Re: How do other VERY young dreamers plan?
I'm 28, & I think that planning any kind of date is a crapshoot at this point. The stock market could tank (I am diversived in the US market + overseas + US bonds, but still...). Crazy things could happen. Depending on when/how my parents die, I could inherent between half a million & nothing (the nothing is assuming that between now & then, they both go crazy, burn down the house/get catastrophically sick, let the life insurance lapse. and FYI, I am NOT depending on them, just keeping it in mind, since it could make quite a difference. I think I'd be a silly to bury my head in sand, just because it involves their mortality). I could change careers, and go UP or DOWN the payscale with that. I could move somewhere with a lower cost of living (& possibly a higher one, but that's unlikely). I could decide to take the plunge & buy a home in 5 years, to live in, OR to rent out (or both, just get an extra bedroom to rent out to a college student).
I have absolutely zero idea where I'll be in 10 years. I've got a vague idea where I'll be in five, but, to be frank, I've had a few major life changes already, so I'm not willing to set into stone what I'll be doing past, say, next week...
so, in summary, as I have no idea where I'll be living, what I'll be doing, if I've started anything other than investing that generates income, buy homes outside of NYC as rental properties (or buy in NYC is the housing market tanks - ha ha), don't know when my parents will die, heck, don't know when *I'll* die! I'm just working on living *well* below my means, saving as much as I can, and still living for TODAY, and treating myself enough TODAY to live pleasurably, because all those savings won't matter if I get hit by a greyhound bus on my way home from work tonight. :P
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