Other People's Money

I have always had a fascination with money.  In fact, I even majored in it at Arizona State University.  My degree was Supply Chain Management, and at first I struggled to explain to others what I was going to do with my degree when I graduated.  However, my first course was OPM 300, and when I told my Grandfather this, he said "your taking a class in Other People's Money?"  I had to laugh, technically I was majoring in it.   (OPM actually stood for Operations and Procurement Management)

As a Procurement Manager for a number of corporations, my job was to spend the corporation's money. Really, I got paid to go shopping.  I also worked in the public sector for a while spending the taxpayers money.  Taxpayers hate when the government waste their hard earned tax dollars (some one needs to remind Congress of this at this very moment . . . but I am getting side tracked).  My job was to ensure high quality items for the best price, reduce waste and look for alternatives that could help lower the overall budget.

Wait - let's re-read that last sentence again: high quality items for the best price, reduce waste and look for alternatives that could help lower the overall budget.  That sounds exactly like what I need to do to obtain Financial Independence in my own household.

So I need to treat each dollar that comes to us like it was someone else's tax dollar.  If you are someone that likes to complain (or discuss) how the government is spending the money start treating your income like this and see what kind of results you get.  If you follow the federal government's lead today, you will be in debt, underfunded in areas like retirement, and probably have a lot of waste.  However, there are a number of cities and states that have balanced budgets, and are fully funded for future endeavors like infrastructure and pension programs - so all is not doomed.

Now that I have this new realization, I am going to start tracking and reporting our progress.  I know over the next 5 years that life's breezes may guide us in other directions, but starting today with a goal to retire in 5 years is something I don't think I will ever regret (unlike previous purchases in my past).

A few books that have helped change my thinking over the past few years are:
The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach [Check out his Finish Rich website]
The Millionaire Next Door by T. Stanley and W. Danko

I have made a lot of my investments automatic (of course a forced Pension percentage of 10% and Paycheck garnishments for filing bankruptcy do help with that).

My next goal will be to look at our spending and Net Worth and develop a plan for the next 5 years.  This should be fun, and interesting to see how close I can get to Financial Independence in the next 5 years.

Join me as I track the numbers and set goals to reach Financial Independence, and feel free to share your story.  I love reading about others who are working to being debt free or retiring early.  It helps to keep us all motivated.

Hey if I can do it after having to file Ch. 13 Bankruptcy [which is where you still have to pay your debts back, unlike Ch. 7 where they right off the debt] then so can you!!!