Thursday, July 19, 2007

Screw Moderation: In Praise of Immoderation


So Blueprint for Financial Prosperity had a post about how the single greatest piece of financial advice he has is to achieve balance.
I believe that balance should be balanced by a healthy amount of lack of balance.

The dream of going through their life having 2.5 kids, a house, a wife, a middle management job and a white picket fence may be for some people, but it's not for me.

For me, it's vital I sculpt and follow through on my own unique vision of what my life should be, and not be beholden of what some established wisdom says my life should be. Part of who I am and hope to be is defined by comparison to this mold.

To define myself I have to do something truly unique and this requires that I sometimes be immoderate.

Here are some immoderate things I hope to accomplish:

  1. Finish in the money at the World Series of Poker- impossible? how to know if I haven't tried?
  2. Retire Early- How early? While I'm still young enough to appreciate not having to work.
  3. Skydive- Hopefully my chute won't be full of silverware.
  4. Visit the Galapagos Islands- not really all that immoderate, but definitely not the height of moderation.
  5. Move to a Caribbean Island-or a similarly sunny island. Sunlight and warmth= happiness. Given a choice, I chose a place with a headstart on making me happy.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moderation is not the same thing as "average," "mediocre," or "just like everyone else." In fact, you couldn't do those five things without some balance between focusing on "now" and focusing on "later."

Alex said...

True, but I do think just as most diets fail, so too do most finance diets. Too much moderation is more than a person can handle, they need some indulgences in their life.

Anonymous said...

All except No. 1 sounds doable.