Archive for Part 4
So far this week we’ve covered our need to construct a finacial foundation like we would expect to find on a pyramid… That’s if we agree that the intent is to have a wide, solid footing for everything else we want to put on top of it… A financial foundation that is constructed with care and designed with redundancies could take us and our legacy far into the future.
We’ve looked deeper at 2 of the three core necessities that have to be included in our pyramids foundation level… Food and Water, so today lets knock out the third – SHELTER…
Well, to start off, we have to ask what does – SHELTER – really mean. This has to be some sort of structure that keeps us warm and dry. We’ll get into how we accomplish the warm part in future posts and I think we can assume that no matter what structure was chosen, it would keep us dry!
So, what are our options? I’m really trying to go basic survival but saying something silly like a tent would be inappropriate! I personally wouldn’t even take the living in a van or enclosed utility trailer route either. The adventurer in me likes these ideas and will incorporate them in my life at some point but these don’t do it for me as far as being sustainable in the long term. The obvious – “Pay off your current house”, while this is VERY good advice, it would take most of us nearly a lifetime to accomplish this in the traditional fashion. I hear the ads from the Real Estate gurus that promise that you can pay the place off in 5 years instead of 30 but the old adage, “If it seems to good to be true, it probably is”, hasn’t stood the test of time without reason…
Where does this leave us? Part of me wants to ask what do the retired folks do now? They live in small apartments or mobile homes, even retirement villages or RV’s… Isn’t there a name for this and an entire industry built around these RV folks? Actually there is a large segment of many local economy’s that are built on the “Snow Birds”… These people have an RV and travel back and forth with the warm weather… I bet there are even readers that are looking forward to doing this in their own retirement. Why wait? Why not down size now?
This is a very personal choice, each person or even family unit, needs to evaluate which route they might choose. What will work for me and my family, may be completely inconceivable to you and yours. However hard this choice might be, it is a critical element to establishing a solid foundation. Family considerations are always high on the list but don’t think for a minute that you’re going to be able to keep all the people happy all the time…
I can’t speak for everyone but the time goes by so quickly in my life that I feel that it would be foolish to wait to long, thinking about this. Sit down with the people that this choice will most effect and map out an action plan. It may take several years to implement these changes but the sooner you start the journey, the sooner you reach the destination.
If your old age is going to be spent in a paid for home, do that now! If you plan to travel with your spouse and live in an RV, do that now… I didn’t say you get to stop working but why pay for a house for many more years when you already plan to sell and hit the road, or buy that small house in the country? What’s stopping you from developing that exit strategy today?
As much as I like the idea of working for awhile and then roaming the countryside for awhile, as a long term lifestyle it won’t easily fit into our foundation. We discussed the FOOD and WATER systems that are also important to our success… We could probably make the water system workout in an RV but it’s not to easy to setup that food production system. It’s possible but not easy.
For us to lay this foundation of financial freedom successfully, we’ll want to keep this plan as simple as possible… There will be of plenty of room higher on the pyramid to make things more complex, if that’s really what you want to do. For now though, we know we need to acquire a free and clear property that has a sufficient area to activate our plans for a food production system. You decide how to accomplish this but don’t sit on your hands, get it moving in the right direction. Even if this will take a few years to get off the ground, it’s a critical component and we can’t move to the next level without it.
This doesn’t have to be your dream home, just a snug shelter, that can’t easily be taken from us. Whether it’s an RV, old smelly mobile home or a small house with a large back yard, it will all be part of YOUR freedom pyramid.
All we need to do now is put the finishing touches on this foundation idea and we’ll be ready to move on to that GRAVY or excess that I mentioned earlier this week… See ya tomorrow!
Prepper
Financial Fitness Foundations, part 4
Posted by: Prepper | Comments (0)So far this week we’ve covered our need to construct a finacial foundation like we would expect to find on a pyramid… That’s if we agree that the intent is to have a wide, solid footing for everything else we want to put on top of it… A financial foundation that is constructed with care and designed with redundancies could take us and our legacy far into the future.
We’ve looked deeper at 2 of the three core necessities that have to be included in our pyramids foundation level… Food and Water, so today lets knock out the third – SHELTER…
Well, to start off, we have to ask what does – SHELTER – really mean. This has to be some sort of structure that keeps us warm and dry. We’ll get into how we accomplish the warm part in future posts and I think we can assume that no matter what structure was chosen, it would keep us dry!
So, what are our options? I’m really trying to go basic survival but saying something silly like a tent would be inappropriate! I personally wouldn’t even take the living in a van or enclosed utility trailer route either. The adventurer in me likes these ideas and will incorporate them in my life at some point but these don’t do it for me as far as being sustainable in the long term. The obvious – “Pay off your current house”, while this is VERY good advice, it would take most of us nearly a lifetime to accomplish this in the traditional fashion. I hear the ads from the Real Estate gurus that promise that you can pay the place off in 5 years instead of 30 but the old adage, “If it seems to good to be true, it probably is”, hasn’t stood the test of time without reason…
Where does this leave us? Part of me wants to ask what do the retired folks do now? They live in small apartments or mobile homes, even retirement villages or RV’s… Isn’t there a name for this and an entire industry built around these RV folks? Actually there is a large segment of many local economy’s that are built on the “Snow Birds”… These people have an RV and travel back and forth with the warm weather… I bet there are even readers that are looking forward to doing this in their own retirement. Why wait? Why not down size now?
This is a very personal choice, each person or even family unit, needs to evaluate which route they might choose. What will work for me and my family, may be completely inconceivable to you and yours. However hard this choice might be, it is a critical element to establishing a solid foundation. Family considerations are always high on the list but don’t think for a minute that you’re going to be able to keep all the people happy all the time…
I can’t speak for everyone but the time goes by so quickly in my life that I feel that it would be foolish to wait to long, thinking about this. Sit down with the people that this choice will most effect and map out an action plan. It may take several years to implement these changes but the sooner you start the journey, the sooner you reach the destination.
If your old age is going to be spent in a paid for home, do that now! If you plan to travel with your spouse and live in an RV, do that now… I didn’t say you get to stop working but why pay for a house for many more years when you already plan to sell and hit the road, or buy that small house in the country? What’s stopping you from developing that exit strategy today?
As much as I like the idea of working for awhile and then roaming the countryside for awhile, as a long term lifestyle it won’t easily fit into our foundation. We discussed the FOOD and WATER systems that are also important to our success… We could probably make the water system workout in an RV but it’s not to easy to setup that food production system. It’s possible but not easy.
For us to lay this foundation of financial freedom successfully, we’ll want to keep this plan as simple as possible… There will be of plenty of room higher on the pyramid to make things more complex, if that’s really what you want to do. For now though, we know we need to acquire a free and clear property that has a sufficient area to activate our plans for a food production system. You decide how to accomplish this but don’t sit on your hands, get it moving in the right direction. Even if this will take a few years to get off the ground, it’s a critical component and we can’t move to the next level without it.
This doesn’t have to be your dream home, just a snug shelter, that can’t easily be taken from us. Whether it’s an RV, old smelly mobile home or a small house with a large back yard, it will all be part of YOUR freedom pyramid.
All we need to do now is put the finishing touches on this foundation idea and we’ll be ready to move on to that GRAVY or excess that I mentioned earlier this week… See ya tomorrow!
Prepper