It’s Friday morning. I am relatively new to the full-time work force having just finished up school. I still can’t seem to get into the swing of things. Something feels off. Does it get any easier as time goes by?

“Why do I go to work in the morning? I’ve got enough money. I’ve got Social Security now, even. [Laughter] I’ll make it, you know? The kids won’t get much, but that’s their problem. So I say, “Why do I go to work in the morning?” Well, there are two reasons. I love painting my own painting. I come down to the office, I get on my back, and I start painting. And I think I’m in the Sistine Chapel. It’s my painting. Now, if somebody says, “Use more red paint instead of blue. Paint a seascape instead of a landscape,” I would hand them the brush in five seconds and I’d say-I’d say a few other things, too – but I’d say, “Do your own painting. I’ll go paint what I want to paint.” I get to do my own painting. And then I get applause – if I deserve it. And I like that. I like having the painting admired, and I like to get to paint my own painting. That’s so much more important to me than getting my golf score down three strokes or beating somebody at shuffleboard or something. I mean, it is the ultimate pleasure.” – Warren Buffett

My 12:36AM Friday musings on finances:
The Equation:

Income >= Expenses

Everyone has complete control over both sides of the equation, the income side being a little more challenging.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” -Charles Dickens

Wealth and money enable freedom, freedom with a level of security and comfort.

In order to build wealth, Income >= Expenses.

• Hiccups in life happen and income is rarly secure, sometimes being cut off for significant lengths of time.
• Expenses in life are also not constant, and expense increases always seem more frequent than decreases.

Thus, Income >>>>= Expenses (income needs to be significantly greater than expenses, or expenses need to be significantly lower) in order to collect freedom.

I feel that few of us have those “I love my job!” careers, many probably settle somewhere in the middle. We spend most of each day, most of every week, every month, every year, doing something we don’t want to do. The first thing that pops in my head is: Yep, that’s just the way it is, that’s life, make the best, deal.

For some reason though I press on, I feel almost guilty for even daring to ask the question…but, if you do not find freedom or enjoyment in your job, or think you may not in the future, what do you do?

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” -Annie Dillard

Do you?

1. Leave the job to find a line of work (or create your own line) you enjoy and can find freedom in.
2. Save and invest money as quickly as you can to rely less and less on a job for security/comfort.
3. A combination of the two.
4. Say no thanks to it all and Go Into the Wild.
5. Make no changes.

I know what I am saying is very common sense, but it really helps me work through an issue if I sit down and spell out my thoughts.

“Thinking is a process of asking and answering questions.” – Tony Robbins

Here is my answer: Over the last month I have realized I have been resorting to choice 2. Fear, poor choices in the past, confidence, are all things I have identified that I need to fix/overcome to be able to move to choice 3.

It will take time, but the first step towards fixing something is figuring out that it’s broken. My next task, and this blog is a part of it, is to assemble a better toolbox.

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Tagged as: personal development