A General Outline for Lifetime Planning: 300-35-100K

Some look at my writings and critique the simplicity of the financial numbers I use.  In case, you need some substance for my technical expertise, check out my dissertation hosted at scottizu.files.wordpress.com. This way, you know I can discuss the gobbly gook of mathematics with the best of them (perhaps).  My straight forward approach may seem offensive to some but in reality, getting my PhD was in a sense one of the worst things that happened to me.  I made me think I knew something.

It was several years later that my passion for exploration opened up again and this journey showed me how little I knew and opened my eyes to an endless world to explore.

If you have gotten to this point, I must apologize for the rant above and you may be asking yourself why am I reading this?  Is there some financial tip here?

Woodie Guthrie once said, "Any fool can make something complicated.  It takes a genius to make it simple."

So that's exactly what I want to do.  Make it simple.  Here it is... A general guideline for your overall financial life.

According to www.daveramsey.com, saving $300 per month for a 35 year period (need to enter 36 in how much investment will be in ...), will yield 1.95 million dollars.  Roughly 2 million dollars.

And if you decided to annuitize 2 million dollars through a life insurance company after these 35 years of saving you could probably get lifetime payments of 5%.  This would pay you $100,000 per year for the rest of your life.

So, in summary, putting away $300 per month for over 30-40 years would help you to accumulate roughly 2 million dollars which translate to roughly $10,000 per month to retire on.

Jim Rohn's Take on the Law of Sowing and Reaping

It is amazing that the law of sowing and reaping applies to so much today. Check out this video by Jim Rohn.



There are three areas I'd like to discuss where this law applies. The first is in your personal life. The bible teaches, "God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows." I know for myself that I actually hated this law when I realized the truth of its reality. When I realized that some of my bad decisions lead to poisonous fruit and I had no one to blame but myself for making these decisions, it was hard to accept. So having a field with both good and bad fruit can be hard at times. But in the end, every day, all you can do is all you can do. And what you can do, is to plant new seeds, by making good decisions, even in the midst of eating the rotten fruit that life has handed you.

The second area is investing. One of the most shocking thing I see is when people start to get into investing and they go our and purchase Apple stock. It is amazing to watch! In small business, in large business, 90% of companies fail. Over a 40 year period, out of the S&P 500 only General Electric stayed afloat. So, to pick a single stock like Apple and put all your eggs into that basket baffles me. You are not going to win that game, so don't play. It's like going to a roulette table where you have a 1 out of 10 chance of winning. So what should you do? Well, the venture capitalists in Silicon Valley know that 90% of businesses fail. So what do they do? Well, they pick 10 solid companies, take a calculated risk. They know that 90% fail. They know that they cannot predict which company will make it. But time and time again, they watch 9 out of 10 fail. But the one, the one seed that lands on fertile ground, it takes hold, and bears fruit for decades and decades. So, if you wish to invest, sow your seeds into companies. Over and over. And in time, your money will grow.

The last area is in business. This could include your life's purpose or your personal mission. You already know that your message will rarely land on fertile ground. Out of 10 people, you deliver a message to, only 1 will act of it. Only 1 will be affected. But sow those seeds. Over time, you will see the seeds grow. But remember, you can only plant the seed. You cannot bring the rain. You cannot bring the sun. You cannot determine the time or season that the first leaf will spring from the ground. All you can do is sow. But one day, if you hold steadfast, you will see and abundance of fruit from the efforts you build.