The Dreaded Day

So, it’s that unhappy time of year: Inventory at work. The end of August is the end of the our corporate year end. So that means that our stock must be counted.

Now, the act of counting and recording the inventory is not that bad and so the work itself I don’t mind. It’s Boss’s behaviour that makes me dread this day.

You see, without getting into too much, the way we (Boss) orders stock leaves a lot of room for error within the inventory system.

So, when it comes time to count that inventory, and count the stock on the shelves, it can be way off. 

Which then means you have to take into account stock that is on the books but hasn’t arrived yet. (Don’t get me started).

So when there are times when the count is off by more than one or two, Boss freaks out and blames me and the sales guy.

I dread and resent this as while I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect, I take multiple steps during the processing of each order to ensure accuracy in inventory and invoicing. 

So to have Boss rant and rave about all this and blame just about everyone but Boss themselves, grates. 

Yet, as always, as a small business owner, Boss is the one who suffers for the mistakes and fumbling of their idiot staff (I’m paraphrasing).

Anyways, that gives you a taste as to why I dislike this day, and this time of year, as I usually end up counting the inventory three times.

I will endeavour to keep my calm and try to just not let anything bother me. I will try to look at this as just another ordinary day and I just need to keep a better frame of mind about it.

(And just get through it, but it is Friday, which means it is an early day).

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward.

Old Folks Working in Retirement

I am not one to say that people over a certain age should not work. I am saying that people over a certain age should not HAVE to work.

There is a difference. 

Before I started on this journey towards Debt Freedom (and beyond to wealth building) I always joked that I was on the “Freedom 85” retirement plan.

(A twist and satire of the “Freedom 55” package from some mutual fund company.)

In all seriousness, most of us don’t really think much about retirement. We, or rather myself, are (or were) too busy dealing with surviving today to think about post age 64.

We tend to think that things will take care of themselves. Now, a company pension has all but gone the way of the Dodo. (If you’re lucky enough to have it, good for you.)

So, for those of us without pensions, we keep getting told to build your RRSP, and save for your retirement. 

Yet we are still just trying to be able pay for today, let alone to be able to put away for retirement. 

People have become conditioned to believe that carrying debt is normal and acceptable. 

I will say that having a mortgage is fine, as it is for your house and there is an end date (but being house poor is not).

Yet, if people do this, carry debt until they retire, what happens when they get escorted out the door of their job (kicking and screaming that they still have debt)?

What then? Is there some magic law or loophole that says that debt evaporates at age 65? If there is, I haven’t found it. 

No matter how old you are, the banks are going to want their money.

It is one thing to get part time job in retirement to fill the day and for a little extra cash. 

It is quite another to now somehow to try to deal with the pile of debt that you never dealt with when you were working.

That though alone should scare you into doing something about your debt. You too deserve to be not only debt free but have a nice savings account.

You can do it, if you want some advice, message me and I will offer what advice I can, at least let you know what has worked for me. 

(For starters read this blog from the beginning to now, as it chronicles my successes and mistakes.)

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

The Next Few Milestone Goals Set

So, with me focussed on “refunding” my savings to their minimum acceptable levels, I have set a few of my basic milestone goals.

This is yet another little game that I play to keep my focussed and motivated and moving forward. 

If you just look at the overall goal, you will be discouraged at the meagre progress that you have made and are making and will give up.

Or you will go slower as you feel that nothing makes any difference. 

So, I set smaller goals, goals that are along the path to the overall goal. 

The grand goal that I am working towards, I call my Crossroads Goal (as when you get there, your life is at a crossroads as you figure out where to go from there. 

The smaller goals along the way, the ones that measure my progress to my Crossroads Goal I call them Milestone Goals (as they measure my progress).

So, the next few Milestone goals are as follows:

1. 12.5% : Mid-Term Account Fully Funded

2. 15%    : Long-Term Back to, Minimum Acceptable Level

3. 17.5% : Savings Back to Where I was before Investing Project

4. 20%    : Next “zero” marker (as in multiples of ten)

Again, I find it is these small little mind games that keep me motivated in the here and now and working in the here and now towards that lofty goal that is years away from being achieved.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

The Frustration of The Illusion of Stagnation

Very few things are more frustrating than the feeling like you are stagnating and not getting anywhere. It is quite aggravating and can lead you to get negative and give up.

Such is the case for me, as due to a recent investment opportunity that I took advantage of, I had to raid my savings a bit. 

So, as a result I am now going over old ground in building my savings back up to where it was before.

The most aggravating is having to refund my practically decimated Mid-Term Account. 

Fiscal alarms are going off with that thing not being up to where I consider it to be fully-funded.

Yet, it was not like I blew my cash on an epic weekend in Vegas or otherwise wasted it, it was an investment. 

Yet, as a result of that investment, it put a dent in my savings. This kind of thing can make someone feel like they are getting nowhere.

We have setbacks all the time and while this is not really a setback, more like a sidestep, the lesson is the same.

Look back at where you have come, take stock of what you have and what you have accomplished. 

I am sure that you will find, that like me, you have accomplished more than you thought that you have.

I know that I will continue my savings and my wounded Mid-Term Account will be fully funded by the October 7 Payday. 

I will be back to where I was, savings-wise, by the end of the year. So, all in all things are fine and things are moving forward.

I have to just remind myself that I have done more than I give myself credit for.

Not to the point of being arrogant, but to stave off the negativity, self-doubt and depression.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Vancouver . . . The Treading Water Champions of Canada

So, I read an article the other day that made me shake my head. It said that Vancouver, as in the people of Vancouver, have the highest average credit scores in the country.

Great . . . congratulations, I guess.

It went on to say that this is because Vancouverites have found a way to meet their financial obligations.

Great . . . I guess.

The metric that I would like to see is not the debt ratio (as in where do people have the most or least amount of debt in relation to their annual income).

I would like to see the debt freedom index. Where are people the closest to or totally debt free.

(Pause for every business pundit and economist in the country to gasp in horror.)

What this article tells me is that the people in Vancouver have found a way to keep making the minimum payments on their massive debt. 

Great, now tell me people of Vancouver, how do you plan to pay off that debt?

Why worry about that?

Let me ask you this: how much do you think it pays to be a Walmart Greeter and how many of them do you think Walmart will need?

What’s that? You don’t have to worry because you house is now worth a bazillion times more than you paid for it and you can sell it, pay off all of your debts and retire early?

Let me ask you this? Could you afford to buy your home as it stands now? 

Could you scrape up even the 5% minimum down payment needed? Could you afford to make the mortgage payments on your house, if you bought it now?

How many foreign investors do you think there are out there and do you really want to risk your financial future on the bet that they will still be there when you are ready to “cash out?”

My point is this, the banks and government think everything is fine because you are paying their bills, you are paying them. 

Why don’t you find a way to get rid of your debt and start paying yourself? Being buried in debt is not the way you were meant to live. 

Banks have made it “normal” because it serves them and their interests, not you. 

Do something about your debt before you are standing on the threshold of retirement still buried in debt and unable to pay it off or even keep making the minimum payments.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!

The Homestead Fund Update

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” (to build my "Homestead Fund") 

Okay, so let’s see how I did . . . 

   

For review, here is how things looked from last payday . . .

   

That is 9.9% (of my Savings Target).

And this is how things look like, after the dust settled on this payday’s budget . . . 

   

 

That’s right things jumped up to 10.7% of my savings target. 

That means I put away 0.8% of my total Savings Target this payday.

Okay, so that may seem a bit depressing as it is less than a full percentage point, but this will be the norm moving forward.

This is because this target is larger than my previous one, yet I am clomping on ahead anyways until I fully fund The Homestead Fund (to 100%). 

I have proved to myself that when I set a goal, I can hit it, so I will hit this goal (fiscal apocalypse notwithstanding).

The big moment this week is that I have hit the Milestone Goal of 10%! That’s right, I have crossed off the first row and so, I am now working on that second row!

I will keep going, as each time I move that percentage marker forward, I am moving myself closer to finally starting that homestead!

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Plan For The Mid-Term

It is one thing to have a goal, an airy-fairy dream that you want to have. It is another to say that you’re going to take daily action towards that dream.

Yet, a key factor to success is to keep planning the near future. Always look 3 to 6 months out and map out the steps and places that you want to be at that time.

What smaller goals will you have wanted to accomplish by that point? How are you going to get there? 

What steps do you need to take to make sure that those smaller goals are met? Most importantly, will accomplishing those smaller goals move you closer to your larger goal?

Since my goals (at this point) are financial in nature, I look at the budgets for three payperiods at the same time:

1. The payperiod I am currently in

2. The next payperiod

3. The payperiod after the next one

I like to keep an eye to the future and see what troubles are coming down the pipe, so to speak.

I focus on the payperiod that I am currently in, as that is the only one that really and truly matters, as this is one reflects what I am doing with my finances right now.

I focus on the one after my current payperiod because that one is my next paycheque, and I always have an idea as to what it will look like. 

This estimation changes each workday, as my estimation on what that paycheque is going to be changes daily (daily sales affects my paycheque).

So, as more or less income is projected or expenses are projected, this will affect and impact that payperiod’s budget.

I focus on the one after that to take a first cursory look at how it may or may not shape up to be. I take into account any estimate expenses and income and adjust it accordingly.

I look at these budgets daily, including the ones yet to be, in order to help make them real to me, as in convince myself that this is going to come to pass.

It is by standing on the top of one payperiod budget and climbing up onto the top of the next one that I continually improve my financial standing.

I also do these budgets for years in advance, knowing that they will be changed before I come upon them.

I do this so that I can see, I can glimpse at a possible future of what I can have, in a year or two, if I continue to be fiscally responsible in the here and now.

So remember: Dream for the future, plan for the Mid-Term, yet work on the Now.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!