What if I told you that you’ve been entered in a marathon, and you have no choice but to run in it? Oh, and by the way, it starts today. You don’t have time to train for it. No chance to break-in a good pair of shoes, nor a chance to lay out a plan for the race. You’ll just have to wing it.
“But Dad, I don’t know the first thing about running marathons,” you exclaim.
“I know,” I say, “but it’s no big deal. You’re in decent shape already. You’ll figure it out.”
Your mouth drops, and then you fire back, “Figure it out?! It’s 26.2 miles of mind-numbing, muscle-burning agony and you think it’s no big deal?!“
“Yep. You’ll be fine….Now if you do struggle along the way I’ll be there to guide you from the sidelines, but in this journey, you’ll have to make your own way. You’ll have to decide when to go for it, and when to slow the pace a bit so that you finish well.”
“Awesome,” you offer with tacit acceptance. “Anything else I should know?”
“Uh, yeah. Did I mention the Pits of Pain that you’ll have to navigate along the way? These traps will pop-up regularly over the course and if you aren’t careful you can fall into them and get hurt. Some of the pits will be out in the open, others will be camouflaged and harder to see coming. All of them will be dangerous.”
“Seriously? Pits of Pain? It almost seems like you want me to fail. How long have you known I have to run this marathon?”
“I’ve known for a while. Years actually. I probably should have discussed this with you a long time ago, but I’ve been a little busy and just didn’t get a chance to bring it up. At least I remembered to tell you today. Good luck, Bucko!…..”
What if this was real?
Imagine if you really had to run in a marathon without having had an opportunity to prepare for it? What’s worse, what if you found out that your dear ol’ dad knew you were going to run in it for a long time but didn’t bother to mention it until the last minute? You’d probably feel a bit angry. Betrayed even. And, you’d probably be scared.
Guess what? It is real!
Or, at least it could have been. Since you are reading this, I’ve come to my senses and realized that I need to give you a heads up about the marathon you’ve kinda already started before it’s too late. Luckily, its still early and this means you still have some time to dig into some of the tricks I know for going the distance successfully. Whew!
The truth is, you already know a little about this marathon. You’ve heard me talk about parts of it and you know that you will have to participate in it, but you may not realize how important it is that you run the marathon well.
A marathon journey with money
The marathon I’m referring to is not actually a foot race. Its really a journey with money. Specifically, a journey to build a healthy relationship with your money such that you achieve something called “financial independence” by your mid-40’s. I make the comparison of your life-long relationship with money to running a marathon because both are long endeavors, requiring discipline and planning. It also happens that the number 26 is conveniently related to both too. The roughly 26 miles of a marathon conveniently align with the notion that a little over 26 years after you head off to college (~ 44-45 yrs old) is a practical age to set as the goal for achieving financial independence. One year, one marathon mile.
My intent is that as you read these posts you’ll have a clear sense of what a good relationship with money looks like and you’ll be able to decide for yourself how quickly (or slowly) you intend to financial independence. For now I’ll humor myself, and “stick with my shtick” that its a great plan to think of the ages 18-44+ as the 26 or so years it will take to achieve financial independence.
Like a real marathon, this Money Marathon will come with ups and downs which requires you to find a steady pace. Go too fast in the early stages and you might not have enough in reserve to finish the race. Go too slowly and you’ll fall behind the pack, and you’ll end up having to stay out there longer.
Make no mistake about it. There will be winners and losers in the Money Marathon, but unlike a real 26.2 miler, there will be more than one winner in this race. In fact, the good news is that everyone who prepares properly and takes the appropriate actions during their personal money journey will end up being winners. Yay….trophies for everyone!
Want more good news? Most of your preparation for starting the marathon has been completed already, which is why the timing of these posts is still OK. It’s been going on for a while, even if you didn’t know it. All you need now are tips for setting the proper pace for the marathon as well as for avoiding the Pits of Pain that could trip you up along the way. If I do this right, you’ll pick up the valuable tips by reading the posts that will follow. Hopefully it will also prompt you to ask lots of questions and/or do your own exploration of money matters along the way.
Here we go….!
The Money Marathon 