Move a little of this around, and a little of that around. Reassess the financial positions, and rearrange how those finances are disseminated. Move into stronger positions to allow for the "cashing in" of more lucrative stock options premiums from selling covered call options contracts, and increase positions in dividend bearing stocks.
All things to initiate the plan. Because not too long ago I said that You Can't Just Quit Without a Plan (read.cash). And you can't. And you shouldn't. Always be prepared in life for what comes next.
The plan is not really a single thing. It is not just taking money from a savings account or another source of funds in order to replace lost income, or to offset reduced income if semi-retirement is my course of action soon. The plan is really all bout ensuring there is little or no change to the bottom line. The plan is all about maintaining the status quo despite the change in what affords it now.
My financial goals and aims have never waivered, and thus the plan is really just something I tend to do anyway. Only supercharged now out of necessity.
I talk all the time about income replacement. It's not a difficult term to understand. It means exactly what it means. Income replacement is literally the process of replacing income in terms of hours of labor replaced by income sources outside of a paycheck.
For me, having done this for years, with this concept in mind, even as I embark on the next journey, I have already afforded myself with many hours of labor replaced. Part of the process of supercharging what I am doing is nothing more than more quickly expanding the number of hours I want to replace.
Simply stated, it affords me more time. It secures my bottom line. It allows for the plan to be funded not by me. But by my money. My money can make what I need.
Remember what I always say, and what people have said for years. Money makes money.
This very important decision that I must make very soon is a tough one. But the point is not how tough it is. The point is that it is my decision. Money is Power: The Saga at Work Continues (read.cash). It is a decision not swayed nor influenced by external factors not within my control.
In other words, I like my paycheck. But I can also live without it.
Perhaps part of the whole point of me sharing what has become a series of sorts is not to tell you about what is happening my own life. But rather, serves as an extension of something I have been actively engaged in for many years.
Trying to teach people about the value of money, and what it affords.
More than that, it is my way of trying to help people to understand how much better life can be when you can make choices in your life based on what you want to do, or can do, rather than based on what you are forced to do.
Because, in my own situation, what would the alternative be? Quite simply what the alternative is for so many other people in this world. Making a decision, or having one made for you with no fall back plan, and potentially forcing yourself even farther behind on the financial totem pole.
The truth is, most people lose jobs or quit jobs without a plan. Even if they happen to have a little bit of money saved up, the plan is to use it. To deplete it. To liquidate it.
When you think about it, in the United States, the statistics of how many people use their 401k plans—which are supposed to be used for retirement—to compensate for lost income is staggeringly alarming.
It does not have to be that way.
If there is one thing in life that has the greatest value, in my opinion, it is knowing how to manage money. If there is one thing I think we all should spend the most time learning and understanding, it is how to manage money. How to save, how to invest, how to grow financially.
Money provides for freedom, plain and simple. It buys control. Not over others. But over your own life and your own destiny. It allows you to choose, and more importantly, to be able to make choices with little or no consequence to your own life, or your family. It puts you in charge. It allows you to pursue your passions and your desires. Your interests and your goals.
It is no way a selfish thing.
At the end of the day life is short. It is also extremely precious. It is a one time deal for which there are no do-overs. Money cannot buy happiness. This is true. But how much happiness can be achieved when you are broke and spending every waking moment chasing a paycheck, slaving to serve the hopes, dreams, desires, and needs of someone else? How much happiness can be achieved doing things you are forced to do rather than things you are doing of your own free will?
I am planning not just to make a very important decision. I am planning to be able to make that decision knowing that I do not have to sacrifice my own living in order to make it. I am planning to ensure that no matter what the decision is that I ultimately make, that I can replace what I have chosen to lose.
Move a little of this around, and a little of that around. Reassess the financial positions, and rearrange how those finances are disseminated. Move into stronger positions to allow for the "cashing in" of more lucrative stock options premiums from selling covered call options contracts, and increase positions in dividend bearing stocks.
All to initiate the plan, and not allow my decision to negatively impact my life.
Having a solid financial plan is a prerequisite for a bliss retirement/old age