As winter wears on, I have thought a lot about exactly what it would take to go live in a shiny 1960s trailer under a palm tree in the sun:
- A source of income: check, my jobs are all remote-friendly.
- A place for the trailer: I have some leads, and the cost to cover taxes and water is probably about $150/month. NOT BAD.
- About $13,000 for the trailer + solar + tricking it out. (Trust a lot of internet research has gone into this number.)
KEY QUESTION: Now for my favorite question because it lets me move things from the “fantasy” to “project” category in my mind — Where do I find these resources? Well, if I sublet my room in NYC I could recoup the upfront cost in 14 months (scary). Or, I could finagle saving $650/month and do my favorite thing: BUY IN CASH before winter 2019. Hmm. It’s starting to feel like I have options!
I’m asking you to consider this: What exact resources would it take for your greatest fantasy to be possible? What does breaking the numbers down help you see as possible?
This is one of my favorite activities to do with folks in class or session: name the amount of money — the actual number — you’ll need to accomplish something major, expensive, and important to you. Then, reverse engineer it into numbers that are small enough they become manageable.
Check out this example, where someone’s goal to save $15,000, go on vacation, and put $ into a ROTH IRA gets started with saving $300/month for the remaining 10 months of the year:
They also want to allocate money for insemination, but decided to put it until after the first goal gets hit.
And that’s the reality part of dreams: sometimes we have to prioritize them, so we can achieve them.
The other thing we learn from this activity is what exactly is — and isn’t — feasible. I ran my numbers and realized I can’t figure out how to save for this beautiful $30k Del Ray (below) in the timeline that I want to accomplish my dream. So, I pivoted and made a plan I think I can accomplish.
