"I Am" - The Documentary

I recently saw an enlightening interview with director Tom Shadyac about his new documentary "I Am", and his story really struck a chord with me. Like him, I've been examining my own life for purpose & meaning, and his story (an uplifting one about the possibilities for humanity) resonates with what I've been feeling for a while now. I feel that I've accumulated all the material possessions that I could want and then some, and discovered that it makes me no happier. I am reminded of the concept of "enough" in the book "Your Money Or Your Life" (an excellent read by the way), which is the idea that once you reach the point where your basic needs are met and you have a few luxuries, acquiring more "stuff" doesn't add to your happiness. After all, if having things and money truly brought people happiness, celebrities and hoarders would be the happiest people on earth, but we know that not to be true.

I don't think it's our purpose on this world to consume and indulge, yet somehow that seems to have become a big focus in our society. One merely has to look at the prevalence of advertising in our everyday lives, the fact that holidays have become excuses to go shopping, and how much we elevate celebrities to realize that our priorities are skewed. Most of us are so intent on appearing more successful than our fellow human beings, and satisfying our urges for physical and material gratification, that we often place the truly important things (our health, relationships, and spiritual growth) on the back burner. I am not completely innocent of these behaviors either, however I'm trying to progress and better myself.

I'm happy, though, to have (at a relatively young age) reached the realization that my ambition in life is not to accumulate all the material wealth that I possibly can, but to have just enough to be happy and secure. I want to expend my remaining energy being the best person that I am capable of being, physically & mentally, and to establish meaningful connections with people and my environment.

Below is the official trailer for "I Am". I am looking forward to seeing the movie, and will post my thoughts once I've done so.

Proper Push-Up Technique? (Updated)

Yahoo featured an interesting article on push-ups today. The premise is that push-ups are beneficial for your mid-section as well as your upper body. While I'm sure there's a benefit to lifting your stomach off the ground, I'm not sure that it'll sculpt "killer" abs (as the article title suggests).

Anyway, the part that I found of particular interest is this video showing how to do a proper push-up. It seems fairly reasonable, so I think I'll give it a shot during my next workout. I normally conclude my workout with around 50 push-ups, and I'm curious to see if this makes any difference...stay tuned (update below).



Update (3/27/11): I've tried this push-up technique for three workouts now, and I'm sold. I haven't yet noticed a huge impact on muscle strength, but it is definitely less stressful on my shoulders and elbows. I'm a convert!

How Am I Doing?

It's been a while since I've updated my blog, partially due to work, and partly because of life. Now that I finally have some free time, I'd like to pick it up again. To start off with, I think this would be a good opportunity to assess how I'm doing in my life goals and priorities, a la Suze Orman style (whose show segment name I borrowed for the title of this post). To that end, I'll rate myself in the areas that I believe contribute most toward my happiness: health, career, finances, and relationships.

1. Health: A+
Physically, I've never felt better. I've remained in peak physical condition for the past four years, maintaining a body fat percentage in the 6-8% range. I've managed to achieve this result through a steady regiment of healthy diet and exercise.

2. Career: A-
I've been fortunate that my career has been pretty stable through this recession that seems to be affecting everyone else. I'm in my ninth year at my current job, and things are going well enough that I don't envision leaving my employer anytime soon unless they decide to relocate me elsewhere. While my work isn't in the pursuit of my real passions (and I have no delusions about why I'm doing this job: for the money), it remains challenging enough that I still find it interesting. My goal, though, remains to save enough so that I can quit the rat race early and do something more personally fulfilling (related to nutrition, fitness, personal finance, travel, or volunteering).

3. Finances: A
I'm very comfortable with my finances right now. Granted I make a great living, so I have no excuse to feel otherwise. Still, I think I'm doing better than the majority of my peers in this area. I'm spending approximately 1/3 of my gross income, paying 1/3 toward income taxes, and saving the remaining 1/3. The majority of my spending is related to housing related expenses and food, most of which I can (or choose to) do little about at this time. I've established my 8 month emergency fund. In addition, I have enough vacation time accrued at work that would pay out an additional 6 months of expenses should I lose my job, so I feel pretty secure about my ability to sustain my current lifestyle for a while if necessary.

I'm fairly certain, however, that the values for my real estate portfolio in my NetworthIQ profile have declined significantly since the last appraisal, but I'm still well above water even at Zillow's bargain basement estimates. My mortgage is at a reasonable 4.5% (fixed 30 year) rate, and the monthly payment is small enough that it's unlikely I would feel pressed to sell any time soon. My plan is to stay put until the market recovers, at which time I'll decide whether I want to downsize into something smaller.

My retirement accounts have continued to grow thanks to the recent bullish market and ongoing contributions. According to a few retirement calculators I've played with, I could stop contributing right now and still have enough to sustain my current lifestyle at normal retirement age (65), however I plan to keep maxing out my 401k and ROTH IRA so that I can afford to retire much sooner.

4. Relationships: C
This is one area that remains very much a work in progress for me. I've been so focused on my other priorities that I've neglected this important part of my life. While I do have some close and meaningful relationships, everyone is busy these days, and I'd like to increase the number of quality people in my life. I used to think (naively) that because I am so capable of taking care of myself, I didn't need that much from others. That attitude carried over into my personal relationships, and caused me to not be selective as I should have been in choosing partners. I've made my share of mistakes in pairing up with people who were emotionally immature, not ready to be in long term relationships, or lacked relationship integrity. However, this is one area that I am actively working on, and hope to improve upon.

Overall: B+
I feel I am doing pretty well at this point, and my life is progressing in the right direction. I'm optimistic that I will be able to address those areas where there's room for improvement, and achieve even greater happiness.

Completed my first half marathon!

I've never been a runner, and I had never done any kind of competitive or distance running in my life--in fact I actively avoided it due to the high impact nature of the sport.

However, about three months ago I got to know some runners, and became inspired to train for a half marathon. It was a lofty goal, but one that I felt I could test myself with, and I believed I was physically up for the challenge. So I started following a rigorous (for me) 12 week training program, running mostly indoors on the treadmill. My very first run was four miles, and I averaged over nine minutes per mile. It was pretty brutal though, and I was sore for days after. However, I persisted on, and ran a 10K race a couple of weeks later, managing to finish in 51 minutes.

Encouraged by my progress, I continued training and despite some setbacks (foot injuries), I was able to complete my half marathon in under my goal of two hours. It was an exhilarating feeling of personal achievement, because I had proven that I had the resolve and determination to accomplish any goal I set my mind to--no matter how difficult it may be. I have to give major props to true distant runners though, because it takes an inordinate amount of time and dedication to do what they do.

Drive Free. Retire Rich.

I found this to be a rather interesting video with a compelling argument against car payments.

http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/lms/drive_free/player.cfm

Don't forget about inflation risk

While the stock market has rebounded quite a bit in the past five months, it is still down significantly from its 2007 highs. That makes it an easy target for critics to attack, such as this comparison (via Bargaineering). Some people have attempted to refute these criticisms, however others continue to fuel the fire.

With the run up in value in the mid 2000's, I think people have conveniently forgotten that the stock market can be extremely volatile over the short term. Conservative investment vehicles such as CDs are definitely more appropriate for short term savings, but anyone thinking about using them for long term investing should definitely consider inflation risk.

According to some predictions, inflation may make a strong come back as early as 2010. So if you have a CD earning 2-3% (which is not that uncommon these days), it is quite possible that it will barely keep up with inflation over the long haul.

While my investment allocation may seem aggressive to most people, I think I am actually pretty risk averse thanks to a deep rooted fear of inflation eroding the value of my money. As I have written before, I plan to slowly shift my assets into more conservative investments as I reach closer to retirement age, so that I can reduce my exposure to market risk.

Retirement planning

When I logged into my 401(k) account last week, the retirement forecast tool showed that I am on track to receive $175,000 per year (in today's dollars) during retirement. Of course, this assumes that I continue my current contribution rate until age 65, and remain invested in aggressive (stock) funds.

While motivational, I believe that figure is overly optimistic in my case for several reasons. First of all, I don't want to work--at least for monetary compensation--until I'm 65 . I am hoping to be done with my current career by my 50s, if not my 40s (whenever my net worth will be around $2 million, in today's dollars). I will probably continue working after that, but it will be more for personal fulfillment and health insurance, so I expect my income to drop significantly.

Secondly, I plan to slowly shift my assets into safer investments as I get closer to retirement age. I anticipate that this will have an adverse affect on my rate of return, but it should also shield me from market risk. A lot of baby boomers made the mistake of staying in the market as it dropped over the past few years, and have suffered huge losses in their retirement portfolios as a result. Some retirees have had to come out of retirement in order to survive the economic downturn. I don't want to have to face that possibility.

Finally, I don't think I will require a substantial income to sustain my lifestyle upon retirement, because my wants and needs are rather modest (financially speaking). My top priorities in life are maintaining my health, spending quality time with family and friends, and learning from & teaching others. I don't expect that to change after I retire. With my projected savings, I should have enough investment income by then to do some traveling, pick up a few inexpensive hobbies, and maintain a comfortable living standard.

Anyway that's my plan, and has been for a long time. Could things change? It's definitely a possibility. After all, I'm still decades away from retirement age and if I've learned anything, it's that life can be unpredictable. I guess I'm glad that I'm thinking about this stuff now, and can still change course should I need to. Unfortunately most people don't think that far ahead; they were too busy enjoying the good times during the boom, and are preoccupied with making ends meet during the economic downturn. However, retirement planning is too important to play it by ear, and no one else--not the government, or your financial advisor--is going to be impacted as much as you if you don't make it a priority.