How Much Is Enough? Meanderings on Money.

The other day, a question was asked about how much money did I want/need/desire? That started the gears turning and a long meandering route to chose some arbitrary number that would "make me feel safe", because that ended up being the final criteria. The issue of safety branched off to other thoughts of how we live our lives (I'm not going down that quiet desperation road that is so often quoted). Bottom line (heh, you can flog me later for that one) is that I desired $1,501,000.00 to feel comfortable about my finances. Might as well place the flag far enough away to really stretch... oh yeah, really really stretch.

Is that such a stretch? There are an almost uncountable number of people who have achieved and surpassed that goal, just here in the great ol' USA. What used to be a figure spoken about in a reverenced hush is commonplace now, even with the economic quagmire we have experienced lately. So maybe it's not so unobtainable a goal.

It's about belief systems. For the first part of my adult life, I spent most of it in a state of financial jeopardy, hopping from one small safe zone to another. I worked numerous jobs while creating a following as an artist, working in multiple mediums, and sometimes working 3-4 part time jobs at a time. I worked a lot, just not in highly lucrative positions. I think it's called survival. Had fun, created some wonderful inspired pieces, lived on the edge and gathered friends and memories that made life interesting. I just never thought much about bigger money, or how I could gather it, or what that would mean. I didn't believe that was in my future, so I never spent much time pondering on the idea.

Fast forward to my late 40's. I landed a job (thinking that it was another temp position until I found something interesting), and stayed with the company 10+ years. Relocated while with them, bought a condo (that was a real feat), married, bought a bigger house, grew a 401K, and ultimately laid off with a small severance package. I slipped into a different lifestyle by default, without any intentions, no game plan, nada. The years have gone by faster than the time it takes for your tax return to dissapear out of your checking account. Poof!

What I have now, with my husband, is a small amount of money in our retirement fund. Not enough for me to actually retire on, yet enough that I watch it like a hawk, and think about money and retirement almost daily. More than a decade has passed, and my mind-set has changed drastically. I can almost feel what it would be like to have "enough money". I can imagine what it would bring into our lives, and how it would feel. All the self-help gurus indicate that this is essential to "bringing in the bucks". Can't tell if this is an improvement in my life or not, but it's different.
So, back to the million-and-a-half. What would we do with that? Travel (much more), do some shopping, put some safe-guards in place (like long term medical insurance), play a bit more. I don't think it would change our world drastically. I think it would ease our worries a bit, and let us have more fun. So what would be the difference between that and our life now? Probably a new car, and a new truck for my husband. We might consider building a little vacation home in Mexico. Might get to see Europe, and fulfill my dream of spending a month in Tuscany, painting and exploring. The funny think is, we can probably do that with much less money, and may accomplish some of that with what we have now, if we apply things carefully.

That's an amazing thought. We might already have enough to do the things we would do if we had the "big bucks". Just a little bit at a time, on a smaller scale. That is, in my mind, rich. When you add happy to that, (contentment, joy, however you want to label it), you have two really important ingredients of a great life. The Spanish have a toast and to paraphrase it: "Health, Love and Money, and the Time to Enjoy it" and that covers the subject, although a friend of mine would add "something interesting to do and people who need you" to the requirements for happiness. I'll take that.