My Million Dollar Mission
As part of my New Year’s resolution, I’ve decided to go on a mission, my personal Million Dollar Mission. Why? Because I’ve been broke and I’ve had money; having money seems to have worked out better for me, generally speaking. Why a million dollars? Because that’s what conventional wisdom says the typical person needs to save in order to be able to retire comfortably. Also, it’s a nice round number that’s easy to remember. Now, my wife and I live a pretty modest lifestyle, so I don’t think I would need a million dollars to retire but the $759,753 mission doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Most people earn well over a million dollars in the course of their working careers, but after taxes, housing, food and all that other stuff, few end up with over $1,000,000. So my mission is to make $1,000,000 doing things other than earning my salary at work. I want to do it by doing things I want to do, not things I’m forced to do to pay the bills. Ultimately, it’s not about being rich, and a million dollars does not make you rich, despite what one of my favorite bands, Barenaked Ladies might say. Nor does it make you unique. According to MarketWatch, 8.9% of all Americans are millionaires (about 2.6 million people). The average major league baseball player makes nearly $3 million dollars, per season. No, what it’s about for me is freedom. Freedom to make my own decisions. Freedom to sleep in if I want. Freedom to work when and where I want. And freedom to help others. That is what I feel I am missing right now. Although I do (hopefully) help some business owners and my company money, I don’t think I make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. And that is where my Million Dollar Mission begins. As I continue in this mission, I’ll update you on my progress and hopefully inspire some of you in your own Million Dollar Mission.