Some would say my wife and I are the adventurous type. We love traveling together, trying new things, and generally do not allow the grass to grow under our feet. A few years ago we moved away from our home town to start our life as a young married couple in a new state, with new careers, more than a 12 hour drive from the home we had known since birth.
This may not be that odd for some people, but for both of us and compared to our family, we were going places. For two Midwesterners that moved to the east coast, life has been full of adventure. We bought a kayak, stand up paddle boards, beach chairs, and have definitely maximized our days off work.
Now comes the next great transition in our lives. We have our first child due in only a few months and while keeping our eyes half closed to the magnitude of change that is about to take place in our lives, are very excited. Oh, did I mention that since finding out we were going to have a baby we bought a second home, quit our jobs, are moving twelve hours back home, and I start graduate school the week before our baby is due?
No, my wife doesn’t have a job lined up. No, I’m not going to be working while getting my MBA. No, we don’t have credit card debt piling up. Yes, I can sleep at night.
The answer to the last question, how I can sleep at night, started to get answered about two and a half years ago. My wife and I had been saving our money since getting married, but with no real purpose in mind other than building our rainy day fund. It was at about that time we decided together that I needed to find a new career.
I simply wasn’t happy doing my job anymore, which meant seeking a new path in life. At first, I had no idea how I would be able to change careers or what I would even change my career to. I couldn’t even answer how we could ever get by without having my income, let alone neither of our incomes for any amount of time.
As with many things in life, the real issue at hand was money. I sought and was rewarded with some amazing financial planning services, and that was really the key. When we decided that I would change my career, we needed help figuring out how we could ever make that happen. Now, two and a half years later, I sleep at night.
I had a complex idea of what I wanted to be able to do, but really didn’t have a good method to achieve that goal. The financial planner I contacted heard the questions I was asking every day, and was able to break down the steps we would need to take to get where we wanted to be. Their expertise was extremely valuable and worth the time spent with them, figuring out the grueling details of our finances, and where money was really going and needed to go.
Being able to buy a second home, to get a graduate degree, and knowing exactly how many months we can support ourselves until we need to have income again, were made possible because of exceptional financial planning. We are going to have loans, and those will need to be repaid. But, we know why we are taking on the debt, we know how much it will be, and we know how we can actually benefit from taking a few loans on for a few years.
Most importantly, we are going to be able to bring our son into this world and be living close to family, starting the next great adventure in our lives, together.