The 4 core areas

Since I'm just starting out on this blog, my goal is to publish a post a day for 2 weeks.  I just have so much to write about, and so many different things on my mind that I need to get it out there as quickly as possible!  I may need to up that goal!  Sadly, working 50+ hours and then when I get home needing to help out with cleaning, and tending to a sick child eats slowly away at my time.

Now those of you who will be joining me on this journey, probably are wondering, does this guy actually have it figured out on balancing his life?  I'll tell you honestly, I currently don't.  But that's the end goal I want.  And I'll do whatever it takes to figure it out.

A couple of things I do enjoy doing is learning and reading.  Now this isn't your typical reading of fiction, mystery, romance, twilight type novels.  But I love to read about things I'm passionate about.  So what am I passionate about?  Well, that is definitely a flavor of the month.  Sometimes, you'll find me reading about investing and stocks, and other times you'll see me reading recipes for green drinks.  I love to fill my life with knowledge, and you can never get enough of it!

But getting back to the focus of this blog--finding the perfect balance in life.  I believe in order to achieve that balance, there are 4 core areas.  These areas are physical (body), mental (mind/emotional), fiscal (money), and spiritual (soul).  If you can figure out these 4 areas in your life, I can promise you that you'll live the happiest life that one can live.  Typically, when you meet someone that isn't happy in life, you can always pin point it to one of the core areas.  You can even find people that think they're happy, but if they're missing one of the areas, they're missing out making their life even better.

The area I'll probably be writing on more frequently than the other areas is fiscal.  The reason why I'll be writing more on fiscal than anything else is because I've spent countless years of my life figuring this out.  Also, on the more recent side I've been having a fascination of other people's journeys and views of life.  This is one reason why I wanted to start my own blog.  After reading all these other blogs, it inspired me to start one of my own.

With that said, one of my goals in life is to become financially independent more quickly than the average american.  What's the average age that american's retire?  67!  That's right 67!  And 62 is considered early retirement!  WTF!  That means the best years of your life will be in the "rat race".  Like most American's, you'll be working for someone else, living paycheck to paycheck, praying that social security will be there or hopefully have enough in savings.  With your job sucking away at your life and more importantly, your time!  The one thing you can never get back!  I for one don't want to be stuck in the rat race until I'm 67!  Now you may say, but I love my job and  love what I do and wouldn't mind doing it until I'm 67.  Do you really want to be stuck at work doing the 8-5 job, rather than spend that time with loved ones or friends?  Do you ever hear people on their death beds saying, "I wish I worked more"?  I definitely don't want to be the person who spent all their time at work, and not building healthy relationships with the ones I love most.

So what is financial independence?  Is the state of your assets generating income greater than you expenses.  For example, my total living expenses on a month to month basis is $4,000.  But I receive passive income from my dividends in the form of $4,000/month.  So in essence, you're generating income for yourself by not having to work.  Now how great would that be to achieve at say age 40???  I will tell you that it's definitely possible and achievable.  Is that my goal to retire at age 40?  Well, it once was, but I moved that time frame due to other circumstances that have come in my life.  And when I told people that I wanted to retire by 40, I was laughed and scoffed at.  Told me that it wasn't possible.  Well, I'm the kind of person that has to prove you wrong.  Now, I've since moved that date to age 45.  You're probably thinking to yourself, well yeah I could do that if I was single and saved a lot, but I have a family, and that's definitely not doable.  Well, hopefully through this blog, you'll be able to see another light, and maybe you too will want to change your life and way of thinking.

Thanks for reading!
PB aka (Perfect Balance)

What age do you currently want to retire at?

Picture of my happy boy Landon!