..but maybe not for a degree. I want to earn several professional designations to become a well-rounded financial planner and expert. This will not only become a second line of business for myself, but it will also augment my skills as a financial writer. Journalism is one of my passions, but I see myself becoming more than a journalist moving forward.

Starting a side-gig

Maybe more of a “co-career” than a side-gig, as I would take my financial planning work at least as seriously as my writing.

Retiring all auto debt, most of the student debt

I wrote in my financial blog about my goal to pay down the $8,000 or so I still have left on my car and the nearly $32,000 in outstanding student loan debt my wife and I still carry. I think five years is plenty to come most of the way to achieving both goals – retiring both types of debt would mean paying down an average of $8,000 in principle each year, which may be biting off more than I can chew. I will write more about my escalating debt pay-down method in the future.

Buying a second car.

Cheryl and I have shared a car throughout the 15 years of our relationship, but if we’re going to have kids, we will definitely need a second car. Living in New Jersey with potentially changing commutes, a second car is more likely than not to be a necessity for us anyway. Unless I find a way to pay with cash, this complicated my debt-related goal above.

Traveling outside the U.S.

I’ve already traveled internationally – but Cheryl, my wife, has not. I would love to take her on a journey to Europe, the Caribbean or Asia while we’re relatively young.