Perceived Progress

I wanted to follow up on James’ post yesterday with a few thoughts of my own.

I find it interesting how natural it is to have a change in perspective as we reach closer to our goal. While our financial status at any time might seem like it is all a numbers game, it is far from it. Wealth and poverty, while tied to numbers, is more a matter of perspective than anything.

Think back to your first paycheck and what this meant. You may look back now and see that you can spend more than that simply breathing. The same goes for what we earn, spend, and save. The reality is that for most people, the more we earn the more spend. Additionally, the more we earn and save, the less substantial this seems.

Part of this has to do with general inflation in what our money can buy. Part of this has to do with the general life cycle changes, i.e. growing up, getting a mortgage, getting married, a few rug rats, etc.

I find it interesting to reflect on James’ financial melancholy, as it has more to do with perspective than anything as. As he states, we are earning more than we ever have. So in fact, our financial situation should in theory be very exciting. In reality, I’ve now managed to set up several online transfers to be paying off an extra $1,000 a month on our second mortgage. While this certainly works towards our current goal of paying off our second mortgage, it doesn’t feel as sexy.

I guess that part of it is just coming to terms with what keeps us excited and motivated towards our goals. I think it makes sense to go after goals that really encourage you. Saving for our place and our wedding were both exciting goals that kept us engaged and interested right up until the end. Perhaps we’ll have to consider going after a more exciting goal once we’ve paid off our mortgage.

Either way we are making progress, perceived or otherwise.

Cheers,

Miel