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Subject:  Re: In persuit of wisdom Date:  11/14/2000  12:45 PM
Author:  goldrice Number:  5569 of 19483


Congratulations on your foresight!

I second reading "The Richest Man in Babylon." Also, save/invest 10% of all your earnings for retirement. That should be separate from house downpayments, etc. and not to be spent for decades. That's the part I missed... we saved a bundle, but so much of it went to house downpayments, furniture, etc. Never considered retiring before 65 or 70 until very recently. Now that we've caught the early-retirement bug, we're scrambling to catch up.

We do have over 230,000 miles on one of our cars and close to that on the other one, though. Two other cars were over 170,000. (all Toyotas!)

We had been married for *very* many years before we took a *serious* vacation (other than week-end jaunts here and there).

And don't forget to *give* -- church, charities, etc. I have found that it magically helps align your resources and puts things in perspective. I emphatically believe it should be an essential part of your budget.

Regard every amount as important -- $10 here, $100 there can add up to a huge sum very quickly... whether it's debt or savings.

One technique I've found to be *very* helpful is to keep money in a number of separate accounts. My credit union allows me to easily have a number of interest-bearing accounts where I can keep house, vacation, car, regular checking, CDs, money market, etc. accounts separate to add clarity to the whole thing. A pre-specified amount of money goes straight into many of the accounts automatically from my paycheck, so I don't have to think about it. I can easily access them over the Web, by touch-tone phone, etc.

Wow... so many lessons I've learned over the decades. These are just a few!
