4,000 Miles
How far can you get in 4,000 miles?
That’s the question I asked myself as I biked home in the dark with a flashing headlight and taillight on my bike while wearing wool socks, spandex pants, bike shorts, gloves, wind/rain jacket, ear warmers and helmet in 40⁰F weather. All while listening to my latest audiobook on wireless headphones (Don’t worry, the headphones allow me to hear traffic while listening!).
Why 4,000 miles? Well, that’s how many miles I’ve put on my bike in the past 13 months, primarily commuting to and from the office 3 to 4 days per week rain or shine. That equates to a little more than 300 miles a month. By another measure, it is about 260 hours in the saddle. While listening to audiobooks at 1.75x speed, it’s about 460 hours of podcast or audiobook material to ruminate on and digest.
Why am I sharing this story? Great question!
Many of you know that I spent the past several years working toward an industry designation of Chartered Financial Analyst®. As a celebration of attaining that goal, my wife bought me a new vehicle! This new vehicle happened to be human-powered with only two wheels. We paid cash.
Did I mention that my family owns a car? One car. And we have three kids. That car is a Ford Fusion, with over 113,000 miles on it.
Again, why am I sharing this story? Because my wife and I are abnormal. We recognize that we have deviated from the norm, but we have a plan.
If the average American retires with less than $60,000 in financial assets, I don’t want to be “normal.” 1 We have financial goals and value simplicity and a healthy lifestyle. We want to live a life that is intentional and meaningful. So we’ve made some compromises.
When working with you to help you pursue your financial goals, there are often trade-offs you’ll be asked to make. Know that I won’t ask you to do something that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself!
And also know that the trade-offs that are “right” for my household are highly unlikely to be “right” for yours. We are all different. And that’s what makes the world go ’round!
So how far can you get in 4,000 miles? As “the crow flies” from Portland, OR to a little past Reykjavik, Iceland (3,756 miles) or not quite to Bogota, Columbia (4,055 miles). I’ll be sure to let you know when I’ve made it around the globe (24,900 miles)!
Where can you be a little more “abnormal”?
- Median value of financial assets for families with holdings, 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (55-64 and 65-74) http://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/files/BulletinCharts.pdf
