“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)

I received several comments in response to my last post from people who were receptive to the idea of Financial Independence (FI) save but one factor – the amount of time it would take to figure out how to achieve that goal.  I get it.  Life has a knack of interrupting attempts to plan long term.  From babies to hobbies to the day to day grind of work.  There just is not enough time in one day, one week, or one month to sit down, study the problem, and conduct the planning that FI requires.  No doubt FI takes time – I used a three month Temporary Duty (TDY) assignment to develop my plan.  Since I was separated from my family, I decided to put my time to good use.  However, you may not be so “lucky” as to get three months of TDY from life’s other responsibilities to conduct FI planning.  If lack of time is your biggest obstacle to planning for FI, attached is an outline to follow in an attempt to save you some … time.  Depending on how well you track your finances, using the outline will probably cut your required planning time in half.  Speaking of the need to track your finances, if you do not already do so, please read my post on the need to track your finances before going any further with this one. Continue reading →