Talking About Goals

My wife and I love to sit on our front porch. We are out most evenings and some mornings. We never know what we will talk about, if anything at all, but tonight was especially good and I thought would be worth sharing.

We have been married for 11 months and 1 day. We have goals, a lot of goals, and one of our big ones is to live at the beach. Last year, shortly after our wedding day, we began plotting our financial destinations. One of these is to move out of our apartment in 2011 with enough cash for a 20% down payment on a house with money left over to furnish it. I almost forgot about this goal. I have been so caught up with living life day to day that our long term goal to buy a house (at the beach, if feasible) has not been on my mind.

I brought this topic up tonight on purpose. in-between sips of coffee I asked her if she still wanted to live at the beach. After giving me her answer she asked me why I was asking. "I almost forgot about it. I forgot it was our dream and I don't want to forget about that."

I don't want to get so caught up with life that I forget about our dreams, whatever they are. Goals are important. I heard it once said that a man without goals is like a boat without a rudder. That is so true. Tonight I remembered my rudder.

Don't forget about your rudder.

-Aaron Aiken

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Vacationing at Home - The Three R's

This weekend was fantastic. I did nothing and that was on purpose. April and May we did not have one "free" weekend, and most week nights were booked with some sort of activity. So this weekend has been fantastic. We had nothing planned, except reading, napping, and watching the Mission Impossible Trilogy. I truly feel rejuvnated and rested; I am ready to go back to work tomorrow morning and I'm not dreading it, entirely.
It's important to take time off from life and give yourself some quiet time, time to read, reflect, and relax. Plan a weekend where there is nowhere to go, and no one in particular to see. Sleep in and wake up when your body tells you to. From there, just enjoy the time you have, see where the day goes.
Cheers,

-Aaron Aiken

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Bike to Work

I decided that I'm going to ride my bike to work. Everyday it's a 10 mile round trip on my tank which equals out to roughly $40 per month just going to and from work. I plan on leaving fairly early (6-6:30am) for a few reasons: 1) not as much traffic so it should be safer, 2) the temperature will be cooler, and 3) I can travel at a leisurely pace reducing the amount of sweating that is going to occur. I will also leave the office early so I can beat the rush hour traffic.



I have yet to figure out a few other logistical items, such as leaving a change of clothing at the office, how to transport my laptop safely, and where I can secure my bike for the day. Any suggestions?



That $40 every month will be going towards Destination #3 on the Crown Financial Money Map (http://www.crown.org/) and will specifically contribute to paying off my wife's car. Once that is complete (hopefully in September of this year) we will begin to tackle the small school loan I have outstanding with my grandparents. That may be paid in one swell swoop with a bonus I'm expecting late september. But we'll see, I'm planning on worse case which is no bonus, just to be safe.



Cheers.

-Aaron Aiken



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