Love Story (Part 2)

My last post left off with the task of developing a Lifestyle Calculator in order to begin the DONE DOT COM planning process. Lifestyle is the operative word of the calculator so there are some various quality of life aspects to consider before we begin. For simplicity, I’ve narrowed down lifestyles into three TV families. I will begin developing a profile for each of these families to include or exclude various quality of life aspects. These profiles will be a work in progress and I welcome feedback on what aspects I may have missed.

The Waltons:
FAMILY
You are from a lower middle class family, possibly the child of an immigrant. You may be the first or second generation to have attended college. You have no inheritance and you will likely be financially responsible for at least one or both your parents into their retirement.

JOB/HABITS
You make a decent salary, close to six figures alone or combined with a spouse (if you’re married). You have some debt; you have some sort of retirement account though not much contributed. You live fairly frugally though splurge on occasion (more often than you should). A vacation impacts your finances significantly. You already are financially assisting your parent(s).

ASPIRE
You would like to own a home. Changing your demographic would be through a job change with significant jump in salary or marriage. You are not label conscious but would be willing to prioritize your spending to maintain one or two ‘small luxuries’ as part of your quality of life. You appreciate stability.

The Keatons
FAMILY
You are from a middle class family. One or both your parents went to college and possible have graduate degrees. You stand to inherit a sum that will add a small amount to your current modest nest egg; or your inheritance will significantly increase your financial security so you are very worried about the future. You currently own a home or have enough in savings to pursue investing in real estate but have waited for better timing.

JOB/HABITS
You make over six figures alone or combined with a spouse though you may be in graduate school, so you may have little or no income at the moment. You have little or no debt, you have some sort of retirement account though still below average for your age but you have some savings. You like nice things but buy them on sale; you find the best value so you can enjoy little luxuries more frequently (massages, dining out, electronics). If you are a student, you watch spending but splurge every so often and will make larger purchases when necessary (a new car). A vacation impacts how much you are able to save for a month or two.

ASPIRE
You would like to own a first/bigger home, a vacation home or upgrade your current vacations (better hotels/resorts, more exotic destinations). Changing your demographic might mean you sold your company or experienced a career windfall, you have equity that has vested or you got married. You may or may not have children. You are somewhat label conscious but selective but still like good value. You appreciate adventure.


The Huxtables
FAMILY
You are from an upper middle class family. Both your parents went to college and one or both have graduate degrees. Your inheritance will go towards your children (if you have them) or charity. You currently own a home. If you don’t it’s by choice or you may move soon to another city or country.

JOB/HABITS
You make well into six figures or close/over seven figures alone or combined with a spouse (though you may have a single income and are married). You have no debt; your retirement account is well invested and can currently carry you through your retirement independent of your substantial savings. You often buy label items but will purchase a value item if you perceive it is good quality. You spare no expense on vacations though sometimes find luxury travel costs exorbitant. Splurging means purchasing fine jewelry or a luxury car.

ASPIRE
You would like to own a bigger home, a vacation home or travel more frequently. Changing your demographic might mean your investments have performed extremely well. You appreciate the best.

So there you have it. I fully recognize that like in astrology, folks may fall on the cusps of these profiles. The next step is establishing line items for these aspects and starting to budget for them over an extended period of time. Also, now that we have established profiles, I look forward to offering you some recommendations on these different lifestyle aspects, for example, Keatons and Huxtables might appreciate the website www.tablethotels.com that lists some fabulous boutique and luxury lodging ideas around the world. A few months ago I was looking into traveling to Puerto Rico and one property they feature is this unique eco-boutique hotel that I’m dying to go to (I ended up booking a staycation this summer instead.)

We’ll also soon explore the concept of being Almost Done. Some homework for you is to read Obama’s convention speech for starters http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/28/barack-obama-democratic-c_n_122224.html (you don’t have choose sides, just read the speech if you didn’t hear it yet.) As for my tender toes, wearing better socks, getting a pedicure and taking it easy for a few days seemed to do the trick. I forgot to mention in my last post that the saying ‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry,’ comes from the movie Love Story (or rather, the book).

I’ll still take a big apology from Wall Street after this week.

Love Story (Part 1)

Tonight I finally watched the movie Love Story. Yes, with Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw. I'm not quite sure what compelled me to see it; probably because it's considered a 'classic' and, to see if it really qualifies as a true 'Tearjerker' (the category under which the movie falls on Netflix). Despite the script being a bit campy in the beginning, I was thoroughly convinced by Oliver and Jenny's romance and even got a little misty toward the end. I doubt anyone will mind the spoiler that I'm revealing about the plot (concerned parties can skip to the next paragraph) but it was surprising that Oliver chose to be cut off from his wealthy parents in order to marry Jenny which meant SHE would have to support HIM through Law School. The movie came out in 1970 so that was still an interesting role reversal for the time.

I recently had a friend announce her engagement. We hadn't been in touch for several months so as soon as I heard the good news I made plans to meet her for dinner to celebrate. The last I'd seen her, she hadn't even met her fiance yet so we had a lot of catching up to do. She told me how she came to know him, what he was like, about the different milestones in their relationship, which culminated with him proposing and the two of them moving in together. He sounds like a great guy and my friend is very happy which piqued my curiousity. I like case studies and hearing about the successful union of a contemporary, I asked her to elaborate on some of the various stages of her relationship because the wedding blitz of my generation passed (and passed me by) so I was interested to see how late bloomer relationships were unfolding these day for other folks (like myself).

My stance with very personal questions is that most people will give you honest answers, so if you really want to know something, just ask. It's rare that people won't respond. Related to this is the fact people reveal only what they want you to know about them, this often goes for relationships so asking questions, and being direct about them is key (and can often save a lot of heartache). My questions ranged from, 'How long did it take before you slept together?' and 'Who said I love you first?' to 'Does he/you know your/his salary?' and 'How did you figure out he wanted to get married/want to have kids?' Bold questions yes, but my friend is one of the most soft spoken, yet at the same time, most direct people I know. And I also knew she'd been in a long term relationship before that didn't work out but had the awareness to recognize its limitations so I'm confident she picked a good egg by asking the right questions and revealing important things about herself. One thing, she brought up was that when she and her fiance decided to move in together and they approached the topic of personal fianances, she had to admit that she had credit card debt and needed help with a making a budget for herself. I admired her honesty for being transparent with her fiance about her financial situation and for her humility in asking him for help. I also admired her for admitting this to me as well. While I would not characterize myself (ever) as soft spoken, I can be obtuse at times with icky topics (like money and in relationships).

I have another friend that's on the path to getting engaged where she and her fiance have already started Pre-Cana sessions. The misconception with Pre-Cana is that it's religiously focused when actually many practical topics are covered to prepare couples for the realities of marriage and what it means. I'd like to re-introduce a website I mentioned in an earlier post that I liken to the pre-Cana for being DONE.COM. If you haven't signed up yet, go to www.mint.com and register for an account. This is the first step EXCELLENT (and free) step in getting on top of personal finances.

Then, go to http://personal.fidelity.com/planning/retirement/retirement_planning.shtml.cvsr?bar=c and do the Fidelitly myPlanSM Retirement Quick Check. This is an easy retirement calculator that may or may not cause you to panic so have a cocktail before doing it. While the website says it takes 30 minutes to do the calculator, it takes more like three minutes. This will give you a picture of what your retirement savings need to be (one part of the equation) for when you ideally would like to be DONE.COM.

The missing part of this equation is the lifestyle calculator which I'll be hard at work developing (while I'm also hard at work at increasing my mileage for the marathon). By the way, I ran 16 miles this past Saturday. I realize all this training is actually paying off with me being able run longer distances. The bad news is that the second toenail on my right foot is tender, just like this economy.

In Love Story Part 2, I hope to report the efficacy of the TLC I deliver to my toe and to you (T-he L-ifestyle C-alculator).