Juggling My Future

 

Being a young college graduates with a dwindling amount of debt left over from my student loans and an increasing amount of disposable income, I find myself at a crossroads. Ideally, I would like to retire as early as humanly possible and live however I see fit, preferably with a good amount of travel. I honestly wouldn’t mind continuing to work at all, but in a downshifted capacity. I’d like to be mobile, work less hours (20-30 a week) with the ability to work from anywhere so that I could travel around and see the world. Having a desk job, even though I enjoy the work, simply feels restraining. I spend most my time during the week working, getting ready for work, or doing work-related things at home than I do almost anything else. Is that all there is? This is what people do for their whole life?

Its somewhat disturbing that I feel this way after only 1 year if really being out in the working world. Shouldn’t I be shifting into high-gear to get a high-salary job with long hours? Don’t I want a BMW and a vacation home at the shore? I don’t. I’d like a small, modest house in a decent but not overly rich neighborhood with a lot of trees and a good view. I don’t want a mortgage, I don’t want kids, and I don’t want a car loan. Is this unusual behavior? I often hear people talk about lamenting having to pay “the bills” and having nothing left over…but they also still go out shopping for new shoes and buy iphones and and a new ipod simply because it has 1 or 2 new features over the old one they have (my own ipod I got for free because a sibling replaced it for that very reason).

So it is that I find myself juggling my options for the future. I can save for a house, buy it outright, or continue to rent and use some of the income from those invested funds to pad my income. I could downshift my career and work part-time once I have enough investment/alternate income to  do so, or I could continue to work until my financial assets are impervious to any curveballs life can throw my way, at the cost of more time. I’ve always found that I value my time more than I do money. I’ve also considered getting a job that allows for travel (see below) after all of my debts are paid.

Still working things out.

-Xias