David….Three years ago I was married…a first time marriage for both of us in our early forties. We desparately wanted children which would have entailed my “destressing” and going through fertility treatments. In order to accomplish this it included an almost unheard of decision in this day and age, designing a lifestyle on one income even though we were both capable of working. We decided trying to have a baby and then actually being a daily part of his upbringing was critical. I am a lawyer, my husband is a fireman. We purchased our home (in desperate need of repairs but in a great neighborhood and which satisfied all our needs) and then spent two years trying to get pregnant. SUCCESS. After we had our son I was so fearful of not generating my own cash flow not fully understanding that, in fact, we had everything we needed. I was just living a false definition of security. I read your book, Smart couples finish rich…I tried to envision staying home and living on one income and being able to provide for our “dream basket”, my son’s educationa and our retirement. Before I knew it, not only were we truly living on one income but we were paying down debt AND saving nearly $1000 per month from NET income (excluding retirement). ING direct is a blessing and we live a life as if we actually had two incomes, taking vacations, repairing our home (read: investment), funding retirement vehicles and our dream baskets. There is nothing we are not doing. YET the greatest gift we have is time with each other, our son and the very important realization that as long as only one of us works to our capacity we will always have our lifestyle. If two of us work….imagine! Your book made me appreciate what we have, to work with what we have, to realize our dreams and it gave validation to our decision to design a lifestyle on one income. Now and forever more our decisions are based upon the ultimate goal: freedom to do as we choose.
Thank you.
