In Wikipedia1, an outlier is described as:
“An outlying observation, or outlier, is one that appears to deviate markedly from other members of the sample in which it occurs.”
What does that mean for personal finance? For living simply? For life?
For me, it describes much of what I hope to accomplish. It means that by doing things differently than the “average” North American consumer, I hope to end up in a different place than the “average” person.
The average Canadian looks something like this:
So judging by those numbers, the average Canadian will work the majority of their lives, save very little, and retire rather late, with perhaps 15 years left of questionable health to enjoy their hard work. With those numbers, why would anyone want to be average?
Instead, I want to choose to be different.
- I will not be tied down to a 9-5 job. Instead, I will be dynamic and maximize my income and skill set.
- I will not work to buy Stuff. Instead, I will build assets that will pay me.
- I will not work until I am too old to enjoy life. Instead, I will make work unnecessary.
How I am going to accomplish this?
- Save the majority of my income. Right not, this is tougher because I’m going to school, but going to school…
- Increases my skill set. When I finish, I will have a higher paying skill set than my first undergrad. This is let me…
- Earn more income. Not that money is everything, but it helps while I…
- Reduce my expenses. Right now, I only need about $800 to meet all my expenses in a month. But I think I can do better. The less I need, the more I can …
- Invest! I put money away in RRSPs and savings which I use to…
- Buy more assets. The bf and I own a condo which we rent at a profit. I intend on owning more. This year, I am buying dividends which will spawn more dividends. In the end, all these things will...
- Pay me money. With more money, low expenses, and an increasing asset base, I will not have to work. I will be self sustaining.
And that is the ultimate goal. The fun part will be getting there!
