Our lives are a work in progress

No, this isn’t an unfinished post, accidently published. Instead, it’s a reminder that our financial lives always are a work in progress as we earn, spend, and save to maximize our happiness.

Our every-day decisions involve balancing current desires with the future rewards that come from delayed gratification. But at what point does trading our time for the future stop making sense? How do we know what decision will be best for us?

Questions of whether a spouse should work, where to work, and when to retire all involve these bigger questions.

Different definitions result in different paths

We all define success differently. Sometimes following our dreams involves following the herd, other times our goals involve forging our own path.

Last week, Pinyo and I disagreed about the definition of flexibility. We agreed on it’s importance, but our different

• feelings on risk
• lifestyle choices (where to work and live)
• goals in life

led us to define flexibility differently. Conventional wisdom recommends investing more heavily in the stock market instead of rapidly paying down potentially tax deductible, low-interest debts like a mortgage.

Pinyo seems to be more comfortable holding stocks (with their higher expected returns) than paying his mortgage off early. This decision probably makes perfect sense given his immediate and long-term goals, however, this path isn’t right for us.

Why we’re attacking our mortgage

Of course, we’d like to reach our golden years with the biggest nest egg possible. But our main goal is to have the time to treasure our children’s childhood years in the home of our choosing.

We already have the kids and the home on acreage, but not the flexibility we crave. Our mortgage payment means higher fixed costs. In our case, that means one of us has to commute to work. Which translates into extra time spent away from home.

One option would be to move closer to work, but we’ve already built our dream house on family land and grandparents will be retiring next door soon!

Another option would be to focus on accumulating assets, investing for the future. But not doing anything drastic.

We’ve decided that we prefer the third option. Spending more time with our family, in a home that we love, and working when and where we want to.

Paying off our mortgage is going to require most of a decade and a lot of dedication, but we’ll be much better off in the end. We’ll have the flexibility to save even more aggressively for retirement, to work when, where, and how we want, and to spend even more time with our family.

We may end up with less money in the end, but we’re comfortable with that trade.

Are you following the conventional wisdom in your financial dealings, or are breaking the rules, blazing your own path?

Our neighborhood—and no, we don’t live on or close to the water, unless you count a muddy pond as waterfront property.